As mentioned in the HN submission, Last.fm went through a redesign already over a decade ago. It stripped so much functionality that the site became useless except for merely tracking one's own listens, and there were already libre alternatives for that.
Last.fm is one of my go-to examples of how the internet has become a lonelier place. The old Last.fm was deeply linked with real life: it would show upcoming gigs in your town along with members who might be attending, and you could easily meet people in your own location who shared your own tastes in music. Where does a person find music-related socializing now?
> You could easily meet people in your own location who shared your own tastes in music. Where does a person find music-related socializing now
I'd say Instagram serves the role of Last.fm you described (for better or worse). But really you can just go to the gigs and talk to people. That's guaranteed people in your area with similar interests.
This is true, and I hate it. All the local DJs I enjoy post their gigs on instagram and nowhere else. All the fans I know use instagram to get updates about where the shows are happening.
In practice I just wait for my friends to tell me where the music will be, but I also hate the whole setup deeply and want instagram to die in a fire.
No seriously, like 18 months ago I solved this exact issue in my corner of the world by simply creating a static website and putting them there on a calendar and now I'm like a microcelebrity of my own running a "brand" that every organiser knows of.
I want to do the same but I live in a big city (millions of people). How do you recommend approaching this? There is no board/calendar that would get the attention of thousands of people and without that it's useless in a big city.
> There is no board/calendar that would get the attention of thousands of people
What makes you think that? Google/chatbots need a crawlable source. Instagram content is not a crawlable source. Be that crawlable source and they'll send the traffic your way. I get thousands of monthly visitors from Google alone. The next step in the funnel is to make them sign up for a weekly newsletter.
I'd also suggest a giant "purchase ticket here" button on every event page and measuring how many people click on it, it's infinitely easier to approach the organisers when you can easily whip out that statistic on your phone.
Check out Austin Texas <a href="https://do512.com" rel="nofollow">https://do512.com for inspiration of music/event trackers. Personally, I think a "Whitelabel"-able version of this, ready to be localized to a city/town, would be cool - especially if it generated custom calendar (iCal). I checked out potential alternatives, and really didn't seem much out there - especially that would be attractive/stylish to music fans.
Additionally, an "MVP" could be a single HTML page, which lists all the recurring events, grouped by week-dat on a week calendar. For example, if there's a venue which hosts a weekly jam session on Thursdays, you could add that once and it would always show up for the "What's happening Thursday?" area. Usually there are a bunch of recurring events in any town, so the calendar page quickly becomes a useful "what to do today/tomorrow" guide, with minimal effort.
We're a small city so not sure how effective it would be for you, but <a href="https://theimage04.com/" rel="nofollow">https://theimage04.com/ was pretty revolutionary among the music circles here. Most people I spoke to loved the old-school newspaper classifieds vibe, and that there's no Web 2.0 bs.
You could do something similar and then print out physical copies of it and hand over a few to local music venues, cafes, pubs etc to spread the word.
I started mine last summer but gave up a few months ago. I just couldn't stand looking at insta every day to surface updates, and when I wrote a scraper (read only - no likes, comments, or posts) to do the job for me my account got banned for bot activity.
I also hate meta but unfortunately it's where many scenes live. Path of least resistance for venues, artists, to share their shows. I would disagree with the other commenter who said to "be the change". I've seen dozens of event aggregating sites and what they all lack is actual people using it. We live in Meta's hell, but everybody's there (speaking as Gen Z).
This is avoidable if you have a specific niche though. A lot of groups online and in cities give me hope. What kind of music are we talking here?
For those sounds, I'd stick to resident advisor and following the DJ's you like. Also check out Rinse FM for artist discovery if you're open to the British sound (they invented d&b and dubstep). Massive.
TFNA · · focus · HN ↗
Last.fm is one of my go-to examples of how the internet has become a lonelier place. The old Last.fm was deeply linked with real life: it would show upcoming gigs in your town along with members who might be attending, and you could easily meet people in your own location who shared your own tastes in music. Where does a person find music-related socializing now?
soleman · · focus · HN ↗
I'd say Instagram serves the role of Last.fm you described (for better or worse). But really you can just go to the gigs and talk to people. That's guaranteed people in your area with similar interests.
phrotoma · · focus · HN ↗
In practice I just wait for my friends to tell me where the music will be, but I also hate the whole setup deeply and want instagram to die in a fire.
input_sh · · focus · HN ↗
No seriously, like 18 months ago I solved this exact issue in my corner of the world by simply creating a static website and putting them there on a calendar and now I'm like a microcelebrity of my own running a "brand" that every organiser knows of.
101008 · · focus · HN ↗
input_sh · · focus · HN ↗
What makes you think that? Google/chatbots need a crawlable source. Instagram content is not a crawlable source. Be that crawlable source and they'll send the traffic your way. I get thousands of monthly visitors from Google alone. The next step in the funnel is to make them sign up for a weekly newsletter.
I'd also suggest a giant "purchase ticket here" button on every event page and measuring how many people click on it, it's infinitely easier to approach the organisers when you can easily whip out that statistic on your phone.
dv35z · · focus · HN ↗
Additionally, an "MVP" could be a single HTML page, which lists all the recurring events, grouped by week-dat on a week calendar. For example, if there's a venue which hosts a weekly jam session on Thursdays, you could add that once and it would always show up for the "What's happening Thursday?" area. Usually there are a bunch of recurring events in any town, so the calendar page quickly becomes a useful "what to do today/tomorrow" guide, with minimal effort.
d3Xt3r · · focus · HN ↗
You could do something similar and then print out physical copies of it and hand over a few to local music venues, cafes, pubs etc to spread the word.
[deleted] · · focus · HN ↗
[deleted]
phrotoma · · focus · HN ↗
Fuck instagram.
Mashimo · · focus · HN ↗
I think it's possible for 3rd parties to add to Resident Advisor.
I also dislike Insta only events. I still have facebook where I follow up on some venues. But just a few websites with calanders would be coolio.
phrotoma · · focus · HN ↗
soleman · · focus · HN ↗
This is avoidable if you have a specific niche though. A lot of groups online and in cities give me hope. What kind of music are we talking here?
phrotoma · · focus · HN ↗
soleman · · focus · HN ↗