> Human review and recommendation still beats algorithmic recommendation by a mile if you have discerning tastes
I completely agree. But last.fm doesn't do human review either, right? OTOH, I think the "radio" feature on spotify is wildly underrated. I used to spend hours compiling playlists for different moments/social settings/moods (still do, because it's fun), but picking any song/album/artist and then getting an endless stream of similar music is an amazing feature. Unfortunately, sometimes it screws up and will suggest me the same songs over and over again and there is no way to get a little more control over the algorithm.
I came to hate the Superstar cover by Sonic Youth and "I'm So Tired" by Fugazi for those reasons. Great songs, but they just kept coming up as the first recommended track and I can't stand hearing those intro piano chords on the latter anymore!! According to my last.fm [0] I played it 50+ times and I don't even remember once seeking out that song or putting it in one of my playlists.
> But last.fm doesn't do human review either, right?
No, but to be fair, that's not my use-case. My use-case is going to forums of like-minded individuals and saying "Hey, I need more music like _____. Take a look at my last.fm profile and suggest something I'd like."
I use it the same way book lovers use their Goodreads profile, I suppose?
I completely agree. But last.fm doesn't do human review either, right? OTOH, I think the "radio" feature on spotify is wildly underrated. I used to spend hours compiling playlists for different moments/social settings/moods (still do, because it's fun), but picking any song/album/artist and then getting an endless stream of similar music is an amazing feature. Unfortunately, sometimes it screws up and will suggest me the same songs over and over again and there is no way to get a little more control over the algorithm.
I came to hate the Superstar cover by Sonic Youth and "I'm So Tired" by Fugazi for those reasons. Great songs, but they just kept coming up as the first recommended track and I can't stand hearing those intro piano chords on the latter anymore!! According to my last.fm [0] I played it 50+ times and I don't even remember once seeking out that song or putting it in one of my playlists.
https://www.last.fm/user/mahathu