Top of the Flops
July 25, 2007Technorati Tags: Last.fm, Last, Pandora, Music, Charts, Top 40, iTunes, Rihanna, Umbrella, number one, radio, airplay, Hit40UK
It’s clear that music charts don’t work anymore when Rihanna has been perched atop the music chart for 8 weeks now. Basically, some time back, radio charts like Hit40UK began to compile their charts based on radio/music TV airplay as well as sales and downloads. The addition of downloads to the chart can’t be a bad thing, as digital downloads have increased significantly, but radio airplay?!?!?!
I can see the idea, radio often has request hours where listeners get to call in asking for the songs that they want to hear. But this doesn’t happen on all shows, on all stations throughout the day, so how can this possibly count toward what’s at number one? Likewise, Umbrella by Rihanna is played on a near continual basis throughout the bad spell of rain and floods that have been seen across the UK recently. Bumping the song further up the charts for a longer period. Charts are meaningless.
When I checked last, Umbrella was at number 5 in the iTunes chart. That is much more like it. At least it reflects what people on iTunes have been downloading the previous week. But is it actually a good way to chart the music we love? In short, no. Music is no longer defined to us in the way that it might have been in the past. We’re no longer told what’s popular or not. Independent music has been busting out via the likes of Myspace. So, what is the way to promote what’s worth listening to?
That’s where services like Pandora and Last.fm are beginning to play a massive role in the way that we discover new music. Based on what we already like, the services share the ability to recommend new artists, both offer customisable net radio based on what the user already likes. Where Last.fm succeeds though, is scrobbling what is being played, and using that data to chart the popularity of what a whole community of music fans are listening to. In doing so, the service, shares your charts, what’s recently played and recommends new music based on what you’ve played from your own music library.
So, whether you love cheesy disco, or are digging the latest Fratellis album, you’re sure to find recommendations, and other people who like the same music as you. Neighbours are people using the service that currently like the same music as you and are updated periodically – helping to develop relationships between people with similar tastes in music. Of course, there are bugs with any service like this; listening to someone’s radio station for half an hour causes you to be instantly boosted from having a “very low” to “super” compatibility in terms of music taste. I personally have a very wide music taste, so the service is perfect to recommend new music to me whilst allowing me to find people who have similar music interests to myself.
Rihanna can go back to promoting her umbrellas off the back of the 10 week success of her recent single. I, on the other hand, plan to ignore what everyone is listening to, and look to what I should be listening to. Music is beginning to feel personal again, and that’s the way it should be.
[My Last.fm page]
