Comments on: audiomap

audiomap

jouke — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 09:59:15 -0800

Find new artists similar to the ones you like using this Flash navigatable map based on data from last.fm The site is owned by EMI but artists not under contract by EMI are shown too, although not as exensively.

By: Lord Kinbote

Lord Kinbote — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 10:15:22 -0800

Six Degrees of Radiohead, anyone?

By: jouke

jouke — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 10:26:14 -0800

It should be pretty crowded around Coldplay.

By: octothorpe

octothorpe — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 10:28:08 -0800

I searched on Radiohead and it gave me Beck, Coldplay, Sigur Ros, Smashing Pumpkins and the Beatles. Somehow that doesn't really help me find new artists.

By: bjork24

bjork24 — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 10:29:17 -0800

Once you start getting into the indie alt (the decemberists, sufjan stevens, the unicorns, death cab, et al.), the map looks like an incestuous family tree.

By: Iridic

Iridic — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 10:33:50 -0800

Speaking of music navigators, Musicovery (previously covered on the Blue) is back online.

By: Skygazer

Skygazer — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 10:40:49 -0800

Blech. Slick marketing Bullsh*t. Lost interest after it said Interpol and Modest Mouse were similar and was completely flummoxed by Sigur Ros. This has been done better already.

By: Terminal Verbosity

Terminal Verbosity — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 10:48:40 -0800

Last.fm is a popularity contest. Pandora actually finds new music similar to a source song or performer. And while the slick flash visual thesaurus layout is nice, getting artists mostly off this list is not. Your favorite music suggester sucks.

By: PaddyJames

PaddyJames — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 10:56:39 -0800

Pandora's pretty cool but Open Pandora goes that bit further. Imagine if it was written in java....

By: languagehat

languagehat — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 11:04:38 -0800

Just as a heads-up: "artist" does not mean 'musician.' Flacks and critics can call musicians "artists," but used without context, as in this post, it means 'painter, sculptor, or other visual artist.' I can't comment on the site itself, since it doesn't appear to work in my version of Firefox.

By: marxchivist

marxchivist — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 11:05:11 -0800

Not a whole lot going on there with Ulitmate Spinach.

By: marxchivist

marxchivist — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 11:06:11 -0800

Better luck with Peanut Butter Conspiracy.

By: Razzle Bathbone

Razzle Bathbone — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 11:09:17 -0800

I rarely ever find anything 'new' from these sort of things, be it musicians or authors or movies. They tend to just recycle the same artists/titles over and over. Toss some Kraut Rock at this thing and watch it have a heart attack.

By: effwerd

effwerd — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 11:25:06 -0800

Pandora has been the best for me as far as music referral goes and definitely better than last.fm. It was so good in fact I had to stop since I was buying too much music because of it. But for the past year and a half, I've had the greatest finds by just slogging through a whole bunch of music blogs over a weekend. It takes a lot of effort but I usually end up with twenty to sixty new tracks that I really love, and all for free. Though the amount of effort means I only do it about once every quarter. And that site doesn't work for me in Safari either.

By: signal

signal — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 11:26:27 -0800

Wow languagehat, that's very prescriptivist of you.

By: signal

signal — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 11:26:45 -0800

Or should it be "prescriptive"?

By: languagehat

languagehat — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 11:39:07 -0800

Wow languagehat, that's very prescriptivist of you. Or should it be "prescriptive"? Whichever works for you! Hahaha... I kill me. But seriously: a descriptivist describes how language is actually used; a prescriptivist says how it "should" be used. I was being descriptivist, in that I was saying "this is how the word 'artist' is used in English, so if you choose to use it a different way, people are going to misunderstand you" (as I in fact did—I was all excited to see what they would recommend for a Romare Bearden fan). Now, if you were to go out on the street and poll a hundred people, asking them "What would you expect to find if someone said 'Find new artists similar to the ones you like'?" and a majority, or even a substantial minority, said "Musicians," then I'd say "Guess I was wrong" and make a mental note about usage change (something I do frequently). A prescriptivist would say "I don't care how many illiterate fools use 'artist' to mean 'musician,' it's wrong wrong wrong!"

