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Creating Communities Around Music Playlists

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I love watching ideas turn into reality. Mike, from www.FIQL.com, recently sent me this mail because comments were closed on the post in question:

Hey Josh, ran across an old post of yours here:
https://blogs.msdn.com/jledgard/archive/2004/06/07/150302.aspx

Thought you might be interested in a site we've built. FIQL.com. it's a site all about playlists and you can upload playlists that you've created on itunes as well as listen to other's people's playlists (Well at least samples). Anyway, check it out - i think it's a lot of what you were talking about. EXCEPT, that part about mapping. That wouldn't work so well on our site because people create playlists for the most interesting reasons. Some people have a playlist all about snow or some other whacky theme. So a similar mapping may not necessarily indicate similar taste. Anyway we're exploring the whole recommendation thing but right now it seems human recommendations work better on our site.
Would love to get your take.

Here is my take:

  • Its a great way to discover new music. iTunes has something similar, but you are limited to picking only iTunes music and the rating schema is not as cool as this.
  • I can upload my playlists from the web site... this type of service should have a plug-in for real, iTunes, or windows media player that automatically uploads playlists I create so I don't have to go through an extra step. Then I could interact with the service through my client of choice.
  • Its interesting to see the availability comparison on artists between iTunes, WalMart, and MSN.
  • The site needs some sort of notification mechanism when someone adds a new playlist in an area I'm interested in or containing my favorite artists, etc. RSS is nice, but this would be another area where a plug-in with a music client would shine.
  • I couldn't easily figure out how to download the playlist to my machine. I should be able to download them and be told what Music I don't have and given the option to purchase it on the site of my choosing.
  • But a pretty cool first effort. It will be interesting to see if this sort of social service evolves. IMO, its a gap waiting to be filled in by one of the big online Music businesses that would be a differentiating feature.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    February 24, 2005
    Josh, thanks for checking us out and your comments. Just a quick clarification: the site is FIQL.com, not FIWL.com. Still digesting your feedback.

    Mike
  • Anonymous
    February 24, 2005
    Fixed!
  • Anonymous
    February 24, 2005
    http://www.audioscrobbler.com has plug-ins for different media players and provides all the community features you discuss, plus more.

    works really well

    here's my profile http://www.audioscrobbler.com/user/fda/
  • Anonymous
    March 09, 2005

    The Rhapsody Radish blog is a playlist community specifically for Real Rhapsody Users and the Musicmatch Radish is for MusicMatch users.

    Since these are streaming services anyone can stream the full playlists by simply clicking a link. So it tends to me a much better experience than simply looking at playlists or listening to only the songs you happen to have available locally.

    To use the Rhapsody Radish you need to be a subscriber to hear full versions ($9.95 / mo), else you only hear 30 second clips.

    To use Musicmatch Radish you only need to download the software and register. You can listen to each playlist 3 times without paying any subscription. I expect Rhapsody to come up with a similar model if they want to keep gaining market share.

    Anyway I found your post and thought you may be interested, since these sites are exclusively "Playlist Communities"

    You can reach either site at:
    http://www.scopecreep.com/

    I would love to hear what you think.
  • Anonymous
    March 09, 2005
    Cool. Thanks for the link.