We created a revolutionary new data-driven tool that’s powered by a new kind of music talent scout, A.I., which helped the award-winning music producer Alex da Kid find the perfect collaborator for his new song “Go”.

We trained the tool to understand the “lexicography of music,” grasping colloquial music terms like “sick,” “dope,” “true,” or “lit,” allowing Alex to speak freely and naturally to the tool. We then feed the tool Spotify’s artist database and a range of other data-sources such as social media data of artists, news articles and more to provide an understand of the type of personality and presence of the artist.

Based on Alex’s criteria, the tool -- dubbed “Artist Discovery with Watson” -- surfaced a female rapper: Rapsody. Alex selected Rapsody to complement the artist H.E.R.’s tone.

The resulting collaboration, the song "Go,”.

We documented the process and then shared the story and the song with the world.

The resulting collaboration, "Go,” debuted with a live performance at the Tribeca Film Festival, along with a film of the journey from initial tool development through to the completion of the song. The film was captured by award winning documentary filmmaker Amir Bar-Lev to showcase how IBM Watson can be applied to a working process like artist discovery.

The film was then launched to the world through social media and unloaded to a microsite that introduced the collaborators that work together to discover the perfect talent for our new song “Go”. This was supported by an integrated media buy promoting partnership and showcasing the innovative use of technology.

The song was launched through a media partnership with Spotify. Spotify included the song as a part of their promotional push for their platform highlighting the new song across their web, mobile and social apps.

The campaign was seen by over 2 million people via contextually relevant environments, such as Spotify and NYC digital OOH boards, where they engaged with our content to watch the short film or listen to the new hit song.

Nonetheless, the most impactful outcome was that we managed to use of data and A.I. to cut down Alex’s search for a new artist from months to days, truly showcasing the capabilities of IBM Watson to the world.