Quintero has since become a member of Music Intelligence Solutions' advisory board, so he is bound to have a positive take on the service.

CNN: The Spirit of Music: The Science of Pop

Jimena Llosa, General Manager EMEA of Music Intelligence Solutions, claims the company has thirty to forty clients in the record industry in Europe and the U.S., but she says she cannot reveal who they are, citing privacy issues.

CNN: The Spirit of Music: The Science of Pop

The emergence of hit prediction programs such as this -- New York-based Platinum Blue Music Intelligence provides a similar service -- raises concerns that the creative element of writing music would be eroded by breaking it down into mathematical algorithms.

CNN: The Spirit of Music: The Science of Pop

Ever since age 14, the 65-year-old inventor of everything from music synthesizers to speech recognition systems has aimed to create a true artificial intelligence, even going so far as to predict that machines would match human intelligence by 2029.

FORBES: Interview: How Ray Kurzweil Plans To Revolutionize Search At Google

He conducted the first radio search for extraterrestrial intelligence and helped construct the Voyager interstellar record, which carried pictures and music from Earth out into the cosmos.

FORBES: 02.18.08, 6:00 PM ET