A local startup has learned to measure the chills. That is, the team has identified the emotional impact of music and they think it could change the media world as we know it.
Minnetonka-based MIIR – or Music Intelligence Impact Retrieval – has discovered the “DNA of music” with a tech that can pinpoint the moments in songs that trigger the greatest emotional responses in the brain. MIIR secured one patent earlier this year and is currently working on the second of several.
The technology could have implications across media and medtech. The most impactful clips in songs can enhance the power of advertisements or movie trailers, they can have positive effects on pain management and depression or they can be touted out front of a new album release. The team calls these emotive moments ‘Chill Phrases’ and ranks them on a Chill Index based on their impact on the brain’s emotional networks.
For record companies with large catalogs, MIIR technology can process more than a million songs in a day and recommend the most emotionally impactful portion, allowing the company to unearth its deep cuts and more effectively market its music.
The company's chief science adviser is music neuroscientist Daniel Levitin, author of the book "This is Your Brain on Music" and a former producer and sound engineer for musical artists like Blue Öyster Cult, and Stevie Wonder.
Others on the team have also have ties throughout their careers to artists like Prince, Steely Dan and Janet Jackson, along with experience in film and neuroscience. More than 30 medical doctors have signed on as investors.
When the team first introduced the concept to Levitin, his goal was to break the tech. MIIR was first built with pop and country in mind, so Levitin and his colleague Vinod Menon, director of the Stanford Cognitive and Systems Neuroscience Laboratory, ran an obscure baroque song through the technology. They put 15 people into an MRI tube and tracked brain activity, cross-referencing the result with where MIIR expected the songs would have the most impact. “The overlap was astounding,” said CEO and Co-inventor Paul Moe.
The experiments grew in size and scope, repeatedly proving MIIR’s effectiveness and speed.
Moe said that MIIR could also use personalized music to help people throughout their day. With the help of biometric tracking and AI, MIIR technology can offer personalized music to wake a person up, prepare them for a workout or help them concentrate during their job. But the MIIR team is careful about how its tech is used. “We’re an artist-based company,” Moe said, and they don’t want to harm writers in the process.
MIIR is just getting the word out now as it seeks acquisition from a big player in the tech world. Moe said interest is only growing at this point, and he’s already met with the three largest record labels and is in talks with a local investment bank.
