Fortunately I already have one data set to pull from: for the last 5 years I’ve been tracking my listening habits through Last.fm, a social network that tracks playback by music lovers so that we can compare music tastes. By keeping track of the songs I play through my computer (and more recently on my iPod), the network generates peer recommendations and Top 10 lists.

Visualizing data my top artists in Last.fm during 2010

• I joined Last.fm 2171 days ago (February 13, 2005), and have 54 friends on the network.
• So far I’ve listened to over 28110 tracks, by 3055 different artists (about an average of 96 songs a week).
• Beck is my most listened to artist, with at least 1369 plays (almost 5% of my listening), which is more than the rest of my top 5 artists combined
• My listening habits are more eclectic compared to other listeners, scoring in the 75th percentile for diverse styles of music
• A full Visualization of 5 years of music I’ve listened to, like the one pictured above, is available in PDF form (it’s a big dowload)

In my own experience music is most enjoyable shared experience, so I’ve been particularly interested in how music is shared. So much of music discovery takes place through our peer networks, whether it’s sharing the songs online, dancing with friends, or listening together to a new music over the stereo. For examples, here are some additional measurements of how I am using social media to share music online:

• On Last.fm I’ve have 50 musical neighbors, who provide my recommended listening. I’m also a member of 11 groups on the network, 2 of which I’m the group’s admin.
• I’ve shared 483 songs on Blip.fm with 58 listeners, earning “props” from about 1 in 5 of the tracks on my station.
• I listen to 38 Pandora stations, with dozens of my friends to compare music tastes with.  I benefit from the crowdsorced music recomendations of friends and strangers alike who rate and review songs along with me.
• I keep an updated Tumblog mp3 blog of sorts at http://skewgee.tumblr.com
• I share my playlists with whoever will listen, and select a handful of mixtapes on 8tracks, which have earned me new fans and listeners.

One of my mixtapes, seen in this iTunes playlist

I cut my teeth in online marketing promoting my own music, using sites like MP3.com to share my music with new fans. Along the way, I learned how to build a band’s website, promote music in niche communities, and even sold a few records in addition to the free mp3s we let fans download. At one point we even had the ubiquitous Myspace band page, sharing our music through social-networks way back in 2005. Being able to track plays, downloads, and even our songs’ rank compared to other bands online helped keep us motivated to continue our work. In the process we earned an introduction to online marketing, which I can continue to measure through playback today:

• My first band, Biotrix, has been played 311 times by 78 different fans on Last.fm, even though we haven’t released recordings since 2005.
• My solo recordings, under the name Skewgee, continue to be played by an admittedly smaller audience

Today bands have more options than ever sharing their recorded creations, and better tools to measure engagement that helps them build fans rather than only offering downloads. These networks not only provide tools to measure their effectiveness, but also to gather feedback from the crowd in a decidedly different forum than performing on-stage.

I hope to share some of my music recordings through some of these new channels in the near future, which I’ll be sure to link to on this website. Until then, feel free to compare music tastes with me through music-centered social media, which you can connect with on the Playlist page of this site.

In the past the music industry has relied on taste makers such as DJs, critics, and marketers to help introduce new music to would be record buyers (or downloaders).  However over the last decade Opinion Leaders, those most influential individuals in your social network, have played the most important role; think of these people as your friend who is usually the first to introduce you to a band that you go on to love.

Online these opinion leaders have started popular music blogs, their influence measured by their expertise within genres and their appeal within their blogging audience.  Offline these taste-makers usually have the largest music collection among your friends, and they make frequent recommendations that are just for you.  Opinion leaders are the arbiters of new music in a marketplace no longer limited by the label-centered distribution, serving agenda setting roles with their personalized recommendations that mirrors the shift from mass-media driven popular music (radio, Rolling Stone, MTV) to online distribution meant for niche fans and private listening (iPods and YouTube).

