A music search technology developed in Singapore is returning more accurate results than other global music search players in the China market. The Baidu Music Search technology ting ge shi qu , which literally translates to “hear a tune and know the song”, was developed by the Baidu-I ² R Research Centre (BIRC) and uses query-by-example music search to help users obtain song information from just a sound clip.

BIRC is a laboratory jointly set up by the Institute for Infocomm Research (I ² R), a member of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) family, and Baidu, China’s leading Internet search engine provider. Its music search technology is embedded within the Baidu Music App that has been downloaded over half a million times on both Google Play Store and iTunes (China). The app identifies music playing over the air by its “unique music fingerprint” made up of its audio waveform and returns the song title, the name of the artiste, and the album art within seconds. Users can also share song information with their friends through various social networking platforms.

Baidu Music App taps on several million music items from the Baidu Music database which is synchronised with 17 music lists, including Billboard Hits and the UK Chart, and is accessed by tens of millions of music lovers worldwide daily. According to BIRC, the app returns results with about 99 per cent accuracy, and is at least 10 per cent more accurate than other global music search players when identifying songs falling outside the regular charts in China for both normal and acoustically challenging environments.

“Multimedia search is a key area of our joint laboratory’s research, and we are confident that this latest technology will greatly enhance the experience for music fans when they use Baidu Music,” said Wang Haifeng, Chief Scientist (Basic Technologies), Baidu.

Dr Tan Geok Leng, Executive Director of I ² R, said the development of the music search functionality demonstrates BIRC’s ability to deliver cutting-edge technologies that benefit the industry. “I hope to see them continue to launch more products that will create an impact in the market,” he added.