There’s a basic human tendency to seek out comfort in the familiar. It turns out, old songs are to our ears as Grandma’s comfort foods are to our taste buds. Starting with radios, we first looked into the top 50 songs played across 16 countries. For each country, radio stations were selected by audience, typically…
Soundtracking a pandemic – The rising anthems of COVID-19
We’re not talking about another Quarantunes playlist, but instead how we’ve been watching a natural soundtrack to the COVID-19 pandemic emerge. Behavioural changes in music consumption are clear from the early days of the pandemic. As what we listen to evolves, it’s doing a pretty good job of reflecting how we’re feeling. Songs with themes…
Get Your Hit Together, Get Paid For Every Play
“Get your hit together” is a 4-episode web series which aims to help independent artists make sure they get paid royalties for every play. Musicians are faced with the challenge of tracking monetisable use of their songs in a fast-paced and infinitely interconnected digital world. We’re trying to help those who create music maximise their…
The Show Must Go On… Air
Music means a lot to us. We want to keep it alive. With The Show Must Go On Air, we’re trying to help musicians who’ve had gigs cancelled in Barcelona, our hometown, due to COVID-19—especially those who aren’t usually heard on the radio. That’s why we’re asking radios, TVs and any music lovers to play…
Automating Reporting for TV Broadcasters
Our audio fingerprint, along with the post-transmission EPG data we receive, automates music reporting for TV programs. We’re sensitive beings. We’re often reaching for the tissues while listening to our favourite sad song or watching a heartwarming movie scene accompanied by a melancholy number. It’s the music in particular that makes us feel. Often inducing emotions…
The world is our office – Remote working at BMAT
We’ve spent more than a decade purposefully recruiting the most innovative, talented and quirky people on this planet. Telling them to stay at one desk and do what they’re told would therefore be counterproductive, and rid them of most of their value. So we don’t do that. When we’re happier, our creative juices flow more…
A Day in the Life of a Music Monitoring Obsessive
Just in case you thought we weren’t obsessed enough with monitoring music, here’s a rare insight into how we BMATers see the world. Music is everywhere – so much so that it’s easy to forget how far we’ve come since rocking the bone flute. Not only do we have music to thank for giving us…
YAMAHA, Aishiteru Totemo Aishiteru Hontoni
CEO, Àlex, reflects on BMAT’s journey through various music technologies since their initial collaboration with Yamaha. This is the story of a friendship that spans across decades. As much as we feel like ambassadors of discretion and etiquette, it’s about time we came out of the closet. 80’s :: Yamaha and Xavier :: Oai dekite ureshii…
Music Monitoring – Eurovisionary Dreams
Our music monitoring technology is tracking airplay of all participating Eurovision 2019 songs. A universe where disco-powered Putin satire is considered a real musical genre is one we dream of spending the rest of our days in. A universe where no pair of trousers can be deemed too tight, werewolf-themed metallic wrestling suits are stylish,…
Music Recognition in Ads: From Radio Jingles to TV Commercials
How we use our music recognition technology to detect music in advertisements. Since the radio’s invention in the 1920s, storytelling as an art form experienced a resurgence in popularity – so much so that this new sound-emitting box caused mass hysteria throughout the US with the dramatisation of an invasion from outer space. This unfortunately…