As our experience with music increasingly takes place in social media, the relationship between opinion leaders and their social networks shifts significantly.  While I’m still taking recommendations from my friends, chances are you’ve tried using a peer-recommendation website of your own, such as Last.fm or Pandora.  The former, Last.fm is a service I’ve been using for over 4 years (then known as Audioscrobbler), has tracked over 20000 songs played on my computer and iPod.  In return for music listening data CBS (who owns this social network) can use, I get personalized recommendations from my friends and musical “neighbors” along with occasional suggestions from Last.fm .  This hybrid of the opinion leader model with the narrowcast of media distribution is actually quite seamless, if not organic at the consumer level.

On the other hand is the model of Pandora, the popular free* streaming music service which uses analytics and social ranking to make its music recommendations.  Pandora remains extremely popular service**, although I should admit that I am relatively new to the experience of tuning into user created “stations”, in which individuals do not control playlists but can configure them through a thumbs up/down rating system.  Many consumers rave of the recommendations this analytic system can provide, and I must admit I have been turned on to some music that was outside my sphere of influence otherwise.  However Pandora doesn’t always provide the high quality recommendations one might expect from an opinion leader; although the site offers the ability to skip songs you don’t like, it must limit the number skipped tunes before it forces one to listen through the entire song.

Opinion leaders play the most significant role in sharing music outside these two social networks, where music sharing is changing as quickly as the rest of social media.  Leading the charge are sites like Blip.fm and 8tracks that allow these Opinion Leaders become would be DJs for their friends, publishing playlists and sharing individual tracks with friends on Twitter and other social networks. Meanwhile Myspace remains a significant place for new bands to break their music to a wide audience, albiet Opinion Leaders sharing music through their own profile page cater to a much smaller social network than earlier.

This list of music sharing services  is hardly definitive, since music tastes are as diverse as the communities of fans who listen to them.  Although it’s hard to predict exactly how people will listen to music or using what online services, it is clear that Opinion Leaders will continue to play their significant role in influencing their network of friends.

Art: Artomatic. No curators, no judges, just open-source art. Unlike most art shows, this series is democratic ordeal more like a craft fair, stretched out for weeks on end of open submissions with fine art. Now in its 10th year, Artomatic uses over 9 floors of space in an unfinished office building which compromises the showroom and performance art venue for this show, which runs through the 5th of July in DC.

Commercial: Dirt Cheap. Those from Saint Louis know what’s up, but for the uninitiated this is a local advertisement for a chain of liquor and tobacco stores.  The ads have been running for at least the past 20 years, usually featuring the famous Dirt Cheap chicken suit and the trademark “Cheap cheap! Fun fun!” Sometimes the ads that stick in your mind the most can be the ones that seem the cheesiest.

Meme: Downfall. It’s not a new meme, but it has become one of the more enduring. (Here’s a Primer if you don’t know what I’m talking about). Like any good meme, Downfall continues to surprise me with the creativity applied to decidedly Shakespearean tragedy within real life.

Music: Pandora. As a 4+ year loyalist to Last.fm it pains me to admit that I have been using Pandora lately. Without the benefit of the 19000 songs counted on the rival service, Pandora has done surprising work referring me to good music I would like. But mostly because I can use it in my browser at work.

Theme Party: Superhero. Grabbed a flier from a dude wearing a superman t-shirt in Williamsburg last Saturday. Besides a couple hundred people crammed into a warehouse with DJs, fire breathers, and a man on stilts, the main highlight were the great costumes by those who joined us. I played their Accountant, complete with a balance sheet and calculator. Perhaps not since Studio 54 has New York seen these costumed heroes.

Theory: Belief Formation. A belief is different from opinion, so a belief cannot be easily changed once it is set, unlike an attitude through communication. You need to be proactive in order to prevent an opinion about your reputation, responding to each negative criticism with at least 3 positive rebuts, from solidifying into a belief. Especially because we are more likely to believe the person pointing out our faults than the individual defending themselves, so it’s important to manage these risky discussions.

Word Game: Crossword Puzzles. Since I started work I’ve had the chance to play crosswords on my commute. Riding public transportation has put a free daily newspaper in my hands every morning, so I’m playing this game for the first time in years. So far enjoy the rock music references in The Onion’s crossword best, but I’m still trying the every day’s paper until I finally finish my first puzzle.