Simon's Blog (the personal one)

Farewell Pandora, hello Meemix and Last FM

Thanks (again) to Bev for supporting me since the trauma of the news that Pandora will be blocked for UK users from 15/1/08. He has pointed me to Last.FM and most recently to Meemix and I am having fun.

Meemix looks like the perfect replacement for Pandora. In fact the user interafce looks better. I've only been using it for a few hours but it has already prompted me to search on HMV and the album I was interested in was on offer!

Last.FM is really interesting too. It's not for those paranoid about privacy but I'm prepared to take a risk to try out something new :-| . . .

There are several elements to Last.FM. You are encouraged to download an Open Source program that runs alongside iTunes. As you play stuff in iTunes, the Last.FM application displays information about the artist.
This is really educational - I'd no idea how many American bands are born in Athens, Georgia.

The application also sends the details of the tracks you play to your Last.FM profile online and, eventually, will recommend music that is compatible with your profile. It will also build a 'neighbourhood' of people with musical tastes similar to yours. My nearest neighbour is in Russia! You can then see their profile and the stuff they are listening to. A great way to learn about new music.

Music publishers self-harm (again)

I've taken a proper lunch hour today to write this . . . One of the highlights of my Christmas was being introduced to Pandora. Pandora is (was) a very special internet radio station. It is a brilliant concept. It is unlike other internet radio stations which simply use the internet as a broadcast medium for a very tradition radio service.

Pandora plays a sequence of music based on a personal favourite tune or artist that you enter. The sequence of tunes have similarities with the tune or artist that you used to 'seed' the playlist. Pandora draws on the tagged database of music that is the 'Music Genome Project' to do this.

One thing you realise when you use Pandora is the amazing amount of music there is out there by artists you've never heard of. It is a brilliant way to discover new music.

Anyway, I was saddened this morning to receive an email from Tim Westergren, the founder of Pandora, saying that from 15 January all UK users will be blocked from the service. The full text of the email is here. I'm gutted.

I buy a minimum of 40 CDs a year. I really like contemporary music. I know I wouldn't be able to stop myself buying more if only I could find new artists I like. Pandora was about to be bad news for my wallet but very good news for the music industry. It was going to be especially good for new bands who are never going to get shelf space on the High Street, or into the catalogues of the big mailorder companies.

OK, I'm disappointed as the music industry are about to take away a service I really enjoy but I also think that, in this move, the music publishers are harming the very industry they are supposed to support.

If Tim wants to launch a campaign for a UK-based implementation of Pandora, he can count on my support.

I'm not sure if you can still register before switch-off day (15/1/08) but Pandora is worth a look. Stuck for a zipcode? Use this one: 20500 (The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington DC!).

:-(

Tune of the week - 15/12/07

Nitin Sawhney/Tides/Track 5 from the album Beyond Skin

With Pakistan throwing a bit of a wobbly and Iran confusing everybody this seemed appropriate (check out track 1 too - Broken Skin)

Tune of the week - 8/12/07

Amadou & Mariam/Camions Sauvages/Track 8 from the album Dimanche A Bamako featuring Manu Chao

This is real 'pedal to metal' stuff: dangerous if your driving but harmlessly helpful if it's going through head while cycling on the open road.

Listen to a clip on HMV here.

Tune of the week

Craig Armstrong/Waltz/Track 6 from the album As If Nothing

This very clever tune is dedicated to everyone who has ever tried to write something really quite simple in HTML using Notepad. :-)

Listen to a clip on HMV here.