I suppose this is in several parts...all about Genre and Discovery
Genre Spectrum Selector
1. Genre Spectrum Selector / Genre Matrix. When you visit an artist page, a "Genre" selection tool to spotlight specific genres the artist provides. This tool could provide a spectrum visual and show the most applicable genres of the artist by this visualizer. Meaning if they are mainly R&B that would be the most prominent genre then the other genre they cover. For instance there are multiple categories artists can fall in as their careers evolve. If you think about acts like John Tesh, The Beatles, Elvis, Celine Dion...and the like, they have different genres/styles in the albums. Using this Genre Spectrum Selector you can dial in the specific genre you are interested in for whatever purposes. Maybe you only want the Remixes, or the Covers, Instrumentals. Maybe you want things by mood or setting. So this Genre Matrix tool facilitates these things and introduces the visitors to other sides of the artists. For instance, someone like Dolly Parton, if you don't like country then you can see what else she has done. It's a good way to stumble into a familiar environment without getting too far off track.
2. Auto Playlist my Artists. This is an idea to enable the playlisting of tracks into a playlist the listener is checking out. If they are checking out Easy Listening for instance, then the auto playlist system would also grab the easy listening from artists they are known to like or listen to a lot. So if I only want to hear the Easy Listening from a given artist then that is what is provided to the playlist automatically from my catalog of favorited artists, alongside the additional offering of the playlist. You can dial in the amount of your favorite artist you want in the playlist so the system will know how often to include the artist in that style or you can exclude them altogether.
3. Playlist Designer. This one is about making it easy for the listener to create a program for their desired listening. It grabs material identified by genre or mood. The listener has further checkboxes for "range". The range applies to how much of each user choice will have a randomization factor. Attributes like record label for instance. So I choose MoTown. Then I choose Motown from 1960-1970. Then I choose female vocalist. Then perhaps a genre. If I choose gospel but their are limited offerings, I can increase range so the search system will start looking outside of Motown to the next most similar record label or artist. BPM range. Key / Mood range. Type of solo instrument (flute, guitar, synths). Holiday / Season. The playlist designer is a sort of extension to the idea of a user profile. It's like stations for the listener, that are programmable. While at home I want to hear XYZ, while during exercise I want to hear QRS, while doing study work EFG...and so on. It's like turning the idea of the playlist inside out because these are not choices made by others although there could be a purge playlist feature for playlists that have tracks similar to what you are looking for at the moment. There can be a "something new" in the shuffle which can be set to a certain threshold so that something new is not too far off from what you are checking out. Instead of navigating sites by premade playlists or searching, they can just use the root attributes that hold the most value for search navigation. In this way they can research what is really on the site through musical ideas they are familiar with.
These ideas on the whole are about balancing the worlds of discovery and refinement.
