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Allow me to spread the word about ListenBrainz. ListenBrainz is a FOSS project that aims to crowdsource listening data from digital music and release it under an open license. Basically it's Last.fm but better. Whatever you use to listen to music, you can probably link it up with ListenBrainz. All ListenBrainz listening data is available for all to use, commercially or not. Why should we give our listening data only to proprietary companies like Spotify and depend on them, when we can share it. If you've kept track of your what music you've listened to up to this point, don't worry, there are several ways to import them into ListenBrainz so you can keep an overview of all your music listening.

I am not working for ListenBrainz in any way, I just really like this project, and I had not seen much on Lemmy about them, so I'm happy to spread the word.

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[-] Flaky@iusearchlinux.fyi 24 points 1 year ago

Forgive me if I’m a little excited but I was not expecting anything from MusicBrainz to be mentioned here! Don’t want to say it’s obscure but I never saw mentions of it at all on Lemmy. I helped out with ScrobblerBrainz (ListenBrainz plugin for MusicBee) and even made a manual scrobbler plugin for their tag editor (though it needs TLC). Glad to see some love for ListenBrainz here.

[-] blazeknave@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago

Can I port my 15 years of last.fm data?

[-] LurkyMcLurkface@lemmy.world 17 points 1 year ago

Yes you can.

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[-] db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 14 points 1 year ago

I switched to listenbrainz as soon as I discovered it. I have been using last.fm since it was called audioscrobbler and migrated all my collection there. There's some import bugs which make me need to manually replay my favorites in order to mark them in listenbrainz, but overall good process.

I love the public playlists feature. Finally a way to share playlists than doesn't rely on spotify or youtube.

It's neighbors discoverability needs more work though.

[-] jdeath@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Oh that's pretty cool! I agree about sharing playlists being way too difficult.

I have been working on a solution for sharing playlists as part of my music sharing side-project Bongo. Right now you can technically do it but it doesn't work very well. My algorithm looks for the closest match when finding a playlist but sometimes they aren't exactly equivalent across different services.

That's probably confusing since I didn't explain what Bongo does right now. You can take a link from Spotify/YouTube/Apple Music and Bongo makes a page with links to that media on all three of the services. The idea was to make it easier to share music with friends.

You can check it out here: https://bongo.to

Here's an example of a shared song: https://bongo.to/?am=album%2Fback-on-74%2F1676151993%3Fi%3D1676152328

[-] auf@lemmy.ml 13 points 1 year ago

I definitely want to try it out, but sadly, it doesn't integrate with YouTube Music, which I use the most. On desktop I can use third-party clients that has this feature, but I rarely play music on desktop.

[-] t0fr@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 year ago

Where do you listen to YouTube Music? You can use PanoScrobbler on Android Or Web Scribbler extension if you listen in your browser

[-] auf@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago

I use YouTube Music on iOS. I wish iPhone was as customizable as Android.

[-] NENathaniel@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago

Yea ironically it's way easier to scrobble my Apple Music on Android than it is on iOS

[-] t0fr@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago

Aw. That's unfortunate. I didn't find anything helpful for iOS after a quick Google search 🥲

[-] auf@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah. I hate Apple for this

[-] Jasje@feddit.nl 1 points 1 year ago

You can also you ListenBrainz Android for scrobbling as well

[-] Ejh3k@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago
[-] db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 1 year ago

Recording of listens and then sharing it publicly allows to discoverability of more music.

[-] 96VXb9ktTjFnRi@feddit.nl 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

It allows for data analysis. This helps you to discover new music, keep track of new releases coming out. It also allows you to easily share your musical interests with others. And it doesn't have blind spots. Spotify would never recommend you something that's not on Spotify. Because people submit listens to ListenBrainz from Spotify but also from other platforms and from local files there are no inherent blind spots. My listening behavior is no secret, anyone can have a look at it, I choose for it to not be private. But I wouldn't want to just gift it to any one particular company that can use it to make money. By submitting listens to ListenBrainz you basically gift it to everyone.

[-] LWD@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 11 months ago)
[-] 96VXb9ktTjFnRi@feddit.nl 2 points 1 year ago

No, all data in ListenBrainz is available for everyone.

