ZAK FM
466 people have listened for 20 minutes or more.
and concludes
People don’t need what’s best for them, just what’s good enough.
Don’t you think that this is at least partially because most of the people who go to Zak.fm go because of your tumblog, meaning most of the people know you, meaning most of them enjoy your same musical tastes?
Sure, but it doesn’t matter. I think it’s irrelevant to my insight that some group prefers the blanket decision solution I provide for them over highly-tailored alternatives like Pandora. They’re pleased without the need for a complex intelligence system, other than our social connectivity, to analyze their individual tastes beforehand. Could this be the serendipity factor?
BTW, I’m not claiming to have invented anything here. I know this is basic. I’m writing it out to remind myself.
If you haven’t already, read this post. It ties in directly to people relying on others “agents” to do their search work for them when it comes to finding new music. You said that people have been pleased with your simple solution to new music discovery. That could be the result of services like Pandora and Last.fm being cumbersome and leaning towards the complex side, especially when finding new music really isn’t a difficult thing to do.
Maybe I’ve missed the explanation, but how have you compared *your* Last.fm radio station to a service like zak.fm?
