I reached a milestone this evening. My LastFm account reached 100,000 songs. LastFm is a social music site that keeps track of the music you play from your computer and your mobile devices. I started using this system in November, 2006, and tonight the number of songs this system has monitored hit 100,000.
The 100,000th song was “What a wonderful world” by Louis Armstrong. I like my computer’s choice for the special occasion.
Using this site over the years has helped me think through the notion of both data aggregation and social influence. I do explore the musical tastes of the users that the system identifies as similar to me. I tend not to contact other people. Somehow being contacted by a 61 year old because you both have been listening to the Avett Brothers, Kings of Leon, or The Black Keys would likely scare a few folks. Still, this process help me think through the differences between search and discovery.
It is also interesting to use the data the system stores to consider my own interests.
Miles Davis is evidently my favorite artist and I listened to 1702 songs by Miles in the last few years.
My favorite songs (reminds me of high school in the 1960s) turned out to be “In my place”, “Sweet child of mine”, “Come away with me”, and “All along the watchtower”. If that set tells you anything about me, you are a better psychologist than I. Try listening to “Sweet child of mine” 85 times and see what you think.
