Tools
Descriptor/Styles
Returns descriptions of music styles recognized by Rovi Cloud Services.
Syntax
descriptor/styles?apikey=apikey&sig=sig [&styleids=styleids] [&format=format] [&country=country] [&language=language]
Request Example 1
- Request descriptions of all music styles.
Request Example 2
- Request a description of the music style American underground.
Request Example 3
- Request a description of the music style American underground in an XML response.
Request Parameters
Click to re-sort
| Parameter | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| apikey | Yes | Access code that authorizes your request for data from Rovi. |
| sig | Yes | A calculated, 32-hex-digit authorization code. To perform the calculation, execute the MD5 function on the concatenation of the following three ASCII strings:
Express the alpha hex digits as lower case. Perform the calculation at the time of each request to be sure it's within a five-minute window of the server time. If you're testing the call in a browser, use our online signature generator to perform the calculation. |
| country | No | Country the language parameter applies to. The current release of the API supports only US. |
| format | No | Format of the returned data: json or xml. The default is JSON. |
| language | No | Language of the response data. This request supports only en (English). |
| styleids | No | A specific style ID you want the description for. You can get style IDs from Descriptor/Genres or Descriptor/MusicGenres.
To specify multiple style IDs, specify a comma-separated list, like this: styleids=MA0000004479,MA0000005001,MA0000011879. |
Response
Response Header
| Response | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| build | string | The software release level of the API. |
| code | integer | HTTP status code. See the status field for the text part of the code. |
| duration | integer | Server processing time in milliseconds. The difference between startTime and endTime. |
| endTime | string | When the server sent the response (UTC time). |
| messages | Message [ ] | Elements of a multiple HTTP response status message. |
| parameters | parameters | The parameters that were included in the request. |
| serverName | string | Name of the server that processed the request. |
| startTime | string | When the server received the request (UTC time). |
| status | string | Text part of the HTTP status code, which is shown in the code field. |
| view | view | Summary of items returned in a list of items. |
Response for Descriptor/Styles
| Response | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| styles | style [ ] | Style descriptions. |
JSON Response Example
- Here's the response to Request Example 2, which asks for a description of the music style American underground. The response is formatted with extra spaces and carriage returns to make it easy to read.
- Requested with http://api.rovicorp.com/data/v1.1/descriptor/styles?apikey=apikey&sig=sig&
styleids=MA0000012062.
{
"status":"ok",
"code":200,
"messages":null,
"build":"1.7.2.5",
"parameters":{
"apiKey":"4p1k3y",
"id":"MA0000012062"
},
"view":{
"total":1
},
"serverName":"tul1cssw2",
"startTime":"2011-10-07T22:36:35.8026324Z",
"endTime":"2011-10-07T22:36:35.8026324Z",
"duration":0,
"styles":[
{
"id":"MA0000012062",
"name":"American Underground",
"type":"Music Style",
"description":"At the dawn of the 1980s, as the first wave of punk bands began to play themselves out and the burgeoning alternative rock scene became increasingly dominated by British post-punk groups and polished new wave acts, a number of American bands began making new music that was a deliberate reaction to these developments. While weaned on punk, the American underground bands tended to favor a broader musical palate (hard rock, psychedelia, roots rock, folk-rock, and country-rock influences were the most common), though they continued to be dominated by electric guitars and a lyrical perspective that reached for intelligence without outward pretension. These bands also tended to favor independent labels and low-budget touring, as much out of necessity as any dominant philosophical tenant, since nearly all of them were ignored by major labels, forcing them to find other avenues to present their music. While they were progenitors of the hardcore punk scene, [roviLink=\"MN\"]Black Flag[\/roviLink] were also the primary trailblazers of the American underground scene, in effect creating an indie touring network through several years of relentless roadwork; the band’s label, [roviLink=\"MN\"]SST[\/roviLink], was also a crucial influence, releasing records by [roviLink=\"MN\"]the Minutemen[\/roviLink], [roviLink=\"MN\"]the Meat Puppets[\/roviLink], [roviLink=\"MN\"]Husker Du[\/roviLink], [roviLink=\"MN\"]Dinosaur Jr.[\/roviLink], and other key bands who pushed the outsider’s aggression of punk into new and provocative directions. The Midwest proved to be a potent breeding ground for the American underground, with Minneapolis’s boozy but heartfelt [roviLink=\"MN\"]the Replacements[\/roviLink] and Chicago’s brutally loud [roviLink=\"MN\"]Big Black[\/roviLink] and [roviLink=\"MN\"]Naked Raygun[\/roviLink] winning sizable cult followings, while [roviLink=\"MN\"]Sonic Youth[\/roviLink] and [roviLink=\"MN\"]the Swans[\/roviLink] were the rulers of a dissonant East Coast enclave, Texas’s nomadic psych-noise merchants [roviLink=\"MN\"]the Butthole Surfers[\/roviLink] were leaving a trail of terror across the country, and Boston’s [roviLink=\"MN\"]Mission of Burma[\/roviLink] proved both powerfully influential and prescient during their short lifespan. In the mid-'80s, the initial commercial breakthrough of [roviLink=\"MN\"]R.E.M.