Allow me to spread the word about ListenBrainz. ListenBrainz is a FOSS project that aims to crowdsource listening data from digital music and release it under an open license. Basically it’s Last.fm but better. Whatever you use to listen to music, you can probably link it up with ListenBrainz. All ListenBrainz listening data is available for all to use, commercially or not. Why should we give our listening data only to proprietary companies like Spotify and depend on them, when we can share it. If you’ve kept track of your what music you’ve listened to up to this point, don’t worry, there are several ways to import them into ListenBrainz so you can keep an overview of all your music listening.
I am not working for ListenBrainz in any way, I just really like this project, and I had not seen much on Lemmy about them, so I’m happy to spread the word.
So ListenBrainz is a music app? I don’t know what Last.fm is. Seems like Pandora maybe?
I’ll download it if they’re providing a service like music recommendation, not really seeing the benefit to me if they just record the data.
Essentially, both ListenBrainz and last.fm are listen trackers. Both use listen data to recommend music you might like or users who share the same tastes, but ListenBrainz is an open-source effort by the people behind MusicBrainz.
I paired my Spotify account with ListenBrainz and they also sent me a playlist last year with my most listened songs from 2022 for what it’s worth.
Last.fm used to have a Pandora radio aspect to it, but lost the race with YouTube music, Spotify, etc.
The thing that last.fm had that made them unique is what they call scrobbling. Basically they kept track of what users were listening to and made links between user preferences that you can use to find new music. I mean they used to, and they still do too, but with far far fewer users. Think Spotify’s year in review, but running constantly.
Honestly, it’s pretty great. I still hop on from time to time, because it’s a great way to find less well known bands. Makes me sad for when it was better used though…
I joined last.fm when it was still called audioscrobbler. I believe their logo with the stylised “as” is still a nod to that origin!
To expand: it shows your top artists, albums and tracks, all the time. But it also performed spotify’s function of a recommender system; it would link music together that people often listened to together, then if you listen to something it would recommend you similar stuff. I found A LOT of bands that way a long time ago.
I can’t speak for ListenBrainz, but Last.fm has been great for music discovery/recommendations. Also, unlike Spotify which only tracks your music till October, there’s no such limitations with Last.fm. You can also get a multitude of stats, which helps review your music tastes and discover new music. I also like sharing my stats with others on social media, and making connections with people having similar music tastes as me.