Today’s best AI “large language models” are especially good at tasks where hallucinations and other failures are low-stakes, such as making music recommendations.
Here is continuously-updated doc of music search prompts I’ve found helpful, a few examples below:
I like [specific piece, e.g. “the theme music for Game of Thrones”]. Please recommend 20 other pieces of contemporary classical music that are as similar as possible to that track, but limit yourself to one composition per composer. Please optimize for the pieces being as similar as possible to the theme music for Game of Thrones, even if some of the pieces are very obscure. Please only include compositions (or individual movements) that are shorter than 6 minutes. Please list the 20 pieces in a table, and for each piece provide a short description of its musical style and instrumentation, an explanation for why it’s so similar to [piece you named], and a clickable link to a complete recording of the piece on Spotify, or on YouTube or Soundcloud or Bandcamp if it’s not available on Spotify. Please number the pieces 1-20.
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Which compositions by [composer] are most popular and/or highly regarded today? Please list 20 of their compositions in a table, along with the evidence that they are popular and/or highly regarded, and direct Spotify links to complete recordings where available (but it’s fine to list many compositions which aren’t available on Spotify).
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What are 20 of the most celebrated covers or re-interpretation of compositions by [musical artist]? Please list each one in a table along with the performer(s), the release year of the cover/re-interpretation, a few notes about what is changed from the original, and a direct link to the piece on Spotify (where available).
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Who are the top 20 most highly respected composers of [genre]? Please list them in a table, and for each composer please list 4 of their most celebrated works/albums.
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Who are the top 20 contemporary classical composers who (a) mainly write notated music for performance by classically trained musicians, but who (b) frequently draw inspiration from popular electronic music genres in their compositions (e.g. breakbeat, drum and bass, dubstep, electro, EDM, grime, IDM, techno, or trance)? Please list them in a table with four columns: Composer, Example 1, Example 2, Example 3. Each of the three examples should be a composition by that composer which draws inspiration from popular electronic music genres, along with a short description of how, exactly, it draws inspiration from popular electronic music genres. Where possible, please link each listed composition title to a recording of the piece on Spotify (but it’s fine to list many compositions which aren’t available on Spotify).
Please don’t include any of the following composers, because I’m already familiar with them: [list of composers]
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What are 20 of the most creatively unique and ambitious [genre] albums/compositions after 2000 that are also relatively “tonal” and “accessible” to the general listener? Please list each album/composition in a table along with its composer, release year, a paragraph describing what is so creatively ambitious about it, and a direct link to a complete recording of the piece on Spotify (where available). Please also limit yourself to one album/composition per musical artist.