[\/roviLink] (who were tangential members of the scene despite their presence on the semi-major label [roviLink=\"MN\"] I.R.S.[\/roviLink]) at once gave the American underground new visibility and put the first chinks into the armor of the close-knit community. By the early '90s, the hard work and relative success of several important American underground bands ultimately proved to be the movement’s undoing; many of the movement’s major acts were wooed away by major labels (where most failed to find sizable audiences in the United States, though some fared better in Europe), and with the breakthrough of [roviLink=\"MN\"]Nirvana[\/roviLink] at the end of 1991, the underground began to splinter, for the most part dividing into alternative rock (for the more commercially accessible bands) and indie rock (for their less compromising counterparts).",
"genre":{
"id":"MA0000002613",
"name":"Pop\/Rock"
},
"subgenre":{
"id":"MA0000012230",
"name":"Alternative\/Indie Rock"
}
}
]
}
"status":"ok",
"code":200,
"messages":null,
"build":"1.7.2.5",
"parameters":{
"apiKey":"4p1k3y",
"id":"MA0000012062"
},
"view":{
"total":1
},
"serverName":"tul1cssw2",
"startTime":"2011-10-07T22:36:35.8026324Z",
"endTime":"2011-10-07T22:36:35.8026324Z",
"duration":0,
"styles":[
{
"id":"MA0000012062",
"name":"American Underground",
"type":"Music Style",
"description":"At the dawn of the 1980s, as the first wave of punk bands began to play themselves out and the burgeoning alternative rock scene became increasingly dominated by British post-punk groups and polished new wave acts, a number of American bands began making new music that was a deliberate reaction to these developments. While weaned on punk, the American underground bands tended to favor a broader musical palate (hard rock, psychedelia, roots rock, folk-rock, and country-rock influences were the most common), though they continued to be dominated by electric guitars and a lyrical perspective that reached for intelligence without outward pretension. These bands also tended to favor independent labels and low-budget touring, as much out of necessity as any dominant philosophical tenant, since nearly all of them were ignored by major labels, forcing them to find other avenues to present their music. While they were progenitors of the hardcore punk scene, [roviLink=\"MN\"]Black Flag[\/roviLink] were also the primary trailblazers of the American underground scene, in effect creating an indie touring network through several years of relentless roadwork; the band’s label, [roviLink=\"MN\"]SST[\/roviLink], was also a crucial influence, releasing records by [roviLink=\"MN\"]the Minutemen[\/roviLink], [roviLink=\"MN\"]the Meat Puppets[\/roviLink], [roviLink=\"MN\"]Husker Du[\/roviLink], [roviLink=\"MN\"]Dinosaur Jr.[\/roviLink], and other key bands who pushed the outsider’s aggression of punk into new and provocative directions. The Midwest proved to be a potent breeding ground for the American underground, with Minneapolis’s boozy but heartfelt [roviLink=\"MN\"]the Replacements[\/roviLink] and Chicago’s brutally loud [roviLink=\"MN\"]Big Black[\/roviLink] and [roviLink=\"MN\"]Naked Raygun[\/roviLink] winning sizable cult followings, while [roviLink=\"MN\"]Sonic Youth[\/roviLink] and [roviLink=\"MN\"]the Swans[\/roviLink] were the rulers of a dissonant East Coast enclave, Texas’s nomadic psych-noise merchants [roviLink=\"MN\"]the Butthole Surfers[\/roviLink] were leaving a trail of terror across the country, and Boston’s [roviLink=\"MN\"]Mission of Burma[\/roviLink] proved both powerfully influential and prescient during their short lifespan. In the mid-'80s, the initial commercial breakthrough of [roviLink=\"MN\"]R.E.M.[\/roviLink] (who were tangential members of the scene despite their presence on the semi-major label [roviLink=\"MN\"] I.R.S.[\/roviLink]) at once gave the American underground new visibility and put the first chinks into the armor of the close-knit community. By the early '90s, the hard work and relative success of several important American underground bands ultimately proved to be the movement’s undoing; many of the movement’s major acts were wooed away by major labels (where most failed to find sizable audiences in the United States, though some fared better in Europe), and with the breakthrough of [roviLink=\"MN\"]Nirvana[\/roviLink] at the end of 1991, the underground began to splinter, for the most part dividing into alternative rock (for the more commercially accessible bands) and indie rock (for their less compromising counterparts).",
"genre":{
"id":"MA0000002613",
"name":"Pop\/Rock"
},
"subgenre":{
"id":"MA0000012230",
"name":"Alternative\/Indie Rock"
}
}
]
}
XML Response Example
- Here's the response to Request Example 3, which asks for a description of the music style American underground in an XML response.
