Topic: Last FM (Read 11334 times)

Paper Beats Rock · « **on:** 16 Jan 2006, 01:59 »

I see that one of the most common thread topics in the music forum seems to be newbies asking how they should get started on the indie music genre. There's also a lot of 'recommend me a song/album by (such and such band)' threads.

One piece of advice that doesn't come up as often as it should is Get A Last FM Profile.

For those that don't know it's a music community website - http://www.last.fm/ You start by downloading a plugin for the music player that you use and then it sends off details of each track you listen to. After a while it makes charts, gives you recommendations, puts you in contact with your musical neighbours (people who have similar tastes) and gives you radio stations to listen to based on what kind of music you like.

Jeph has one, he gives his username at the top of RL page, so you can spy on what he's listening to or you can look at people who's music taste you trust to see if they're listening to anything good. If you find out about a new musician you can listen to their radio station (if they have one, many do) and check out the charts to see which of their albums/tracks are rated the highest.

Anybody have anything to add? Many people used to their advantage? I know I have. Has anyone got any goot reasons not use it?

Spartan Pho3nix · « **Reply #1 on:** 16 Jan 2006, 02:16 »

Nope. My sig pic leads to mine. I love it. I don't really use it for discovering new music, it's just fun to view weekly trends and my friends sites and stuff.

zoidbergslo · « **Reply #2 on:** 16 Jan 2006, 03:34 »

Questionable Content has its own group link.

My profile totally sucks

MilkmanDan · « **Reply #3 on:** 16 Jan 2006, 03:58 »

So, I guess we listen to a lot of indie, huh?

Paper Beats Rock · « **Reply #4 on:** 16 Jan 2006, 04:12 »

Well there we go, there's the answer to all the 'recommendation' threads that get started. Over two hundred artists and two hundred tracks, in order of how often they are listened to by over two hundred people.

Having said all of this, it kinda irks me a little how people turn up and start saying that they want to get into the indie scene and where should they start. It's basically just saying that they want to be cool, so they'll listen to the music that cool people listen to. It's almost as if they're actively trying to make their lifes into something like the QC strip.

yelley · « **Reply #5 on:** 16 Jan 2006, 04:28 »

so people want to get into the indie scene and don't know where to start. kinda makes sense since it isn't exactly music that you can just switch the radio station and listen to... you sort of need to seek it out and if you've only been listening to mainstream stuff that isn't the easiest thing to do. so what's wrong with asking for a little help? i don't think of it as 'oooh i wanna be a cool kid and listen to indie music because all the cool kids are'... i asked the same question myself a few years ago, but in my mind it was more like 'wow there's a lot of music out there that i don't know and i might like it better than that junk kelly clarkson song i keep hearing.'

Paper Beats Rock · « **Reply #6 on:** 16 Jan 2006, 04:35 »

But in most cases they don't even know where to start! If they were saying something like 'hey, I heard modest mouse on the OC and I think they're really good, what other indie music would I like' then it would be better, because at least then they're starting from something that they like. What I mean is that if someone is going in completely blind then how do they even know that they like the music? Yet they seem so determined that they're going to get into 'the scene', so it's the image of 'the scene' that seems to be drawing them it.

Spartan Pho3nix · « **Reply #7 on:** 16 Jan 2006, 09:54 »

My overall artists.

StrikeThePostman · « **Reply #8 on:** 16 Jan 2006, 11:20 »

I am seriously in love with this website.

Those are last week's 5 most played artists for me. I haven't discovered much new music through it either, but I do enjoy the radio.

Micolithe · « **Reply #9 on:** 16 Jan 2006, 13:47 »

http://last.fm/user/Micolithe

Soidanae · « **Reply #10 on:** 16 Jan 2006, 13:51 »

http://www.last.fm/user/soidanae/

Disgustipated · « **Reply #11 on:** 16 Jan 2006, 20:24 »

see sig.

Its a great site, despite the occaisonal downtimes.

amok · « **Reply #12 on:** 17 Jan 2006, 09:45 »

jumping on the profile-whoring bandwagon - warning, I mostly listen to gay German synthpop so look elsewhere for indie recommendations

http://www.last.fm/user/silhouette_

the last.fm player is really good, you can feed it an artist and it makes a little radio station based on similar artists. so it's like Pandora but without the sucking

also the downtime is made more bearable by the fact that every time the site goes down, it almost inevitably has an awesome new thing on it when it comes back

sketchyjoe · « **Reply #13 on:** 17 Jan 2006, 10:45 »

I never really use mine for getting into new music though. It always recommends me crap.

