Automating the Composition of Popular Music: The Search For a Hit

Automated composition may be regarded as a search within the space defined by a datatype representing musical compositions. We develop a hierarchical representation of popular music compositions with the aim of increasing the probability of finding potential hits. Musical
variations are calculated as difference vectors between patterns extracted from a given set of existing compositions. These form the basis of the
mutation operator within an evolutionary algorithm search.

Key words: automated composition, demotic, evolutionary algorithm, lead sheet, popular music, representation, search space.