[-] ElderWendigo@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

I already use MusicBrainz data to properly name a file away my digital music collection. I contribute release info and revisions whenever I can to further that same goal. Plex uses MusicBrainz data to help me search, filter, and play through a music library that is honestly bigger than I could ever fully listen to. It just makes sense that I be able to integrate and leverage my listening data so that I can better find the tracks and releases I've "lost" in my own collection and find new music. It's even more of a bonus that all that data is open, so I feel more like I'm actually contributing something to society (even if it's as trivial as music data and listening habits) instead of just giving it away to a private company to sell or keep secret as they see fit.

[-] NENathaniel@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 year ago

While I like the concept of it being FOSS, I admit I think Last.fm is just the much more pleasant to use service

I even pay for Last.fm Premium cause I think it's worth paying for

[-] 96VXb9ktTjFnRi@feddit.nl 3 points 1 year ago

I used to like last.fm. But i felt like it was only becoming worse over the years. For instance, I used to like groups and was quite active in some. Then suddenly they were removed. With ListenBrainz I feel like there is much to improve still, and perhaps it's not on the level of Last.fm on some aspects. But ListenBrainz is getting better by the year and will only improve as more people join the project.

[-] NENathaniel@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 year ago

Fair, For the time being, I see no reason not to keep using both

[-] Flaky@iusearchlinux.fyi 2 points 1 year ago

Fair enough - I use both for different reasons, and am also thinking on getting Last.fm Pro in the future.

ListenBrainz has the ability of submitting more accurate data (i.e. specific recordings and releases, tied to MusicBrainz ofc) while last.fm has the better developer ecosystem (a lot of apps support it e.g. third party Apple Music Clients, the .fmbot Discord bot which I do pay monthly for). Not a huuuuge fan of Last.fm's way of handling artist names that have collabs or featured artists in them, but that might be the obsessive data nerd in me I guess (and I guess last.fm Pro can fix that)

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[-] henfredemars@infosec.pub 6 points 1 year ago

Sounds interesting. Unfortunately the app is in a crash loop on my Pixel 8 Pro. I tried resetting it twice, but it looks like it's just broken on my device.

[-] t0fr@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 year ago

I'd recommend PanoScrobbler instead on your phone

[-] Jasje@feddit.nl 1 points 1 year ago

App’s fixed now. Try version 2.4.1. It even has improved consistent scrobbling than before (but still rough around the edges)

[-] LunchEnjoyer@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago
[-] BoneALisa@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago

I would love to move off last.fm, but this doesn't support Plex, so that's a no-go for me... I did create an account though, so once they do I will happily move over lol.

[-] Flaky@iusearchlinux.fyi 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

if need be you can periodically import your listens from last.fm or libre.fm. I use both Last.fm and ListenBrainz since LB is better at storing accurate listen data (supported players can submit MusicBrainz IDs) but last.fm has a better developer ecosystem (apps like .fmbot have better integration with last.fm)

[-] akilou@sh.itjust.works 4 points 1 year ago
[-] teuast@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 year ago

sentences that sound made up but have actual meaning

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[-] Carter@feddit.uk 3 points 1 year ago

The problem for me is it's an extra app to check and then, find the recommendations and then go back to my music app of choice and search for the recommendations. It needs a way of being implemented into current services.

[-] Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

Agree but Seems unlikely to happen. Couldn't it just run in background like a Shazam and identity songs by audio signatures regardless of source? Might be a bit resource intense but I don't think it will be long before most phones could support this.

[-] small44@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

I don't know why lisenbrainz imported scrobbles that I removed from Lastfm so i decided to create a new account and started from zero. I don't check my listenbrainz stats because right now there is no cool features that differentiate it from lastfm.

[-] florge@feddit.uk 2 points 1 year ago

Has their app improved? I tried it a while ago now and it was pretty lacking.

[-] 96VXb9ktTjFnRi@feddit.nl 1 points 1 year ago

I couldn't really tell you. The ListenBrainz android app was first released in February. I imagine it has improved over the year. I can't tell you because I don't use the app. I personally have my Tauon Music Box audioplayer on PC linked up with Listenbrainz, and I don't listen to music on android. But on the forums I don't hear a lot of complaints so I would assume it's reasonably good.

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this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2023
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