Nice Guys Finish Last.fm

As previously stated on this 'ere blog; the Internet, through advances in compression, data storage, and transmission technologies, has granted me independence in my pursuit of music. Excluding live concerts, no medium since the heady days of listening to JJJ on the way to high school has been able impart such a sense of shared listening experience. The choice back then was whether to tune into a certain station or change; most of the choice was abdicated, as Duncan and Fox (April 2005) state, to the programmer. It didn’t worry me so much back then, but therein lays the reason that I don’t listen to radio anymore.

For me, listening autonomy is the key. But it’s not the safety of my own collection that I crave but the danger of exploring new music. I’ve recently come to the conclusion that reading blogs and reviews can only get so far – and that, well, listening is the key to discovering music! Deep!

So lately I’ve been using the wonders of the interweb for purposes of good and not evil. Despite years of me dismissing it as a throwaway gimmick, I must say I’ve finally come around to Last.fm. It’s mainly the “similar artists” radio function that has sucked me in: it’s like radio that, more often than not, I thoroughly enjoy. I’m only a few weeks into my latest obsession and already I have upgraded the likes of Pere Ubu and Jim O’Rourke from my “yeah, interesting” list to my long, long, long “must-hear” list.

Oh, and I’ve added a little Last.fm sidebar to my page. Keep up-to-date with my musical life!

[Ref: Computer–aided music distribution: The future of selection, retrieval and transmission by Nancy Bogucki Duncan and Mark A. Fox First Monday, volume 10, number 4 (April 2005)]