The Echo Nest partners with Getty Images

We can hope to see more pictures of artists and bands in music services that use music intelligence data from The Echo Nest. (See part 1 and part 2 of RAIN’s interview with CEO Jim Lucchese.) The music data company has partnered with Getty Images to make it easy for music platforms to enrich their listening experiences with pictures.

Today, for the most part, track playback is accompanied by a single image, usually album art. The Echo Nest, which powers the radio-style playlists across hundreds of music services, is bundling Getty Images photos into its intelligence layer. Using The Echo Nest’s API (application programming interface — the on-ramp to The Echo Nest’s music intelligence database), clients can build new features that automatically bring appropriate photos into the listener’s view. 

The partnership is an interesting extension of The Echo Nest’s core product, which is music analysis and contextual understanding. It fits into the company’s Dynamic Music Data program, which supplements the musical brain with artist information and social tools.