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Is it 18 months already?

August 2nd, 2010 · Posted by Skuds in Music/Technology · No Comments · Music, Technology

Spotify still feels like a new toy, but it appears I have been using it for about least a year and a half now.   Soon after I started on Spotify I started scrobbling to last.fm and I have just reached the milestone of having listened to 20,000 tracks since then.  Looking at the statistics on the last.fm profile I’m a little bit surprised at what is there.Only a bit surprised though.  If I had predicted what I would listen to over a year or so, I reckon I would have only got it about half right.  I would have expected to see lots of Gang of Four, Metallica, Pink Floyd, Kraftwerk, Genesis, Yes – but of course Metallica and Pink Floyd are not on Spotify so they only get listened to when I make a conscius effort and listen to what I have ripped to the hard drive.  I wouldn’t have predicted that the artist I would listen to most would be Doctor Feelgood, but on the other hand it doesn’t surprise me.

The most listened to artists are:

  1. Dr. Feelgood
  2. Primus
  3. Gang of Four
  4. Kraftwerk
  5. Genesis
  6. Manu Chao
  7. Depeche Mode
  8. Mano Negra
  9. Les Negresses Vertes
  10. Pet Shop Boys

Followed by Santana, Talking Heads, Angelique Kidjo, Erasure, Yes, David Bowie, Thin Lizzy Stevie Wonder, Rachid Taha and Fleetwood Mac.  It makes some sort of sense – a mixture of artists I like a lot and artists with huge catalogues.

Going a bit further down the list is where it all gets less predictable.  I have used Spotify in a few main ways:  to discover music that is new or new to me, to fill in gaps in my knowledge, and to listen to things that I know well, having got them on CD or vinyl.   That has led me down paths I had not expected, like listening to early Bee Gees (19 plays) and Chicago (32 plays).    Some artists that I had never heard of before Spotify have had a lot of plays, the most being Tanzwut (69 plays) and Premiata Forneria Marconi (58 plays).

Over such a short timeframe the list is obviously weighted a bit towards people who have released new albums in the last year or two.  Although I like Pet Shop Boys I am sure their high position is largely down to them having released two albums since I started Spotifying.  I still can’t understand how I have listed to Simian Mobile Disco more than Black Sabbath though.  I’m sure I like Black sabbath a lot more.

As far as top tracks go, I think that is a bit of a lottery.  All very good tracks but certainly wouldn’t be my desert island discs – although I can’t quibble with the number one most-played track which surely is the best single track ever made.

  1. Green Onions / Booker T and the MGs
  2. Down at the Doctors / Dr. Feelgood
  3. Pendant que les Champs Brulent / Niagara
  4. Don’t Believe a Word / Thin Lizzy
  5. Sir Duke / Stevie Wonder
  6. Clandestino / Manu Chao
  7. Roxette / Dr. Feelgood
  8. Thou Shalt Always Kill / Dan le Sac v. Scroobius Pip
  9. Epic / Faith No More
  10. Hong Kong Garden / Siouxsie & the Banshees
  11. Not Great Men / Gang of Four
  12. Excremento / Tanzwut

Actually, come to think of it, I can’t argue with No. 2 either – one of the most beautiful songs I know and one that I played a lot on CD/walkman back in the pre-Spotify days.   No way is Sir Duke my favourite Stevie Wonder tune though, nor is Not Great Men my favourite Gang of Four track.

Still trying to work out how or why I managed to listen to Head to Toe by Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam a whole eight times though…

Perhaps the biggest surprise is seeing how many different artists I listened to – 3,715.    That must be a result of clicking through to a lot of the ‘related artists’ to see if they appeal to me, where the answer is often ‘not a lot’.

I’ll have to return to this after another 20,000 tracks to see what it looks like then.

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