I’m still fairly recent to the notion of tags on Last.fm. As such, I’m still debating how useful they really are in a community setting. The issue is one of personal use versus applicability to a more general audience.

For purposes of discovery, identifying something as “indie” (as over 100,000 Last.fm users have been wont to do) doesn’t really help. The tag is simply too vague, too plain, too nothing. [Not to mention that it has somehow been taken to represent a certain sound (personally, I blame the British), rather than simply denoting the distribution channels by which an album is sold.]

Conversely, my way of doing things is also flawed in its specificity. Not many users are tagging their songs with 6-word tags (“songs with that classic feel to them” being my tag of choice). My stance was originally quite self-absorbed – a lack of consideration for the greater community. My tags were created moreso [not a "real" word, but English is of human genesis, and so I'll let those tomes of gathered words catch up] as playlists.

For the creators of Last.fm, this maybe isn’t of great importance – their definition of tagging in the FAQ is fairly broad (and rightly so), encompassing both of the above exemples.

So what’s the problem? The design of the Last.fm site includes a tag box in the top-righthand corner of each track or artist page – meaning that there is at least some degree of implicit interest in the behavioural patterns of users when it comes to tagging – downplaying the applicability of the FAQ’s example of ‘singers Sarah would like.’

The tag box seems to include the most popular of terms used to denote a specific track, meaning that tags inapplicable to the community aren’t displayed by default …but of course this brings back the problem of vagueness. Some of the more descriptive, and therefore valuable, tags are another click away. According to the tag box for The World Is Mine by Hooverphonic, the song is electronic trip-hop, featuring a female vocalist. Yes. Well, that accurately describes Hooverphonic, but it doesn’t really give me any indication of what the song evokes. Clicking further, we discover tags such as ‘cabaret,’ ‘uptempo’ and ‘dance all over your face,’ hardly what we would have expected from the most popular tags, which were so all-encompassing that they could have just as well described Massive Attack.

How can we fix it? Why not feature both the popular tags and those that aren’t quite as popular in the tag box? Add some richness to the data. Don’t just aggregate the results.

[originally posted to Last.fm, 11 Feb 2008]

In a recent feature, the Montreal Gazette estimated that the Montreal Canadiens are likely spending somewhere near $350,000 on hockey sticks per season, more than double what they were spending just a few years ago. The reason? Composite sticks from manufacturers such as Easton and Nike Bauer that can cost upwards of $300. The benefits of composite? A lighter stick, and one that can add 10 mph to a player’s wristshot.

So what’s the problem? Quite simply, they break. A game between the Phoenix Coyotes and the Columbus Blue Jackets saw the breaking of a dozen sticks. Unthinkable only a few years ago. Players are sticking with them anyway, willing to undertake the risk; the perceived benefits weighing heavily.

How can we fix it? Stick manufacturers might want to consider increasing the available levels of stiffness – most composite sticks max out at 120, with players already choosing 110 on average. Those with the harder shots are ostensibly those whose sticks are most prone to snapping, so they’re likely already on the high end of the spectrum – give them a choice of a stiffer stick and they’d likely take it.

Or what about something as simple as adding an adhesive sheath to the stick, which would allow a broken stick to maintain a certain degree of constancy? I would argue that a big part of the problem is the visual evidence a broken stick leaves behind. Sticks that shatter in two on a shot garner a great deal more attention than ones that simply crack and are thrown away once a player returns from a shift.

DISCLAIMER: Downloading music is actually legal in Canada. Royalties are collected by the CPCC on sales of blank media (of which I’ve purchased plenty).

I will fully admit that I download songs without paying for them.

Let me explain why, and let me propose a solution.

Using an example of a recently "acquired" album, Kula Shaker‘s Strangefolk, the album isn’t available in Canada until August 27. When it is available for purchase, the price will be almost prohibitively high. Amazon currently lists the price at $27.99, tax exclusive.

Availability and price notwithstanding (immediacy and affordability are obviously understandable), what kind of investment am I getting into? Listening stations are an option at HMV, but what about somewhere else? What if I don’t like it? Because I am assumed to have made a copy, I don’t have the option to return the CD if I have opened it, and so the possibility exists that I would be stuck with, having just dropped over $30, a product I did not feel was up to par.

As a consumer, it feels as though I have no power over my purchasing decision. I can’t research the product beforehand; even if I’m able to sample a track or two, the quality can be deceptive. It has happened before to me, that I’ve been let down by an album after having been blown away by a song – Chris Cornell‘s debut comes to mind; Can’t Change Me was a great track; the album couldn’t match.

Certainly, If the price weren’t such an issue, I wouldn’t be so perturbed. In this instance however, the price is a sticking point. Other CDs are retailing for under $10. This is 300% of that.

…and of course what the industry doesn’t understand is that, having listened to it, and having it in my possession (if you will, suspending disbelief that binary code can be held and cherished), I actually will purchase the Kula Shaker album. I enjoy it. While the first half is standard KS, the second half enjoyably delves a little deeper into their somewhat distinct brand of folk. I feel that the artist deserves to be properly compensated for their work.

…and of course what the industry doesn’t understand is that albums that I would never think to purchase, I might, if I get the chance to read a favourable review and get to listen to the album in full.

My proposal then, as I don’t believe the industry should collapse unto itself, robbing us of production values… album previews. I’m not suggesting they be made altogether free, as after all, we pay to see movies before we buy them on DVD, but rather, include them with the purchase of single tracks on iTunes (or equivalent). Buy one song, listen to the rest of the album for free.

If I like the album, I can pay for it. If not, well, I feel content knowing I didn’t get sucked into paying for something I didn’t want. I leave happy either way. — If the record companies ultimately want my album money, they can ensure the quality of the product.

[originally posted to Last.fm, 21 Jul 2007]