1. A method for processing queries by singing, humming or whistling against a database of music items, including: building an identification database stored in computer readable memory of reference keys to music items, including establishing a web site on a server accessible to a multiplicity of individual contributors; providing an incentive for the multiplicity of individual contributors to sing, hum or whistle themes that they select from music items that they select; through the web site, capturing in tags the sung, hummed or whistled themes of the music items selected by a multiplicity of incentivized contributors and associated by the incentivized contributors with the music items, processing the tags to develop reference keys that characterize sampled pitch and other properties of the tags, wherein the processing the tag further includes: splitting the tag into frames; processing each frame, including detecting the pitch contour of the frame, marking note boundaries, determining pitch values for each note, and quantizing the pitch value of each note; and assembling processed frames into a key identifying the tag; and storing at least the reference keys and associations of the reference keys to the music items; and retrieving a desired music item using the identification database by comparing a query key to the multiplicity of reference keys, including capturing in a query tag a human rendition by singing, humming or whistling of a theme from a desired music item, processing the query tag to develop a query key that characterizes the sampled pitch and other properties of the query tag; and automatically aligning and comparing the query key to the reference keys stored in the database to identify the desired item of music.
1. A method for processing queries by singing, humming or whistling against a database of music items, including: building an identification database stored in computer readable memory of reference keys to music items, including establishing a web site on a server accessible to a multiplicity of individual contributors; providing an incentive for the multiplicity of individual contributors to sing, hum or whistle themes that they select from music items that they select; through the web site, capturing in tags the sung, hummed or whistled themes of the music items selected by a multiplicity of incentivized contributors and associated by the incentivized contributors with the music items, processing the tags to develop reference keys that characterize sampled pitch and other properties of the tags, wherein the processing the tag further includes: splitting the tag into frames; processing each frame, including detecting the pitch contour of the frame, marking note boundaries, determining pitch values for each note, and quantizing the pitch value of each note; and assembling processed frames into a key identifying the tag; and storing at least the reference keys and associations of the reference keys to the music items; and retrieving a desired music item using the identification database by comparing a query key to the multiplicity of reference keys, including capturing in a query tag a human rendition by singing, humming or whistling of a theme from a desired music item, processing the query tag to develop a query key that characterizes the sampled pitch and other properties of the query tag; and automatically aligning and comparing the query key to the reference keys stored in the database to identify the desired item of music. 3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the monetary incentive is based on a measure of the effectiveness of the contributed tag.