I just read another person's top ablums list and started thinking (again) about how recommending music works. Like, can you really find great music from someone else's top list? Well, yeah. But part of it is that you already like some of their favorites. Say I read a top classical pieces list, I dunno what I like in classical music, so I'd probably nod my head and say yeah that's good, only to never listen to it again. But if I already like the bands, then it turns into a list of music I already like/know/have and that gets boring. What I usualy look for is a few albums I like, usually the basics in a top list, and then hope the list is 20% things I haven't heard of or don't have. Then I get those and the chance is usually high that I will like them.
This idea goes into how I make mixes as well. I don't always like to throw songs I know someone has and likes into one, I like to switch it up and take them in and out of what they know and like. Hopefully they like a song and look it up or ask for the album. That's rewarding.
Friday, March 6, 2009
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The idea behind recommending music seems odd to me. Recommendations seems to be based on what people know you like, and what is similar to that. Often this leads to hearing the same type of stuff.
ReplyDeleteI'm the kind of person where I don't like to listen to the same genre over and over and over again, I get bored. I like interesting things being done within a genre, and I like things within a different genre that have overlap.
Recommendations aren't... well, they're just recommendations. The concept of "you'll like B because you like A" is broken to me.
That said, there might be some sort of intelligence in social recommendation, although I'm skeptical
ReplyDeletesee "collective intelligence", recommender systems, etc.
ReplyDelete