Bach Technology
| Aksjeselskap | |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Headquarters | Bergen, Norway; Ilmenau, Thüringen, Germany and China |
| Products | Digital music technology |
Number of employees | 14 (2011) |
| Website |
corporate |
Bach Technology is a Norwegian company that develops and licenses digital music technology, notably MusicDNA to provide custom, Internet updated multi-media content - like videos, song lyrics, or social media - while audio is played. It has partnered with the company that invented MP3, Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology (IDMT), for technical expertise. Two of its key investors are former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Sony Music Entertainment, Shigeo Maruyama, and MP3's inventor, Karlheinz Brandenburg.
History
Bach Technology A.S., founded by Dagfinn Bach and Karlheinz Brandenburg, is headquartered in Bergen, Norway.[1][2][3] Bach was instrumental in the development of digital music technology and MP3 technology in 1993.[nb 1] He is the company's president.[5][6] Brandenburg's experience is in the media; He worked for Bertelsmann in Germany. The company has partnered with the company that invented MP3, Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology (IDMT) in Germany, for their technical expertise. Investors include the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Sony Music Entertainment, Shigeo Maruyama, and MP3's inventor Karlheinz Brandenburg.[2]
Bach Technology is a company that licenses an Internet-accessible database containing information about the contents of audiofiles, and other software related to music recognition.[4] Bach Technology uses MPEG-7 technology to create custom selections based upon the customer's preferences for multi-media content.[2] Dagfinn Bach and Sebastian Schmidt are named on the United States patent for the technology to manage the communication of multiple types of data.[7][nb 2]
MusicDNA
Bach Technology has developed MusicDNA technology, the next evolutionary step for playing music after MP3.[4][5] Introduced at the January 2010 MIDEM music industry trade fair in Cannes, MusicDNA is an MP3 file format that produces data and video content while music plays on MP3 players or iPods. This could include social media, like Twitter, videos or information, including tour dates and song lyrics.[5][8]
Bach intends to differentiate themselves from their competitor, Apple iTunes LP service, by offering the capability of access to real-time information when the player has an Internet connection, accessing more types of information, and ensuring music is legally purchased for download. MusicDNA software was available for free download from the company website starting in 2010.[5][8] Rhodi Marsden of The Independent questions whether most users will want their music player to have MusicDNA's sophisticated functions.[8]
For MusicDNA to be successful, major labels are required. In early 2010, primarily independent labels had signed up for the service. Additionally, some players may not have the functionality to provide the information that the file format is capable of managing, so its success is dependent upon the player's functionality.[4]
See also
- List of online music databases
- Eivind Brydøy, Bach Technology board member
Notes
- ↑ Karlheinz Brandenburg is considered to be the MP3 inventor.[4]
- ↑ On 26 March 2013, United States Patent number 8,407,224 was issued for "Apparatus and method for generating a collection profile and for communicating based on the collection profile" and assigned to Bach Technology AS in Bergen Norway. The inventors are Sebastian Schmidt from Ilmenau, Germany and Dagfinn Bach from Bergen, Norway. The description is: "An apparatus for generating a collection profile of a collection of different media data items has a feature extractor for extracting at least two different features describing a content of a media data item for a plurality of media data items of the collection, and a profile creator for creating the collection profile by combining the extracted features or weighted extracted features so that the collection profile represents a quantitative fingerprint of a content of the media data collection. This collection profile or music DNA can be used for transmitting information, which is based on this collection profile, to the entity itself or to a remote entity."[7]
References
- ↑ "Company Overview of Bach Technology A.S.". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
- 1 2 3 Juliana Koranteng (30 September 2009). "MP3 Pioneers Roll Out Recommendation, Multimedia System". Billboard Magazine. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
- ↑ Borko Furht (10 March 2010). Handbook of Multimedia for Digital Entertainment and Arts. Springer. p. 375. ISBN 978-0-387-89024-1.
- 1 2 3 4 "New music file formats debut at MIDEM". The Online Reporter. Egypt: Rider Research, Inc. 29 January 2010. Retrieved 8 January 2014. via HighBeam Research (subscription required)
- 1 2 3 4 "Pioneers of MP3 unveil new chapter in digital music". Daily News Egypt. Egypt: Al Bawaba (Middle East) Ltd. 27 January 2010. Retrieved 8 January 2014. via HighBeam Research (subscription required)
- ↑ "Dagfinn Bach". Bloomberg Businessweek. Retrieved 8 January 2014.
- 1 2 "US Patent Issued to Bach Technology AS on March 26 for "Apparatus and Method for Generating a Collection Profile and for Communicating Based on the Collection Profile" (German, Norwegian Inventors)". US Fed News Service, Including US State News. The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd. 23 March 2010. Retrieved 8 January 2014. via HighBeam Research (subscription required)
- 1 2 3 Rhodri Marsden (27 January 2010). "Is MusicDNA the New MP3 - and Can It Save the Record Industry?". The Independent. London, England: Independent Print Ltd. Retrieved 8 January 2014. via HighBeam Research (subscription required)