# Convolutional Recurrent Neural Networks for Music Classification

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1609.04243 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.04243/

## Key facts

- Cited by 49 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 14 Sep 2016.

## Built on by (most cited first, 30 of 49)

- [Google Neural Network Models for Edge Devices: Analyzing and Mitigating Machine Learning Inference Bottlenecks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.14320/) (2021)
- [MusicAgent: An AI Agent for Music Understanding and Generation with Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.11954/) (2023)
- [Reverse engineering recurrent neural networks with Jacobian switching linear dynamical systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.01256/) (2021)
- [The iNaturalist Sounds Dataset](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.00343/) (2025)
- [SpecTNT: a Time-Frequency Transformer for Music Audio](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.09127/) (2021)
- [Contrastive Learning with Positive-Negative Frame Mask for Music Representation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.09129/) (2022)
- [Natural Language Processing Methods for Symbolic Music Generation and Information Retrieval: a Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.17467/) (2024)
- [A Dataset for Greek Traditional and Folk Music: Lyra](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.11479/) (2022)
- [Multi-view Audio and Music Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.02420/) (2021)
- [Mitigating Edge Machine Learning Inference Bottlenecks: An Empirical Study on Accelerating Google Edge Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.00768/) (2021)
- [VPN: Video Provenance Network for Robust Content Attribution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.10038/) (2021)
- [Graph Convolutional Neural Networks with Diverse Negative Samples via Decomposed Determinant Point Processes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.02055/) (2022)
- [POPNASv3: a Pareto-Optimal Neural Architecture Search Solution for Image and Time Series Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.06735/) (2022)
- [Melon Playlist Dataset: a public dataset for audio-based playlist generation and music tagging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.00201/) (2021)
- [Driving Style Representation in Convolutional Recurrent Neural Network Model of Driver Identification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.05843/) (2021)
- [Towards Proper Contrastive Self-supervised Learning Strategies For Music Audio Representation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.04471/) (2022)
- [Joint Music and Language Attention Models for Zero-shot Music Tagging](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.10159/) (2023)
- [Visualizing Ensemble Predictions of Music Mood](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.07627/) (2021)
- [Exploiting Negative Preference in Content-based Music Recommendation with Contrastive Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.13909/) (2022)
- [A Comparative Study of Speaker Role Identification in Air Traffic Communication Using Deep Learning Approaches](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.02041/) (2021)
- [Semi-supervised music emotion recognition using noisy student training and harmonic pitch class profiles](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2112.00702/) (2021)
- [Enemy Spotted: in-game gun sound dataset for gunshot classification and localization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.05917/) (2022)
- [jazznet: A Dataset of Fundamental Piano Patterns for Music Audio Machine Learning Research](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.08632/) (2023)
- [Dual input neural networks for positional sound source localization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.04169/) (2023)
- [AudRandAug: Random Image Augmentations for Audio Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2309.04762/) (2023)
- [Artificially Synthesising Data for Audio Classification and Segmentation to Improve Speech and Music Detection in Radio Broadcast](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.09959/) (2021)
- [CRNNTL: convolutional recurrent neural network and transfer learning for QSAR modelling](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2109.03309/) (2021)
- [Polyphonic pitch detection with convolutional recurrent neural networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.02115/) (2022)
- [A Study on Broadcast Networks for Music Genre Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.12086/) (2022)
- [PrimaDNN': A Characteristics-aware DNN Customization for Singing Technique Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.14191/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We introduce a convolutional recurrent neural network (CRNN) for music tagging. CRNNs take advantage of convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for local feature extraction and recurrent neural networks for temporal summarisation of the extracted features. We compare CRNN with three CNN structures that have been used for music tagging while controlling the number of parameters with respect to their performance and training time per sample. Overall, we found that CRNNs show a strong performance with respect to the number of parameter and training time, indicating the effectiveness of its hybrid structure in music feature extraction and feature summarisation.