DISCO Help Centre Support Center

Contact Us

DISCO Discovery Suite: Similarity Search

DISCO Discovery Suite now features Similarity Search. Get a head start on briefs that mention a reference track by searching your DISCO with a YouTube link, or rediscover your tracks in a completely new manner.

Similarity Search is available to all Supervisors and Discovery Suite subscribers.


Three Ways to Find Similar Tracks in DISCO


Search with a YouTube link

Simply enter a link in the search bar and we will return what we believe are the most similar tracks in your DISCO. The results are in order of similarity, meaning the most similar track is at the top.


Search with a DISCO track share link

Copy a share URL for any track in your DISCO and paste it in the search bar:


Browse through your tracks

In the track panel, click on the Similar tracks tab and we will return the most similar tracks right there and then. The results are in order of similarity, meaning the most similar track is at the top.


Tell us where we can do better

Help us make our Similarity Search better! When you see results you think are a great fit, or not(!), we would love to know about it.

In the search results, hover over a track, click the thumbs-up icon, and then select Similar or Not similar


Important to know and keep in mind:


FAQs:

How does it work?

Using AI, we have developed our Similarity Search to analyze audio from your tracks and compare it with audio from other tracks on a large amount of different dimensions. Suffice it to say, there is a bit of magic under the hood that we won't go into detail about here. What we can say, however, is that our Similarity Search does not take into account tags, metadata, or other high-level track information, but performs a search on the sound of the audio itself. 


Who can access Similarity Search?

Similarity Search is available to all Supervisors and Discovery Suite subscribers. 


How accurate is Similarity Search?

We have done a lot of testing before releasing Similarity Search and we believe it provides accurate results most of the time. However, there are a few factors that will impact the quality of the results, including:


I have auto-tagged a track, how long before I can see Similar Tracks?

This may vary a little bit depending on the time of day. Generally speaking, results should start showing within 5-10 minutes.


Can I search just a section of a video or track?

Not yet. Similarity Search is currently always performed on the entire video or song. 


Can I filter or refine my search results?

Not yet, but we are working on it. 


Does it work on DISCO Catalogs?

Not yet, but it will be part of Catalogs before too long. 


I am seeing duplicate results, why?

When you perform a search you may find that some of your results are showing multiple times. At this point, we are showing all results, even if they are duplicates of one another. If you find duplicates, that means you have multiples of the same track in your DISCO. You can either ignore this, or choose to merge the tracks to keep your DISCO neat and tidy. Learn more about merging here

In rare cases, you might even find that the track you've been searching for with a YouTube link itself is showing up. That happens if the track you are searching for exists in your DISCO already. 


My YouTube search fails, what can I do?

If a search fails and no results are provided, it may be because of one of the following reasons:


Lack of auto-tagged tracks

Tracks are added to Similarity Search results through auto-tagging. If you haven't auto-tagged any tracks in your DISCO, you will not see any results when using Similarity Search.


Territory Restrictions

it is most likely that there are territory restrictions on the video and we cannot access it for analysis. There are a few of things you can try:

  1. Find another version of the song on YouTube and try again. 
  2. Find a cover of the song that is as similar to the original as possible. 
  3. If you happen to have the song as an mp3 already, upload it to DISCO and try it that way.

The very same restrictions may also lead to a situation where you search for a video in DISCO, and results are displayed, but the video itself won't play. Even though the video won't play in DISCO, the results can still be trusted. 


Length of the video

Ensure that videos are no longer than 30 minutes. Not only will the analysis not run, but finding something similar for 30+ minutes of audio is going to be impossible. If there are certain parts of the video you want to find similar audio for, please try to find just that scene (e.g. if it was from a movie) in its own video and try again.



Questions, comments, or concerns?

At DISCO, we value your feedback and we want to hear from you! If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about Similarity Search or any other DISCO feature, please don't hesitate to reach out to us. You can contact our support team at support@disco.ac and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.