- Requested with http://api.rovicorp.com/data/v1.1/descriptor/styles?apikey=apikey&sig=sig&
styleids=MA0000012062&format=xml.
<Styles xmlns="com.rovicorp.metadataservice" xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<status>ok</status>
<code>200</code>
<messages i:nil="true"/>
<build>1.7.2.5</build>
<parameters>
<apiKey>4p1k3y</apiKey>
<id>MA0000012062</id>
<format>xml</format>
</parameters>
<view>
<total>1</total>
</view>
<serverName>tul1cssw2</serverName>
<startTime>2011-10-07T22:36:10.2248348Z</startTime>
<endTime>2011-10-07T22:36:10.2248348Z</endTime>
<duration>0</duration>
<styles>
<style>
<id>MA0000012062</id>
<name>American Underground</name>
<type>Music Style</type>
<description>At the dawn of the 1980s, as the first wave of punk bands began to play themselves out and the burgeoning alternative rock scene became increasingly dominated by British post-punk groups and polished new wave acts, a number of American bands began making new music that was a deliberate reaction to these developments. While weaned on punk, the American underground bands tended to favor a broader musical palate (hard rock, psychedelia, roots rock, folk-rock, and country-rock influences were the most common), though they continued to be dominated by electric guitars and a lyrical perspective that reached for intelligence without outward pretension. These bands also tended to favor independent labels and low-budget touring, as much out of necessity as any dominant philosophical tenant, since nearly all of them were ignored by major labels, forcing them to find other avenues to present their music. While they were progenitors of the hardcore punk scene, [roviLink="MN"]Black Flag[/roviLink] were also the primary trailblazers of the American underground scene, in effect creating an indie touring network through several years of relentless roadwork; the band’s label, [roviLink="MN"]SST[/roviLink], was also a crucial influence, releasing records by [roviLink="MN"]the Minutemen[/roviLink], [roviLink="MN"]the Meat Puppets[/roviLink], [roviLink="MN"]Husker Du[/roviLink], [roviLink="MN"]Dinosaur Jr.[/roviLink], and other key bands who pushed the outsider’s aggression of punk into new and provocative directions. The Midwest proved to be a potent breeding ground for the American underground, with Minneapolis’s boozy but heartfelt [roviLink="MN"]the Replacements[/roviLink] and Chicago’s brutally loud [roviLink="MN"]Big Black[/roviLink] and [roviLink="MN"]Naked Raygun[/roviLink] winning sizable cult followings, while [roviLink="MN"]Sonic Youth[/roviLink] and [roviLink="MN"]the Swans[/roviLink] were the rulers of a dissonant East Coast enclave, Texas’s nomadic psych-noise merchants [roviLink="MN"]the Butthole Surfers[/roviLink] were leaving a trail of terror across the country, and Boston’s [roviLink="MN"]Mission of Burma[/roviLink] proved both powerfully influential and prescient during their short lifespan. In the mid-'80s, the initial commercial breakthrough of [roviLink="MN"]R.E.M.[/roviLink] (who were tangential members of the scene despite their presence on the semi-major label [roviLink="MN"] I.R.S.[/roviLink]) at once gave the American underground new visibility and put the first chinks into the armor of the close-knit community. By the early '90s, the hard work and relative success of several important American underground bands ultimately proved to be the movement’s undoing; many of the movement’s major acts were wooed away by major labels (where most failed to find sizable audiences in the United States, though some fared better in Europe), and with the breakthrough of [roviLink="MN"]Nirvana[/roviLink] at the end of 1991, the underground began to splinter, for the most part dividing into alternative rock (for the more commercially accessible bands) and indie rock (for their less compromising counterparts).</description>
<genre>
<id>MA0000002613</id>
<name>Pop/Rock</name>
</genre>
