…Because I missed Musical Monday… Again.
THIS ISN’T PRINCE. Promise.
This is the stonking and instantly recognisable tune (listen out for the guitar solo that starts at 4:28) by The Isley Brothers, entitled Summer Breeze.
These last few days I’ve let my ears experiment with last.fm radio.
Why did I not play with this before? Why, I ask you, WHY?
It’s fantabulous. You just type in an artist you like and it plays tons of other songs that it knows you like, even though you didn’t even know you liked them and it’s free. It’s magic stuff.
Type in “Prince” and get The Isley Brothers, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Rick James, James Brown, Sly and The Family Stone, D’Angelo… the list goes on.
If any of you have been keeping up with my last.fm chart this week, you’ll have noticed a strong shift away from my Prince/T-Rex/Pulp/Queen/Suede-centric listening. I’ve always dabbled in Funk/Motown-esque artists of the decades my birthdate missed, but when faced with the idea of actually picking an album out to buy, I never really knew where to start.
Until now.
I heart Last.fm.
A full-time wheelchair user since 1998, Claire lives in an adapted bungalow in England with her Partner of 10 years and their two dogs: 
Well you already know full well that you don’t have to convince me of the benefits of Last.fm, I spend large portions of my life trying to enlighten people about the site. Frustratingly to very limited effect, especially with my offline friends.
I don’t really ever use the similar artists radio, I tend to use the recommendation radio, neighbours radio and my own playlist radio. Failing that I will just find a profile I like the look of (quite possibly one of my neighbours) and just listen to their radio station for a bit.
By the way don’t be afraid to send me recommendations for any cool tracks you come across (just click share / recommend to a friend and punch in my username), I’m open to giving anything a chance. I shall return the favour too.
I’ve been finding lots of very cool artists I’d never heard of on Last FM. I heart it too and have been using it for a while! I’ll add you as a friend as long as I don’t have to listen to that short singing dude who can’t spell his own name
James:
Am I right in thinking that to listen to your own radio station, you have to pay/subscribe?
Cool, I’d like that.
Dan:
DEAL!
Nope… it’s free.
Just click ‘add to playlist’(the kind of little tape and + icon when you hover over tracks), or on the left of a designated track page you can click ‘Add to my playlist’, or through the client you can hit the playlist icon at the top when a track is playing. Then go to this page to edit, and choose whether you wish to show it on your profile page or keep it secret. Due to licensing laws the tracks have to play randomly though to ensure it keeps its radio status.
On the new beta site there are now multiple playlists so you can make playlists for different moods i.e. party playlist, chill out playlist, tracks that annoy K playlist, or whatever you want.
Oh I’ve just realised you said ‘your own radio station’, which technically is a subscriber only option. I think this is inferior to your own playlist though as your own radio station just plays stuff that you have previously scrobbled, you have no control over it. Your own playlist on the other hand allows you to be much more selective about what you wish to listen to.
By the way the beat site mentioned above is subscriber only at the mo too (I was just mentioning it to show what to expect in the future re:playlists), although they have said it will be made more widely available very soon once it gets a bit stronger. It is a proper beta, not like a lot of other beta’s these days (I think gmail is still officially in beta)
James: Thanks for the heads up on the Beta developments.
RE: Last.fm Playlist stations — Is there any difference between these and just making a playlist on iTunes and pressing “shuffle”?
Well I guess there is only one difference but it is a biggie. With the Last.fm playlist(s) you get to choose tracks from the vast (even accounting for Warner taking their bat and ball home recently) Last.fm catalogue of music, as opposed to whatever you have in your iTunes.
I use my playlist for listening to new artists that I don’t already own to see whether I like them enough to purchase. Of course I am somewhat old fashioned in that I don’t use p2p software to acquire my music, I use money instead, or knick them off my mates which seems less immoral.
But I think multiple playlists will open the door to new possibilities like having a ‘cards night’ playlist that you play on the card night hosts computer, having a designated blog playlist, or just making a playlist for a friend and sharing that with them. Basically your playlists can follow you, without the need for you to take your iTunes library with you.
I think if a Last.fm salesman job comes up I should seriously consider applying.
James:
Ditto… I purchase whatever’s commercially available and trade like-for-like on boots. (And have educated the rest of household in doing the same, despite other relatives trying to lure them over to the dark-side)
You’re right though, does sound like a great way to ‘try before you buy’ on new artists.