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0 pointsdidymospl7y ago0 comments

last.fm

Although it didn't die yet, it certainly doesn't live up to its potential.

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5 comments · 3 top-level

EamonnMR7y ago· 2 in thread

I know last.fm entirely as a site that you get in search results for song titles and lyrics but forces you to log in. What service does it provide exactly? Was it just a very early streaming site with great seo?

bri3d7y ago

No, it started as a "scrobbling" service where you could send data about each track you listened to from the player and service of your choice. For a brief time it was a decent social network and recommendation tool, and it could have been a lot more with the volume of data collected but has languished.

GlennS7y ago

It was a streaming site which also had plugins for various media players to let you track what you listened to.

Then you could see tables of what you listened to most, see what your friends listened to, and get recommendations.

I think what happend is that last.fm failed to get deals with the recording companies, while Spotify succeeded (somehow?).

Nowadays I use Spotify like everyone else, but I feel like last.fm gave me much better recommendations. Probably because it had many many years or listening history.

1 more reply

Zoo3y7y ago

As someone who scrobbles everything I listen to, I love last.fm There's a lot of other active scrobblers and music communities who use their last.fm profiles to compare their music tastes. Developers have made their own scrobbling extensions for youtube and soundcloud, as an example. Other cool projects use last.fm's API to aggregate someone's scrobbles and make cool visual charts. Every online music community I know of uses some form of this data to share what they listen to.

ZoomZoomZoom7y ago

As an avid scrobbler I'd say their problem was they couldn't get their focus straight. The real power of the service is the data, the stats of the users. Instead of focusing on hardcore users who try to scrobble everything they listen to, last.fm tried to force the unnecessary streaming as a way to grow user base, at the same time limiting and not developing data analysis, social parts of the service ("neighbours"), closing groups, etc., alienating many along the way.

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