Subject: BS: Tech? Forgotify? From: JohnInKansas Date: 03 Feb 14 - 04:16 AM While anyone really interested is likely to already have found this "feature," the idea is interesting enough that perhaps some of "the rest of us" should know it's out there. I know nothing about the parent site, Spotify, and the article doesn't give details, although it appears from my link check that no registration of fees are reqquired to listen. Maybe this is one way even a folk singer could have some chance (is 1 in 4 million better than average?) of having a performance heard. ... ... (?) Forgotify lets you discover Spotify's 4 million forgotten songs Keith Wagstaff NBC News Jan. 30, 2014 Forgotify Spotify spends a lot of effort trying to get users to listen to music they have never heard before, including algorithms, recommendations from friends and Spotify radio. The problem? There are a lot of songs on Spotify. Like, more than 20 million of them. Good thing Forgotify exists. The free app searches through the roughly 4 million songs that have never been played on Spotify before and serves them up to adventurous listeners. "We thought, 'What kind of weird stuff is out there that people could find?'" Nate Gagnon, one of the San Francisco-based creators of Forgotify, told NBC News. "It's a crazy testament to how many songs are on Spotify, period." Gagnon was surprised by the diversity of songs he and his team discovered, from tribal chants to audio from an AA meeting. He describes it as a "weird, never-before-been-played Pandora." I decided to try it out by heading to Forgotify.com and hitting the "Start listening" button. What I discovered were cuts from long-forgotten soundtracks, obscure rock songs from the '50s and plenty of international tunes. One of Gagnon's aims was to introduce people to new music because, he said, so many people just use Spotify to listen to songs that they already love. I certainly discovered some, um, interesting tracks. Thanks to Forgotify, I can now jam to smooth sounds of Czech crooner and amateur painter Karel Gott, who is still living the dream despite starting his career in 1958. Gagnon and his partners created the app as a fun side project. They certainly didn't expect to get paid or have it become so popular only a day after it was released. It caught on with the public anyway. While Gagnon doesn't have any specifics on how many people have used Forgotify, the app currently has more than 5,500 Facebook "likes." There is, of course, one major flaw inherent to Forgotify. "If it's successful, it shuts itself down," he said. "I think it's kind of cool that these random artists will receive a check for a fraction of a cent out of nowhere." Has anyone here looked at it? John |
Subject: RE: BS: Tech? Forgotify? From: Bonnie Shaljean Date: 03 Feb 14 - 06:37 AM 5500 Facebook Likes? Just went there - it says 333. Certainly sounds interesting, tho I haven't even got as far as ordinary Spotify yet. But I'm putting a tracer on this thread. Cheers, JiK - But there's one thing I don't get: There is, of course, one major flaw inherent to Forgotify. "If it's successful, it shuts itself down," he said. "I think it's kind of cool that these random artists will receive a check for a fraction of a cent out of nowhere." I mean I don't understand the part about shutting itself down. The fraction-of-a-cent bit is all too familiar. (What's so cool about it?) And what has that first statement got to do with the second, I wonder? |
Subject: RE: BS: Tech? Forgotify? From: JohnInKansas Date: 03 Feb 14 - 02:31 PM Bonnie - Since Forgotify only plays the things that have never been played, if enough people play it there eventually will be no things that haven't been played, and Forgetify will have nothing left to play. Thus, "If it's successful, it shuts itself down." This does, of course, ignore the tendency for new forgetable things to continue to appear at a fairly high rate. Since Spotify claims 20 million items, and 4 million are "forgotten," a ratio of 1 new dud in 5 new recordings would appear to have been common for some time. John |
Subject: RE: BS: Tech? Forgotify? From: Bonnie Shaljean Date: 03 Feb 14 - 02:42 PM "New forgettable things to continue to appear…" - I love it! Thanks for the interesting clarification. PS: Facebook page is up to 359 now |
Subject: RE: BS: Tech? Forgotify? From: GUEST,Stim Date: 03 Feb 14 - 02:57 PM I recommend Spotify to *everyone* because you can listen to just about anything that you want instantly. I don't even bother to dig out CDs anymore, because it is a lot easier to pull things up on Spotify. You can create play lists, save favorites, trade play lists, and even listen to what your friends are listening to. They have a lot of classical and jazz, too. That said, folk music seems underrepresented, and many of the albums and artists that we treasure have yet to be added to their library. |
Subject: RE: BS: Tech? Forgotify? From: Bonnie Shaljean Date: 03 Feb 14 - 03:16 PM [This is my third attempt to post this question] Bonehead question here - I'm not too up on these things: What sort of files do they require - MP3, WAV, whatever the latest tech is? (What is it??) I assume they don't just take CDs. (They do still take those, don't they?) (Well, I did say I was behind the times…) |
Subject: RE: BS: Tech? Forgotify? From: gnu Date: 03 Feb 14 - 03:43 PM Sorry, we're not available where you are. Leave your email to stay tuned for good news. Hmmmm. |
Subject: RE: BS: Tech? Forgotify? From: GUEST,Stim Date: 03 Feb 14 - 07:02 PM Bonnie Shaljean--not a bonehead question at all-you can't actually upload music directly to Spotify--they get music thru labels and music aggregators--it's all explained here: How to get your music on Spotify If you don't have a label or aggregator, they'll still work with you. gnu; Because Spotify is a "legal" music distributor, they pay royalties to all the artists, and that performance rights, permissions, and all that stuff vary by country, they have to clear all the paper work up for each country before they go online there. |
Subject: RE: BS: Tech? Forgotify? From: Bonnie Shaljean Date: 03 Feb 14 - 07:56 PM But I thought they had it in the US - I remember feeling jealous of everybody because they had Spotify and Ireland didn't. But it's even reached us now! What gives? Gnu, ya livin in a cave or sumthin? |
Subject: RE: BS: Tech? Forgotify? From: GUEST,michaelr Date: 03 Feb 14 - 08:42 PM Sumthin -- gnu lives in Canada. |
Subject: RE: BS: Tech? Forgotify? From: Bonnie Shaljean Date: 03 Feb 14 - 08:55 PM I felt sure they had it in Canada...? Can't recall why, something I heard or read made me think so. Sorry about the unintended "cave" association. (There goes my mental image of Gnu retreating to some enviably hidden lair when It All Gets Too Much.) |
Subject: RE: BS: Tech? Forgotify? From: Stilly River Sage Date: 03 Feb 14 - 11:13 PM Isn't Spotify a subscription service? I've never used it (I have plenty to listen to now without finding yet another site, but what the heck. . . ) SRS |
Subject: RE: BS: Tech? Forgotify? From: JohnInKansas Date: 04 Feb 14 - 12:50 AM I felt sure they had it in Canada. You have to remember that there are two Canadas, separated, among other issues, by two different languages almost as disparate as Okies vs Bronx New Yawkers. Maybe they have different rules in the different parts(?). John |
Subject: RE: BS: Tech? Forgotify? From: Joe Offer Date: 04 Feb 14 - 02:44 AM Spotify started in Sweden in 2008, and then opened in the UK in 2009. Some nice Mudcatter in the UK gave me a gift subscription, so I had Spotify for quite some time before it opened for business in the United States in 2011. You can get limited service with commercials for free, but I pay $4.99 a month for unlimited service without commercials. Spotify has a vast music library, although there are some limits on its catalog of folk music - it does have the entire Folkways and Topic catalogs, however. The browser-based Spotify works very well for me. The version of Spotify installed on my computer also plays the music I have stored on my computer, but that iteration of Spotify seems a bit sluggish to me. All in all, I have to say that I like it very much. -Joe- |