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Nick Heer on Apple Music and Last.fm

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by Melody Bot, Jan 4, 2022.

  1. Melody Bot Jan 4, 2022
    Melody Bot

    Your friendly little forum bot. Staff Member

    This article has been imported from chorus.fm for discussion. All of the forum rules still apply.

    Nick Heer nails what I’ve been thinking for a while about what Apple Music should learn from Last.fm:

    So: Last.fm. There are a few things I like about it. First, it seems to take into account my entire listening history, though it does give greater weight to recency and frequency. Second, it shows me why it is recommending a particular artist or album. Something as simple as that helps me contextualize a recommendation. Third, its suggestions are a blend of artists I am familiar with in passing and those that I have never heard of.

    Most importantly, it feels free of artificial limitations. Apple Music only shows a maximum of eight similar artists on my iPhone, but there are pages of recommendations on Last.fm. Echo and the Bunnymen has twenty-five pages with ten artists each. I can go back and see my entire listening history since I started my account there. Why can I only see the last forty things I listened to on Apple Music?

    There are so many things Apple could learn from Last.fm’s recommendation approach, and I wish it would. Right now, its approach is somewhere between inconsequential and unhelpful. It does not have to be this way, and it should not be this way.

    Maybe part of my appreciation comes from my nostalgia for the mid-2000s internet era. They are memories of shiny, colourful logos, wet floors everywhere, and new social networks for every conceivable interest. These websites encouraged centralization and many were ultimately destructive to privacy, but there were also gems like Last.fm. It was built around a simple premise: track your music listening history for better recommendations.

    Sorry for quoting so generously, but this really gets to the heart of one of the reasons I dove back into Last.fm with such vigor last year. Being able to see what I’ve been listening to, get the stats behind it, visualize that data, and get recommendations based on my entire streaming history is a cherry on top of it helping me with my weekly newsletter. There’s a whole lot I think Apple Music should be doing to make their service better.

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    Crisp X, Orla, Ellamamama and 1 other person like this.
  2. Smee22 Jan 4, 2022
    Smee22

    Regular

    Apple needs to figure out how to take advantage of the ecosystem with this service. Everything else in the OS is so seamlessly integrated with one another, but I can’t resume a song/playlist on my phone that I started on my Apple TV.
     
  3. nsgob22 Jan 4, 2022
    nsgob22

    Newbie Supporter

    Multiple times bands who I have albums in my library will release something new and it won't show up in my new releases.
     
  4. Ellamamama Jan 4, 2022
    Ellamamama

    This is your life, are you who you want to be?

    I've been a big fan of https://www.musicbutler.io/ to keep track of new releases. You can connect your last.fm, spotify, or apple music accounts to load your listened to artists. Definitely worth checking out.
     
    nsgob22 and Hugo G. like this.
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  6. whiterussian Jan 5, 2022
    whiterussian

    Regular Supporter

    Neat. Checking this out, thanks!
     
  7. ramomcferno Jan 5, 2022
    ramomcferno

    Mystery is the secret ingredient Prestigious

    Thank you. I love stuff like this. I will check it out.
     
  8. ctigers92 Jan 5, 2022
    ctigers92

    Newbie

    You are the best! Been looking for something like this for ages. Apple Music just doesn't do a good job of letting me know of new releases for artists I listen to in their app (as everyone is saying)
     
  9. Jason Tate Jan 5, 2022
    Jason Tate

    chr.us Staff Member

    MusicHarbor is another good app to check out for similar stuff.
     
  10. thatwasamoment Jan 6, 2022
    thatwasamoment

    Since '06

    So stupid that i tied myself to Apple Music over Spotify. I want a social media feature damnit, to share at the end of the year, and I don’t even like social media!
     
  11. Yourbiggestflan Jan 6, 2022
    Yourbiggestflan

    Go Birds

    I still love going onto last.fm and seeing my music history in depth. I have a few close friends whose tastes i really enjoy that i can peruse and also have a ton of friends on spotify who turn their listening history on, so i can see what many other people on spotify are listening to live and in real time. Not the biggest fan of social media, but if it involves music, I'm so damn interested.
     
  12. Ellamamama Feb 11, 2022
    Ellamamama

    This is your life, are you who you want to be?

    Looks like musicbulter is ceasing operation, major bummer :/ Any other suggestions? One that preferably has an import function for artists or link to last.fm
     
  13. Ellamamama Feb 11, 2022
    Ellamamama

    This is your life, are you who you want to be?

    It's a little tedious for musicharbor. But for those that use last.fm and do not use Spotify or Apple Music, you can transfer your artists from last.fm to either with tunemymusic.

    Musichabor though is very polished. Looking forward to exploring this more.
     
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