Philosophy & Sound

How Last.fm Changed The Way I Discover Music

Monday, 02. 23. 2009  –  Category: Music, Technology

At the top of my list of favorite websites and internet revolutions is Last.fm. When my friend introduced me to Last.fm in 2005, my initial reaction was, “but what’s the point?” Since then, I have introduced several of my own friends to Last.fm, much to the same reaction. Last.fm is an online music network that keeps track of the songs you listen to in iTunes and on your iPod. Last.fm works behind the scenes while you listen to music. All you have to do is install a plugin which allows iTunes to communicate with Last.fm, or what they call “scrobbling” songs to the Last.fm server. By tracking the music you listen to, Last.fm can display charts of your most listened to artists and songs in different timeframes. For example, according to my Last.fm profile, the artist whom I have listened to the most in the last 3 months is John Mayer. The band whom I have listened to most overall, however, is Death Cab For Cutie. Last.fm also tells me that I have listened to a total of 44,075 tracks since I started scrobbling, which averages to about 36 tracks per day.

But I quickly learned that Last.fm does much, much more than simply keep track of the music that you listen to.Based on your top artists and tracks, Last.fm recommends other similar artists that you may enjoy. At the click of a button, you can listen to one of these recommended artists and other similar music. These customizable Last.fm “radios” can be narrowed down to genres, artists, or even users. For example, I can listen to any one of my friends’ favorite music by navigating to their Last.fm profile and clicking the play button at the top right of their page. This is a great way to keep updated on any new popular bands among your friends.

Last.fm also keeps a list of your “neighbors” or users from the entire Last.fm community whose music is most like your own. This is another neat way to discover music; if one of my neighbors has been listening to a new band that I have never heard of, chances are I might like it, since Last.fm has already determined that we share an overall taste in music.

At this point, many people ask, well why not just use Pandora Radio, a free online radio that learns what music you like by rating each individual song? First, Last.fm, unlike Pandora, is a complete music community, not simply a smart online radio. Second, you need not manually rate songs in Last.fm as you would in Pandora; Last.fm automatically determines your favorite music by what you listen to every day in on your computer or MP3 player.

After more than 3 years of using Last.fm, I am still discovering new features that make the act of listening to music more than just pressing play. One new feature that I have just begun to notice is the “Events” feature. Based on your music taste and top artists, Last.fm recommends local events that you may enjoy. Last.fm can also keep track of all the events you have attended in the past. On these event pages, you can find where to buy tickets for an upcoming show, discuss the lineup, or even review the concert afterwards. Since Last.fm is a community, you can share the event with others by username or e-mail address. Another new feature that I have begun to use is the “tag” feature. By tagging a song with a genre or short description such as “upbeat” or “mellow”, songs of the same tag are grouped together. You can then listen to all the music that you have tagged with a certain word, or listen to the radio by tag. For example by entering the tag “mellow” in the radio, I will hear songs that users across the community have tagged “mellow”.

So if you’re an avid music listener, and enjoy discovering new artists, give Last.fm a shot. It took me a few months to really understand how neat Last.fm really is. Learn more at http://www.last.fm and be sure to add me as a friend!

Tags: death cab for cutie, john mayer, last.fm, pandora