ListenBrainz passes 25k users!
ListenBrainz passes 25k users!
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.
Can I port my 15 years of last.fm data?
Yes you can.
The ux is underwhelming lol.. First reaction: "only the last 3xxx songs??" Click over 20m later to see if still working.. "oh snap! 3xxx pages of data!!"
Forgive me if I’m a little excited but I was not expecting anything from MusicBrainz to be mentioned here! Don’t want to say it’s obscure but I never saw mentions of it at all on Lemmy. I helped out with ScrobblerBrainz (ListenBrainz plugin for MusicBee) and even made a manual scrobbler plugin for their tag editor (though it needs TLC). Glad to see some love for ListenBrainz here.
I switched to listenbrainz as soon as I discovered it. I have been using last.fm since it was called audioscrobbler and migrated all my collection there. There's some import bugs which make me need to manually replay my favorites in order to mark them in listenbrainz, but overall good process.
I love the public playlists feature. Finally a way to share playlists than doesn't rely on spotify or youtube.
It's neighbors discoverability needs more work though.
Oh that's pretty cool! I agree about sharing playlists being way too difficult.
I have been working on a solution for sharing playlists as part of my music sharing side-project Bongo. Right now you can technically do it but it doesn't work very well. My algorithm looks for the closest match when finding a playlist but sometimes they aren't exactly equivalent across different services.
That's probably confusing since I didn't explain what Bongo does right now. You can take a link from Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music and Bongo makes a page with links to that media on all three of the services. The idea was to make it easier to share music with friends.
You can check it out here: https://bongo.to
Here's an example of a shared song: https://bongo.to/?am=album%2Fback-on-74%2F1676151993%3Fi%3D1676152328
But why?
It allows for data analysis. This helps you to discover new music, keep track of new releases coming out. It also allows you to easily share your musical interests with others. And it doesn't have blind spots. Spotify would never recommend you something that's not on Spotify. Because people submit listens to ListenBrainz from Spotify but also from other platforms and from local files there are no inherent blind spots. My listening behavior is no secret, anyone can have a look at it, I choose for it to not be private. But I wouldn't want to just gift it to any one particular company that can use it to make money. By submitting listens to ListenBrainz you basically gift it to everyone.
Recording of listens and then sharing it publicly allows to discoverability of more music.
I already use MusicBrainz data to properly name a file away my digital music collection. I contribute release info and revisions whenever I can to further that same goal. Plex uses MusicBrainz data to help me search, filter, and play through a music library that is honestly bigger than I could ever fully listen to. It just makes sense that I be able to integrate and leverage my listening data so that I can better find the tracks and releases I've "lost" in my own collection and find new music. It's even more of a bonus that all that data is open, so I feel more like I'm actually contributing something to society (even if it's as trivial as music data and listening habits) instead of just giving it away to a private company to sell or keep secret as they see fit.
I used to like last.fm. But i felt like it was only becoming worse over the years. For instance, I used to like groups and was quite active in some. Then suddenly they were removed. With ListenBrainz I feel like there is much to improve still, and perhaps it's not on the level of Last.fm on some aspects. But ListenBrainz is getting better by the year and will only improve as more people join the project.
Fair, For the time being, I see no reason not to keep using both
Fair enough - I use both for different reasons, and am also thinking on getting Last.fm Pro in the future.
ListenBrainz has the ability of submitting more accurate data (i.e. specific recordings and releases, tied to MusicBrainz ofc) while last.fm has the better developer ecosystem (a lot of apps support it e.g. third party Apple Music Clients, the .fmbot Discord bot which I do pay monthly for). Not a huuuuge fan of Last.fm's way of handling artist names that have collabs or featured artists in them, but that might be the obsessive data nerd in me I guess (and I guess last.fm Pro can fix that)
Sounds interesting. Unfortunately the app is in a crash loop on my Pixel 8 Pro. I tried resetting it twice, but it looks like it's just broken on my device.
I'd recommend PanoScrobbler instead on your phone
App’s fixed now. Try version 2.4.1. It even has improved consistent scrobbling than before (but still rough around the edges)
Cool logo!
I would love to move off last.fm, but this doesn't support Plex, so that's a no-go for me... I did create an account though, so once they do I will happily move over lol.
if need be you can periodically import your listens from last.fm or libre.fm. I use both Last.fm and ListenBrainz since LB is better at storing accurate listen data (supported players can submit MusicBrainz IDs) but last.fm has a better developer ecosystem (apps like .fmbot have better integration with last.fm)
Are you aware of eavesdrop.fm?
Well hey this might be what im looking for! Lol. Ill take a look, thanks!
Can I scrobble from Plex?
sentences that sound made up but have actual meaning
I have no experience with it myself, but from this overview I see there is this service called eavesdrop.fm
You can scrobble fron Navidrome
The problem for me is it's an extra app to check and then, find the recommendations and then go back to my music app of choice and search for the recommendations. It needs a way of being implemented into current services.
Agree but Seems unlikely to happen. Couldn't it just run in background like a Shazam and identity songs by audio signatures regardless of source? Might be a bit resource intense but I don't think it will be long before most phones could support this.
I don't know why lisenbrainz imported scrobbles that I removed from Lastfm so i decided to create a new account and started from zero. I don't check my listenbrainz stats because right now there is no cool features that differentiate it from lastfm.
Has their app improved? I tried it a while ago now and it was pretty lacking.
I couldn't really tell you. The ListenBrainz android app was first released in February. I imagine it has improved over the year. I can't tell you because I don't use the app. I personally have my Tauon Music Box audioplayer on PC linked up with Listenbrainz, and I don't listen to music on android. But on the forums I don't hear a lot of complaints so I would assume it's reasonably good.
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!
Think Spotify’s year in review, but running constantly.
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.
not really seeing the benefit to me if they just record the data.
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.
I dislike having to use Spotify b/c of the crap royalties the artists get from it. isn't this worse for the artists?
In what way is this worse? This is just a service that tracks your listens
yep, my bad. I misunderstood what the program does.