The Deal
Sunday, November 22, 
2:27 am

UPDATE: TuneUp CEO Gabe Adiv speaks

  Share     E-Mail    Discussion (3)     Print Story

tuneup.gifFollowing on my earlier post Tuesday morning, I spoke with TuneUp Inc. CEO Gabe Adiv. He clarified a few points:

  • TuneUp licensed Gracenote Inc.'s own digital audio fingerprinting technology for its widget, then built a consumer-facing product with its own user interface.
  •  KPG Ventures of San Francisco has invested an undisclosed amount in TuneUp's first round of funding. A small additional installment of funding could follow, although TuneUp isn't anticipating a large round in the near term.
  • In addition to software sales and subscriptions, TuneUp will make money through advertising and affiliate relationships, which help to subsidize the free version.
  • The mysterious "Versailles" is the name of the composition, by local musician Brandon Arnovick, that serves as the primary background music in TuneUp's demo video. The official version of that video can be found here.
  • TuneUp has 10 employees, and is relying primarily on press and word-of-mouth for marketing.

 The company is still primarily concerned with improving the product's clean-up results, general robustness and payment system, as well as adding new features, rather than spending on advertising. - Paul Bonanos

See earlier Tech Confidential post concerning TuneUp


Continue reading below

Also on Dealscape





Comments

From: John Reznik,

Unfortunate that this service uses the Gracenote database with all of its inherent quality problems. Gracenote already does a fine job of messing up my tags in iTunes, why would I want to have it screw them up again using TuneUp? I would prefer something that uses the allmusic.com database. Is there any service like this that uses allmusic.com for cleaning up tags?


From: Paul Bonanos,

I haven't seen one that uses the AMG database, John. But although I find allmusic.com indispensable, I don't think its database is ideal for tagging songs in iTunes. It still has errors, and duplicate data too. Be careful what you wish for.

Gracenote's database seems to fix itself sometimes, presumably via user submissions. It also has a much deeper catalog of micro-indie releases and bootleg recordings.

But if anyone out there is using AMG's database for tagging songs in iTunes, please speak up!

Paul


From: Paul Courtier,

@Paul Bonanos
Paul,
Apple uses the AMG database throughout iTMS. It is also used by eMusic, Rhapsody, Napster, Nokia Music, Yahoo!, Amazon, B&N, AOL, MSN, Google, and many, many others. It is the global industry standard database for entertainment content, and has been for years.

AMG launched a media id service that has rapidly gained market share. It competes quite nicely with Gracenote, and is used by former Gracenote customers like RealPlayer, Rhapsody, Sony PS3, Sprint, Verizon, Nokia, B&O, Iriver, and many others.

The AMG solution includes acoustic fingerprinting and is generally regarded as being faster and more accurate than the similar tech from Gracenote being used by TuneUp. The data is far richer, as well.

I do not know of any TuneUp-like assistant applications for iTunes that use AMG, but someone could easily build one. Perhaps someone should?

@John Reznik
John,
A simple alternative is downloading an AMG enabled application from the list above and using it to clean your tags. The Iriver "Plus" app works very well for this, and also adds cover art. Once you clean up your collection, just re-import into iTunes. Unfortunately, this will generally not work for AAC files, nor files purchased from the iTunes store.

I agree that the Gracenote database is a poor choice for cleaning up a collection. Gracenote has been one of the biggest reasons for the low quality of music tags for years. It is ridiculous to expect them to clean up their own mess.


Post a comment




The Deal Pipeline

Deal Video


Inside The Deal: Avaya Inc.'s Mohamad Ali on the company's next target.


More video...

Crisis On Wall Street
Technology
Deals of The Decade

Community

Industry Insight

Managing your shareholder base

Growth companies and their PE sponsors should be wary of the pitfalls that arise when they layer on tiers of preferred stock.


Industry Insight

Easing the stress of distressed M&A

Corporate buyers face numerous complexities when trying to identify the right moment to purchase a distressed asset.


Editor's Note

Editor's letter: Nov. 16, 2009

Beneath the veneer of Wall Streeters beats the same heart, stirred by the same determinants of behavior.



©Copyright 2008, The Deal, LLC. All rights reserved. Please send all technical questions, comments or concerns to the Webmaster.