2002: Last.fm and Audioscrobbler Herald the Social Web

Post by emsixteen » Mon, Dec 15, 2025, 7:04 AM UTC

postalcoder wrote: post #80

sthuck wrote: post #35

The best ”algorithm” for discovering new music was digging through profiles on last.fm back when the social functions of the site were still active. Sure, it was a lot of manual work, but the results were amazing. It wasn't completely blind, I found that people I had high similarity with, it was more likely I'll like what they like, even across different genres. Sometimes people were nice and took the effort to recom…

what.cd was the world's greatest music discovery mechanism. You could always ask for recommendations in the forums or in the comment thread of the albums pages. The community always delivered. I miss that type of camaraderie. I also spent more on music as a member of that community than since it has been disbanded.

Post by smrq » Mon, Dec 15, 2025, 7:24 AM UTC

smileson2 wrote: post #82

quirino wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The best way to discover music nowadays is RateYourMusic. I go to an album I like, read a couple reviews to find like-minded people and check out their profiles. They often have lists with their favorite albums. The album chart queries are also incredible. The site has a very detailed system of genres and descriptors so you can find exactly what you want.

my method is just internet/local radio stations ( there are many ) and browsing the lineups at venues near me simple, very little time investment required and avoids most modern fuckery

Post by 71bw » Mon, Dec 15, 2025, 7:32 AM UTC

kaizenb wrote: post #3

Still a member of Last.fm, scrobbling since 4 Jan 2007 with 283,262 scrobbles.

Post by xvedejas » Mon, Dec 15, 2025, 7:50 AM UTC

sthuck wrote: post #35

The best ”algorithm” for discovering new music was digging through profiles on last.fm back when the social functions of the site were still active. Sure, it was a lot of manual work, but the results were amazing. It wasn't completely blind, I found that people I had high similarity with, it was more likely I'll like what they like, even across different genres. Sometimes people were nice and took the effort to recom…

Post by Semaphor » Mon, Dec 15, 2025, 7:57 AM UTC

relaxing wrote: post #83

Triphibian wrote: post #66

I find it funny and sad that people get so excited about those Wrapped year-end things on Spotify when these companies are basically withholding all this data all year long and then pretend like it's a special treat when they doll out a peek at it once a year. It feels to me like "dark mode" (which is a merely single color of customization for an app). We expect so little from our software and services that even thes…

Last.fm used to only update your listening stats on Friday, which turned into a fun event where everyone shared what they heard that week. Eventually the stats became live updating and a bit of fun was lost.