Rubby · « **Reply #14 on:** 17 Jan 2006, 10:51 »

Quote from: Paper Beats Rock

But in most cases they don't even know where to start! If they were saying something like 'hey, I heard modest mouse on the OC and I think they're really good, what other indie music would I like' then it would be better, because at least then they're starting from something that they like. What I mean is that if someone is going in completely blind then how do they even know that they like the music? Yet they seem so determined that they're going to get into 'the scene', so it's the image of 'the scene' that seems to be drawing them it.

Yes, yes I agree. It's awfully superficial to just arbitrarily decide to listen to a genre. And also the scope of "indie" is huge. I really don't think you can just say "I wanna get into indie". However if something perks your interest, then by all means, go seak out similar bands. But to say something like "Tell me how to listen to indie" just seems...well...kinda masturbatory.

KharBevNor · « **Reply #15 on:** 17 Jan 2006, 11:04 »

I'm glad I'm not the only person who dislikes the 'ZOMG COOL PEOPLE MAEK ME INDIE SO I AM TEH COOL 2 !!1!1' threads.

I'm rather in love with last.fm. I'm a forum regular and subscriber there as well.

http://www.last.fm/user/KharBevNor/

Orkrist roolz.

Mel_of_hell · « **Reply #16 on:** 17 Jan 2006, 11:04 »

I get the feeling that a shared computer wouldn't be that great with Last.fm. Would it show the stuff that my dad listens to?

Oh yes, I just sit around listening to A Clockwork Orange soundtrack and Blondie.

Paper Beats Rock · « **Reply #17 on:** 17 Jan 2006, 11:05 »

You can turn the plug-in on and off so it doesn't have to record what other people listen to.

weevil · « **Reply #18 on:** 17 Jan 2006, 11:31 »

Paper Beats Rock · « **Reply #19 on:** 17 Jan 2006, 12:21 »

Depends on how much music you listen to but it starts making charts on Sundays I think.

nescience · « **Reply #20 on:** 17 Jan 2006, 13:02 »

This is last.fm for my work computer. I only recently set it up. I (not surprisingly) am really into the French:

http://www.last.fm/user/hermanorme/

Kai · « **Reply #21 on:** 17 Jan 2006, 14:29 »

I have a profile. It's fairly fancy, although since I switch songs alot and I think it records each song by the time you finish about half of it, It's not really completely accurate. Also, my brother listens to some of his stuff on here and it's also not accurate because his music sometimes sucks.

http://www.last.fm/user/TheLovableCynic/

MilkmanDan · « **Reply #22 on:** 17 Jan 2006, 14:35 »

Well that was fun. It would seem that I am having exactly zero effect on the QC Group top 10. Oh well.

StrikeThePostman · « **Reply #23 on:** 17 Jan 2006, 14:51 »

Quote from: sketchyjoe

I never really use mine for getting into new music though. It always recommends me crap.

Yeah, mine too. I find the only good recommendations I can get are from real people.

Paper Beats Rock · « **Reply #24 on:** 17 Jan 2006, 14:59 »

One of the problems with it is that it doesn't give a real representation of your favourite bands. It says my favourite band is Modest Mouse but that's only because I listened to four of their albums a few times each over Christmas, the more albums a band has the easier it is for them to get in your top ten. Also, it doesn't take into how account how long you spend listening to each album, GYBE only have a few tracks per album, how the hell are they going to get into a top ten?

amok · « **Reply #25 on:** 17 Jan 2006, 15:14 »

yeah I don't think you're meant to read that much into it. it's not supposed to show your favourite bands, but it's a good enough rough approximation

Paper Beats Rock · « **Reply #26 on:** 17 Jan 2006, 15:19 »

Well yeah, I'm just saying that its way of judging what you want is quite fallible so it's no wonder that it gives people incorrect recommendations. If it had a rating system like WMP it might work better.

Disgustipated · « **Reply #27 on:** 17 Jan 2006, 15:23 »

The best way to get recommendations is by browsing artist profiles by going to similar artists. The recommendation system is sometimes a little patchy, but I've got a few good things off it.

Spartan Pho3nix · « **Reply #28 on:** 17 Jan 2006, 16:17 »

GYBE and other bands of the sort can never be top ten. You'd have to leave it on all night.

StrikeThePostman · « **Reply #29 on:** 17 Jan 2006, 16:43 »

Quote from: Paper Beats Rock

Well yeah, I'm just saying that its way of judging what you want is quite fallible so it's no wonder that it gives people incorrect recommendations. If it had a rating system like WMP it might work better.

I'm not completely familiar with WMP, but wouldn't a rating system be futile too? I mean, if I listen to a band, I'm going to give it a high rating. Therefore it would be the same idea, giving recommendations based on everything I listen to.

