Flycasting: using collaborative filtering to generate a playlist for online radio

Abstract

In recent years, the popularity of online radio has exploded. This new entertainment medium affords an opportunity not available to conventional broadcast radio: the instantaneous listening audience can be known, or what is more important, the musical tastes of the current listening audience can be known. Thus, it is possible in the new medium to tailor the playlist in real-time to the musical tastes of the listening audience. We discuss a method, termed flycasting, for using collaborative filtering techniques to generate a playlist in real-time based on the request histories of the current listening audience. We also describe a concrete implementation of the technique.