I just got off the phone to Dale talking about Cyclic #13. We got on to the topic of Last.fm. Cyclic has a group on Last.fm (join us!) and my profile is there now too.
Last.fm tracks everything you listen to on your computer and logs it. Then it hooks you up with other people who listen to similar things. It makes recommendations and all the rest. Typical social networking software – its particularly cool because it is so seamless and painless. (yes, I know some mega corporation is going to buy all this ‘profile data’).
The latter seemingly proved by all the recent articles about how downloading creates apathy, that ennui of abundance syndrome… I’m not sure if the polar thing’s gone away completely: I seem to remember reading a few years about how in the UK the bashment/grime hated nu-metallers and vice versa. But far more common, encouraged by iPod/downloading, is a sort of mild omnivorousness (Burchill’s “rock’s rich tapestry”, except it extends way beyond rock now), liking a little bit of this and that, with the fan losing its fanaticism and becoming more like the generalist critic who doles out praise evenhandedly across a broad spectrum, emotional investments distributed judiciously across a portfolio of pleasures. [from Reynolds]
Dale and I started looking up Dale’s band The Herd. On last.fm we could see exactly who had listened to The Herd, which songs of theirs they liked the best. But most amusing/interstingly, we could also find out the other music that peoople who listened to The Herd also played.
We went a did a few more experiments . . . . people have VERY diverse tastes, even scary ones.
The fan IS losing its fanatacism.
If you don’t believe me, check it for yourself. (Here is someone who likes Jethro Tull but also has The Herd in his top 10 played artists and is rated by Last.fm as their current biggest fan/biggest player)
Remember Last.fm logs only things that are actually played . . . it logs once you get about 75% through a track. This isn’t background music, this is foregrounded conscious listener choices – or at least what is on their iPod.
It reminded me of Andrew Chuter talking to me a few months ago about the feeling he got when he picked up one of his high school students’ iPods and checked the contents – a whole heap of diverse music, seemingly almost random in selection to people our age.
