MINNEAPOLIS, MN | June 15, 2023
Scientists Discover “DNA” of Music
MIIR Audio Technologies granted patent for technology that scientifically identifies most emotionally impactful moments of any song; applications for streaming music libraries, games, TV, film and MedTech industries
Music search has entered a new era with scientists discovering the “DNA” of music.
MIIR℠ Audio Technologies, a consortium of legendary music and film industry pioneers, producers, engineers and neuroscientists, announced today that the company has been granted the first of several patents that will change the way songs are searched, selected and marketed to billions of consumers around the world.
Six years in the making, the breakthrough by MIIR, enables companies or users to pinpoint the exact phrase in any song that elicits the most impactful neurological reaction in the human brain. These emotive moments – or “Chill Phrases” – occur in every one of the world’s 200,000,000 songs as well as the 100,000 new tracks that are being uploaded every day. The technology can assign a proprietary "Chill Index®" rating to every song inside a catalog and ranks songs in order of their impact on the brain’s emotional networks.
“MIIR provides a new way to search music,”
says Paul J. Moe, CEO and co-inventor, MIIR.
“MIIR provides a new way to search music,” says Paul J. Moe, CEO and co-inventor, MIIR. “MIIR’s algorithm and metadata helps to pinpoint the previously uncharted moments of songs that trigger the brain’s autonomic response which can elicit joy, excitement, and inspiration, or speak individually to emotional conditions and moods that humans experience. While that’s an amazing achievement for science, it’s also a huge benefit to any company spending vast amounts of time, money and resources currently searching and selecting the most compelling songs for their consumers. By identifying these moments we’re able to help drive greater audience engagement to more successfully monetize all kinds of creative from short-form social video and ads that need to capture attention quickly, to TV, movie, film, game and music library needs.”
Broad Variety of MARKET USES
MIIR’s technology is designed for a broad variety of commercial uses. It enables music streaming services to organize libraries by emotional impact, provide listeners with more engaging song previews and scientifically determine which tracks to add to playlists or promote to consumers.
SOCIAL MEDIA AND GAME DESIGN
Social media creators and video and game developers can use MIIR technology to synchronize a song’s emotional landscape with the corresponding narrative action or desired user experiences in videos, games or metaverse products. MIIR also enables record labels to create recommendations for use in streaming, music-based social channels and other services. And beyond the entertainment industry, MIIR technology can benefit health technology companies where scientifically validated music can be employed to evoke desired emotional and physiological states in patients by stimulating or soothing the brain.
THE SCIENCE
“When I initially met with noted cognitive neuroscientist Dr. Roger E. Dumas, MIIR’s chief science officer and lead inventor, and I heard MIIR’s hypothesis, that they could reverse engineer the brain’s emotional response to music, I was more than skeptical,” says Dr. Daniel J. Levitin, MIIR chief science advisor & co-inventor, New York Times bestselling author of This Is Your Brain on Music, and music producer (Blue Öyster Cult, Stevie Wonder). “So I had Roger process several very obscure songs on-the-spot. I was astonished that the technology nailed within a fraction of a second the exact portions of those songs that I find most impactful. I subsequently ran an independent fMRI brain scan study with my longtime colleague, Dr. Vinod Menon at Stanford University, and we were amazed at the accuracy with which MIIR predicts the brain’s emotional reaction to music. When I saw that, I signed on immediately.”
THE FOUNDERS
MIIR founders and team members include legendary record producer Gary
Katz (Steely Dan, Donald Fagen); Dr. Roger E. Dumas, cognitive neuroscience, PhD (as well as keyboard-synth guru for Prince, Janet Jackson and John Lennon); renowned film director and producer Craig L. Rice (Prince, Motown and HBO); veteran music industry IP representative Paul J. Moe (Prince, Whitney Houston, Diana Ross) and Drew Denbo, former head of business development for Amazon Music.
“The MIIR technology has enormous potential to enhance music selection processes and expand the range of music that companies across music streaming, social media, film, TV and non-pharma medtech industries recommend to their users”, says Drew Denbo, MIIR senior business advisor, former head of business development Amazon Music. “We are excited about the wide range of potential use cases for the technology and the high value partnerships we can build with the platform.”
MIIR Audio Technologies was awarded U.S. patent 11,635,394. More business announcements are expected in the coming months. For more information about MIIR contact information@miiraudiotech.com.
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