MusicMaster Blog

Artist Keyword Separation

By Brian Wheeler

One of the more frequently asked questions I get when I’m helping a MusicMaster user dial in the rules is, “What does the auto setting mean in the artist keyword separation rule?”

This is a great question because the flexibility of the keyword separation settings in MusicMaster is often not fully understood.

Let’s start with “What DOES it mean when you set an ‘auto’ separation on artist keywords?” This is the default setting. If you set your ‘auto’ setting to 1:45, any keyword that has been assigned the ‘auto’ separation time will abide by a separation of an hour and forty-five minutes.

Your level of control doesn’t have to end there.

If you go to Dataset/Library/Keywords, you can put different settings on keywords that need more specific attention. Here’s an example where I’ve set specific artist keyword separations for two different artists.

For the sake of this demonstration, let’s say I’ve got an ‘auto’ keyword setting of 1:45. Any artist with the ‘auto’ setting in this screen will adhere to a separation time of one hour and forty-five minutes. I’ve checked two settings. In this case, I’ve asked MusicMaster to prevent Nickelback from coming up more frequently than every three hours, twenty minutes. Conversely, I’ve asked that Nirvana have a more relaxed setting than the ‘auto’ setting. They can appear every hour and twenty minutes. That doesn’t mean they WILL, but they could because of the setting I’ve given them. To apply these settings, I clicked the box next to Auto and entered the new restriction time.

You’ll find that the auto setting gets the job done in most cases. In some cases, you need to grant certain artists more freedom, such as when Drake decides to drop a record and also has several collaborations that find their way on the charts. Conversely, there are some artists in your library that you believe “a little goes a LONG way”, and you’d like to control the frequency of their appearance in your music log. Keyword time separation is your remedy.

If you have any questions regarding use of this feature, don’t hesitate to contact your MusicMaster Scheduling Consultant for more information. Be well!