How to sort music by genre automatically

Why genre tags don't work

• Too broad. Stores tag completely different tracks as Electronic, Dance, or House.
• Every source does it differently. The same track is Tech House in one place and House in another.
• DJs need much finer splits. And often what you need isn't a genre at all: energy, mood, set time, type of event.

A house DJ needs to tell warm-up grooves from peak-time bangers. No tag anywhere comes with those labels.

Three ways to sort

1. Listen to every track. Closest to your taste, but slow: 1,000 tracks at 30 seconds each is over 8 hours.
2. Go by tags or record labels. Fast, but it depends on what someone else wrote, and it never matches how you play.
3. Let a computer learn from your examples. Give each label a folder of sample tracks, it learns what each label sounds like, then sorts the rest.

How learning from examples works

The computer listens to each track and describes it by its sound: rhythm, energy, how heavy the bass is, how bright the sound is, how the layers stack up. From your samples, it learns what each of your labels usually "sounds like".

When a new track comes in, it compares the track with every label, suggests the closest one, and says how sure it is. Tracks that don't fit any label get flagged so you can decide.

Tips for accurate results

• Enough samples. For accurate suggestions, give each label about 100 sample tracks.
• Clear-cut samples. A track that sits between two labels confuses the learning. Leave the in-betweens out.
• Labels that sound different. If two labels differ only by artist or release year, the computer can't tell them apart, because it only hears the music.
• Always review the unsure ones. It's the small part, and the part worth your time.
• Weak label? Add samples to it, then train again.

Doing it with TaxonomyDJ

TaxonomyDJ does exactly the third approach, right on your computer:

1. In the Training tab, click Add label and choose a sample folder. Have a folder full of sorted folders? Click From parent folder.
2. It analyzes and learns on its own. After each training, a report shows how well each label is recognized.
3. In the Music Library tab, click Add music folder and choose Run full analysis. About 100 tracks a minute.
4. Click Quick filter ▸ Needs review, listen, and fix any wrong labels.
5. Copy or move files into folders by label, only when you click.

Your music never leaves your computer. Training and automatic labeling are part of Premium.