EAT your heart out, Simon Cowell. Now software can spot hot talent before it hits the big time.
The software picks musicians who generate a big jump in web traffic from a small geographical area, which could indicate they are making a splash locally and are about to break nationwide. To do this, it analyses searches on a file-sharing network and then tracks them to their geographical origin. It could also use data from YouTube and iTunes, says developer in Israel.
The program has already had some success. Rappers from Atlanta, Georgia, were largely unknown in early 2007 when the program spotted that local searches about them jumped from 0 to 200 a day within two weeks. Their single Party Like a Rockstar made the Billboard rap charts later that year.
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