<subgenre>
<id>MA0000012230</id>
<name>Alternative/Indie Rock</name>
</subgenre>
</style>
</styles>
</Styles>
<status>ok</status>
<code>200</code>
<messages i:nil="true"/>
<build>1.7.2.5</build>
<parameters>
<apiKey>4p1k3y</apiKey>
<id>MA0000012062</id>
<format>xml</format>
</parameters>
<view>
<total>1</total>
</view>
<serverName>tul1cssw2</serverName>
<startTime>2011-10-07T22:36:10.2248348Z</startTime>
<endTime>2011-10-07T22:36:10.2248348Z</endTime>
<duration>0</duration>
<styles>
<style>
<id>MA0000012062</id>
<name>American Underground</name>
<type>Music Style</type>
<description>At the dawn of the 1980s, as the first wave of punk bands began to play themselves out and the burgeoning alternative rock scene became increasingly dominated by British post-punk groups and polished new wave acts, a number of American bands began making new music that was a deliberate reaction to these developments. While weaned on punk, the American underground bands tended to favor a broader musical palate (hard rock, psychedelia, roots rock, folk-rock, and country-rock influences were the most common), though they continued to be dominated by electric guitars and a lyrical perspective that reached for intelligence without outward pretension. These bands also tended to favor independent labels and low-budget touring, as much out of necessity as any dominant philosophical tenant, since nearly all of them were ignored by major labels, forcing them to find other avenues to present their music. While they were progenitors of the hardcore punk scene, [roviLink="MN"]Black Flag[/roviLink] were also the primary trailblazers of the American underground scene, in effect creating an indie touring network through several years of relentless roadwork; the band’s label, [roviLink="MN"]SST[/roviLink], was also a crucial influence, releasing records by [roviLink="MN"]the Minutemen[/roviLink], [roviLink="MN"]the Meat Puppets[/roviLink], [roviLink="MN"]Husker Du[/roviLink], [roviLink="MN"]Dinosaur Jr.[/roviLink], and other key bands who pushed the outsider’s aggression of punk into new and provocative directions. The Midwest proved to be a potent breeding ground for the American underground, with Minneapolis’s boozy but heartfelt [roviLink="MN"]the Replacements[/roviLink] and Chicago’s brutally loud [roviLink="MN"]Big Black[/roviLink] and [roviLink="MN"]Naked Raygun[/roviLink] winning sizable cult followings, while [roviLink="MN"]Sonic Youth[/roviLink] and [roviLink="MN"]the Swans[/roviLink] were the rulers of a dissonant East Coast enclave, Texas’s nomadic psych-noise merchants [roviLink="MN"]the Butthole Surfers[/roviLink] were leaving a trail of terror across the country, and Boston’s [roviLink="MN"]Mission of Burma[/roviLink] proved both powerfully influential and prescient during their short lifespan. In the mid-'80s, the initial commercial breakthrough of [roviLink="MN"]R.E.M.[/roviLink] (who were tangential members of the scene despite their presence on the semi-major label [roviLink="MN"] I.R.S.[/roviLink]) at once gave the American underground new visibility and put the first chinks into the armor of the close-knit community. By the early '90s, the hard work and relative success of several important American underground bands ultimately proved to be the movement’s undoing; many of the movement’s major acts were wooed away by major labels (where most failed to find sizable audiences in the United States, though some fared better in Europe), and with the breakthrough of [roviLink="MN"]Nirvana[/roviLink] at the end of 1991, the underground began to splinter, for the most part dividing into alternative rock (for the more commercially accessible bands) and indie rock (for their less compromising counterparts).</description>
<genre>
<id>MA0000002613</id>
<name>Pop/Rock</name>
</genre>
<subgenre>
<id>MA0000012230</id>
<name>Alternative/Indie Rock</name>
</subgenre>
</style>
</styles>
</Styles>