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Last.fm is now independent

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Re: Last.fm is now independent

#72

Post by tclancy »

quirino wrote: post #29

last.fm is one of my very favorite services. It's rough around the edges in some parts, but I've gotten incredible value from it. A couple of websites built on it that I check out from time to time: - https://lastfmviz.netlify.app/ - shows what you've been listening to as a grid of album covers. You can scroll down as long as you want. It's cool to look back and remember where I was when listening to specific music.…

The middle one is fascinating. The first track I ever scrobbled is by an artist I have yet to listen to again in 22 years. Much of the longest gaps is taken up by bands I found or started to like due to Rock Band which came out around that time. Man I miss that too, we had 30 or 40 people over right after it came out and turned the house into a karaoke dive, right down to having to kick them off the couch the next morning.

Re: Last.fm is now independent

#73

Post by wldcordeiro »

swatcoder wrote: post #41
fusslo wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've felt a serious reduction in quality of recommendations from spotify the past couple years. Maybe I'll try last.fm

More than a feeling. Pretty much all the machine learning recommendation engines that emerged in the Netflix era were doomed to collapse under their own weight over time for non-mainstream users because the some limited number of mainstream modes dominate as most statistically "optimal" across the total user pool. These algorithms are best in the early days, when they're still exploring the content space for good nov…

Absolutely, you're hitting the same conclusions I've reached. The algorithms are optimized for the lowest friction users that just replay the same music they like over and over again and accept whatever the popular music is. If you're a user that likes music discovery you're fighting against the system to get what you want.

Re: Last.fm is now independent

#74

Post by zero_bias »

wldcordeiro wrote: post #42
ale wrote: post #6

Man i love last.fm even though it's been technically superseded (for most people) by Spotify's recommendation features. It just fit so well in the zeitgeist of 2000's indie scene, microblogs, early social media.

I don't think the recommendation engines behind Spotify, Youtube Music, etc compare to the recommendations I got from last.fm over the years. The algorithmic ones seem to have a bunch of issues that bug me as a long time music listener and someone with a large music library. - their memory is short as hell so you can listen to something for a while, stop and then it'll suggest it to you later as something to "discove…

Cannot call lastfm algorithm advanced in any sense. Just opened Amon Tobin page: "similar artists: Kid Koala and DJ Kush", which is an impressively shallow understanding of the last 20 (!!) years of his life, and this happened with almost every artist on the platform, because the average sum of tastes of every listener does not exist in reality. E.g. in the case of Amon Tobin, Kid Koala is the average of similarities between early albums and recent releases, which is just not true, his music cannot be averaged throughout his career. I love my Web 2.0 youth, but the average similarity algorithm doesnt deserve praise. Its not better, its nostalgia and lack of faang-style unlimited greed which confused with better quality

Edit: of course spotify-style recommendations are much much worse, I just mean that lastfm doesnt have good algorithm either because artists are not consistent in releases. What is an average between electronic cult classic "The last resort" and every other Trentemoller album in strict indie rock style? This average does not exist

Re: Last.fm is now independent

#75

Post by palpfiction »

quirino wrote: post #29

last.fm is one of my very favorite services. It's rough around the edges in some parts, but I've gotten incredible value from it. A couple of websites built on it that I check out from time to time: - https://lastfmviz.netlify.app/ - shows what you've been listening to as a grid of album covers. You can scroll down as long as you want. It's cool to look back and remember where I was when listening to specific music.…

a while ago I created this one, for when you want to listen to a familiar album, but can't decide which one: https://what-to-listen.chef-labs.deno.net/

Re: Last.fm is now independent

#76

Post by whywhywhywhy »

swatcoder wrote: post #41
fusslo wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've felt a serious reduction in quality of recommendations from spotify the past couple years. Maybe I'll try last.fm

More than a feeling. Pretty much all the machine learning recommendation engines that emerged in the Netflix era were doomed to collapse under their own weight over time for non-mainstream users because the some limited number of mainstream modes dominate as most statistically "optimal" across the total user pool. These algorithms are best in the early days, when they're still exploring the content space for good nov…

> over time for non-mainstream users because the some limited number of mainstream modes dominate as most statistically "optimal" across the total user pool

This isn’t true, YouTube recommendations when it chooses music are amazing (no idea if YouTube Music is good I mean the video site).

Spotify recs are intentionally recommending you things cheap to stream or that have been paid for. It’s not a raw rec engine and it’s not bad cos it’s collapsing under normies, YouTube is proof of that.

Re: Last.fm is now independent

#78

Post by beardyw »

nubinetwork wrote: post #2

I don't know if I even have an account anymore, its been like 15 years since I last logged in...

Me too. I tried loggin in, and after a forced password reset I am back, though back to 2018 it turns out.

On Spotify I made a playlist with over 4,000 songs from Last FM. I remember doing it but I couldn't say how I did it now. And also a "loved" playlist which I am revisiting now. First track Whitest Boy Alive: Golden Cage, a stonker.

Re: Last.fm is now independent

#79

Post by donatj »

I love Last.fm, I've been scrobbling for over 20 years now.

It's amazing to me that they have managed to stick around like they have. They're very much an "old internet" site, and I hope they can stick around for many many more years.

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