Paper Beats Rock · « **Reply #30 on:** 18 Jan 2006, 01:05 »

I see your point, pretty much everything on my computer has three stars because if it didn't I would delete it off my computer. Thing is that some bands I listen to have a lot more five star tracks than others and it normally takes a few listens before an album really sinks in. Modest Mouse don't have that many five star tracks, it's just that I have four of their albums with quite a few tracks on each so I had to listen to them a lot to let them sink in.

amok · « **Reply #31 on:** 18 Jan 2006, 13:21 »

I can just never be bothered going through all my songs rating them. I mean, that's a lot of songs.

Everything on my mp3 player has 3* because I can't be arsed, except one or two whole albums have 1 or 5 because I clicked in the wrong place when transferring 'em.

www.gnod.net is still the best for online recommendations IMO, Pandora's never given me anything good.

McTaggart · « **Reply #32 on:** 18 Jan 2006, 19:11 »

Just rate them as they play. It'll take ages but if you're just doing it on the side it doesn't really matter does it?

Dalkaen · « **Reply #33 on:** 20 Jan 2006, 18:02 »

Yeah, Last.fm is really cool. I've been recommended some pretty cool stuff so far, some of which I got in a journal entry. Neutral Milk Hotel, for instance.

www.last.fm/user/Dalkaen

Kai · « **Reply #34 on:** 20 Jan 2006, 19:24 »

Quote from: McTaggart

Just rate them as they play. It'll take ages but if you're just doing it on the side it doesn't really matter does it?

It all really depends on how much you actually have, still. I mean, if you've got a good 17000 songs (like me) you jsut say fuck it.

Ophelia · « **Reply #35 on:** 01 Feb 2006, 12:47 »

Quote from: Disgustipated

The best way to get recommendations is by browsing artist profiles by going to similar artists. The recommendation system is sometimes a little patchy, but I've got a few good things off it.

I've only got a couple of good recommendations like that. I find that going to my musical neighbours lists and browsing those gives me far better results.

StrikeThePostman · « **Reply #36 on:** 01 Feb 2006, 14:06 »

I rip tons of ideas off of my neighbors, when I get around to it.

ImRonBurgundy? · « **Reply #37 on:** 01 Feb 2006, 14:37 »

Kid Modernist · « **Reply #38 on:** 01 Feb 2006, 16:57 »

Rizzo · « **Reply #39 on:** 02 Feb 2006, 04:36 »

How does one post these pictures of one's lastfm top 10? I see no button nor any such device on lastfm. PLZ HLP!
EDIT: I looked harder and found it!

EDIT2:That's just last week.

normz · « **Reply #40 on:** 02 Feb 2006, 05:50 »

yelley · « **Reply #41 on:** 02 Feb 2006, 08:35 »

eternie · « **Reply #42 on:** 02 Feb 2006, 09:34 »

I got into indie through Buffy, sad though that is. The music on Buffy caught my attention so I went to find more, and through a long process, here I am.

Felix · « **Reply #43 on:** 02 Feb 2006, 09:48 »

wigfried · « **Reply #44 on:** 02 Feb 2006, 12:55 »

boooring

nice, huh.

nescience · « **Reply #45 on:** 02 Feb 2006, 14:07 »

Uh, what?

Tinjessla · « **Reply #46 on:** 02 Feb 2006, 14:51 »

Glad i've got you addicted, paper_beats_rock.

AstroLad · « **Reply #47 on:** 03 Feb 2006, 01:51 »

Been on last.fm/audioscrobbler for a while, but haven't followed it too closely. This is a neat feature though.

Rizzo · « **Reply #48 on:** 03 Feb 2006, 02:13 »

Hey cool! Someone else listens to Yokko Kano.

AstroLad · « **Reply #49 on:** 03 Feb 2006, 07:33 »

Quote from: Rizzo

Hey cool! Someone else listens to Yokko Kano.

Yeah, my favorite thing about Yoko is just the incredible variety of music she creates. Excellent, fun music.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: Last FM (Read 11334 times)

Paper Beats Rock

Spartan Pho3nix

MilkmanDan

Paper Beats Rock

Paper Beats Rock

Spartan Pho3nix

StrikeThePostman

Micolithe

Disgustipated

Mel_of_hell

Paper Beats Rock

weevil

Paper Beats Rock

nescience

MilkmanDan

StrikeThePostman

Paper Beats Rock

Paper Beats Rock

Disgustipated

Spartan Pho3nix

StrikeThePostman

Paper Beats Rock

Dalkaen

Ophelia

StrikeThePostman

Kid Modernist

normz

eternie

wigfried

nescience

Tinjessla

AstroLad

AstroLad