First Twittering and Tweeting, Now Scrobbling and Syncing

Music is really hard for me to write about. Every summer I set myself a writing assignment, just to keep my pen in. Last summer it was to write about the bands I love, the songs I love and what they all mean to me. As a project it failed miserably. At the time I had no clue why. A friend that was an even more adoring music fan than me (if that’s possible) shared this quote from Elvis Costello with me “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture - it's a really stupid thing to want to do." A year later, having read a lot of music reviews and super interesting books on musicians I can only agree with part of that quote…for me it’s a really stupid thing to do! But here I am going to try and write about enjoying and sharing music, not about music itself so maybe I can squeeze by.

The music tracking program Last.Fm quite simply tracks what you listen too, and suggests bands, genres, and similar listeners for you to connect with. Some bands offer free downloads of their music, and as your fave bands emerge Last.Fm creates an online streaming personalized “radio station” for you to listen too. Another cool feature is for every song you listen to a band bio, similar bands, and even upcoming concert details appears in the window. The best part is that the whole deal is completely free!

Unlike Facebook or MySpace, sites that necessitate constant updating, tweaking and upkeep Last.Fm is completely automated, all you have to do is download the software and continue listening like you always have. Then again you can take the recommendations and free downloads and utilize them to grow and expand your musical tastes.

Each song you listen to on your music player (I use an iPod) is played back to the server or “scrobbled”. Since I joined Last.Fm in August of last year I have scrobbled 21,958 tracks, and seen the axis of my musical world tilting and shifting into new levels. Looking back at my weekly charts from the beginning I was listening to Good Charlotte, Weezer, Kings of Leon and Breaking Benjamin. Almost a year later I am still listening to Weezer, but I have also discovered local bands such as the Features, Senryu and Coral Castles. I was also pointed towards Radiohead, the Beetles, Queen, Regina Spektor and Belle and Sebastian.

Last.Fm, though not completely responsible for my shift from fluffy, main stream normalcy to classic, indie original tunes helped direct a completely naïve “music lover” toward some music worthy of my super angst.

Last.Fm includes some great tools to expand your networking by comparing your musical tastes. Widgets for your Myspace, BlogSpot or Facebook are great for finding common ground. I also think music facilitates a great learning environment, and Last.Fm has a great online radio station that allows you to type in your favorite artist and then hear song after song from the artist, and similar musicians, a great way to pass the time while toiling away on Elearn. For instance, type in “Radiohead” and you will get Smashing Pumpkins, Cold Play, Incubus…and many more. All of this is free, but for very little you could subscribe to Last.Fm and have a broader range of radio stations.

So, just like any “obsession” you can take it as far as you want to go, but Last.Fm is truly a social revolution.

http://www.last.fm/

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