topic Re: Valence as a measure of happiness in Spotify for Developers

Valence as a measure of happiness

DonSolare — Sun, 11 Feb 2018 13:45:49 GMT

In Spotify's API is something called Valence, that describes the musical positiveness conveyed by a track. Tracks with high valence sound more positive (happy, cheerful, euphoric), while tracks with low valence sound more negative (sad, depressed, angry).

But how can Spotify's API measure a "happy feeling" with numbers? can you give me some additional information about the algorithm involved? Thanks!

Re: Valence as a measure of happiness

erichie — Wed, 14 Feb 2018 20:36:02 GMT

This is an attribute that we compute based on a wide variety of inputs. Generally speaking, we use a set of agreed upon ideas of what happy or positive music sounds like.
This was originally developed at The Echo Nest.
For more, read:
https://beta.developer.spotify.com/documentation/web-api/reference/tracks/get-several-audio-features/
https://web.archive.org/web/20170422195736/http://blog.echonest.com/post/66097438564/plotting-musics-emotional-valence-1950-2013

Re: Valence as a measure of happiness

caitlina88 — Fri, 26 Jun 2020 22:05:04 GMT

I was wondering if someone could elaborate more on this topic? I visited both links and none of them say specifically how valence is measured, other than by "advanced-computer-learning." How is Spotify defining valence? Minor/major key? Lyrical content? Any information you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Re: Valence as a measure of happiness

alejandroheca — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 13:30:40 GMT

Hi! Did you ever get an answer to this issue? I am working on a research project and we are also interested in using the valence.

Re: Valence as a measure of happiness

caitlina88 — Thu, 18 Feb 2021 14:22:55 GMT

Hey there. No, I never got a response, sadly. If you learn anything about this measure, I’d love to hear about it!

Re: Valence as a measure of happiness

serkansulun3 — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 08:20:36 GMT

nvm

Re: Valence as a measure of happiness

GYB — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 03:17:24 GMT

nvm (sorry it wont let me just delete the post)

Re: Valence as a measure of happiness

Ximzend — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 06:06:19 GMT

Training a model like a (deep) neural network is against the Developer Policy.