By: Skygazer

Skygazer — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 13:07:44 -0800

effwerd: Pandora has been the best for me as far as music referral goes and definitely better than last.fm. It was so good in fact I had to stop since I was buying too much music If it's anything like Open Pandora, which I just installed, I see what you mean...the list of Cd's I must have now is getting unwieldy quick like.

By: gennessee

gennessee — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 13:52:30 -0800

Interesting idea, but it's not taking advantage of the way Last.fm works. This TuneGlue thing will tell you that most people who've listened to Popular Indie Band A (The Shins) have also listened to Popular Indie Bands B,C, and D (Modest Mouse, The Decemberists, Death Cab for Cutie), and looking at any of those bands will lead you back to more or less the same cluster. Last.fm, however, matches you with "neighbors" who listen to the largest number of the same bands as you do, so the more obscure bands are incorporated as well.

By: thinman

thinman — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 14:55:55 -0800

Seems a lot like LivePlasma (formerly MusicPlasma, I think). Only really slow and kind of confusing.

By: MythMaker

MythMaker — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 18:08:42 -0800

It's not exactly obvious how the whole thing works. There's not a "push this button first" button, mostly just a blank canvas with no instructions. I figured it out, but the lack of explination was a huge turn off.

By: nj_subgenius

nj_subgenius — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 19:58:29 -0800

Doh, I thought you meant artists as in painters, silly me.

By: jouke

jouke — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 21:44:29 -0800

Languagehat you are being disengenious; you were just being a cantankerous old fart about your favourite 'language corruption', i.e. prescriptivist as hell. your first post in the thread: Flacks and critics can call musicians "artists," but used without context, as in this post, it means 'painter, sculptor, or other visual artist.' Regarding the context argument; the second sentence mentions 'artists under contract by EMI'; I'd say that is context. So you do agree that the word is being used in this meaning. Prince calling himself The Artist Formerly Known as... also is an obvious data point. It's just that you don't want the 'flacks and critics' to corrupt the language. Which is common on mefi; just 'waving the damn kids of your lawn'. Complaining about language corruption is a favourite passtime of old cultured men. It's just that you lack the authority of scientific linguistics when you do that. On another noteI guess the use of the term artist in this sense originates with celebrities who have their names on records, but more as a brand than as a statement of authorship. To evade the ridiculousness of speaking of 'the musician Britney Spears' they started using the term 'artist' here. So the term probably has a corporatist euphemistic ring to it. That's not alway easy to discern for 2nd language speakers who learn english largely from the media by the way.

By: majick

majick — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 07:08:02 -0800

You're new here, aren't you?

By: goodnewsfortheinsane

goodnewsfortheinsane — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 07:33:54 -0800

Whoa, jouke, I know it was early here when you wrote that comment, but how about a nice cup of calm-down? :) Having said that, I do find myself disagreeing with languagehat. I do agree that the word "artist" can refer to a broader "maker of art" rather than "maker of music", however in my opinion the context here was more than sufficient to determine the latter meaning was intended, and if a "substantial minority" is enough for you to make that qualification, I'd say the existence of that minority is commonsensical, even obvious. If "artists" near "EMI" and near "audiomap" does not activate the "music!" lemma for you, then I guess either our brains are wired differently, or I'd have to suggest you RTFP again. ;)

By: languagehat

languagehat — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 09:34:31 -0800

Languagehat you are being disingenuous; you were just being a cantankerous old fart about your favourite 'language corruption' On the one hand, I am definitely a cantankerous old fart. On the other, it's not true that this is my favorite "language corruption." (That would be using "may have" for "might have," if by "favorite" you mean "most likely to drive me into a frothing rage.") I really don't especially care about this one, and I was quite sincere when I said that if a significant number of people felt "artist" was likely to mean 'musician' I'd say "Guess I was wrong" and make a mental note about usage change. I'll take the disagreement with me in this thread as an indication that I should do just that. So I hereby withdraw my snark, and extend my withered old hand in comradely acknowledgment.

By: goodnewsfortheinsane

goodnewsfortheinsane — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 09:38:58 -0800

So I hereby withdraw my snark, and extend my withered old hand in comradely acknowledgment. *Awkwardly grabs little finger, gasps at how huge and wrinkly it is* :)