The Carsonified gang suggested a slightly different spin on a "Lessons from Last.fm" talk, focused around the desktop. Here are the slides that came out of it, along with an unveiling of the Last.fm Boffin tech demo.
Presented at FOWA Dublin, 6 March 2009
13. Yes, desktop.
Itās 2009, no desktop is an island
At Last.fm, our desktop strategy was key
to our crazy growth
14. Yes, desktop.
Itās 2009, no desktop is an island
At Last.fm, our desktop strategy was key
to our crazy growth
Along the way, discovered some useful
models for desktop-web interaction
15. Yes, desktop.
Itās 2009, no desktop is an island
At Last.fm, our desktop strategy was key
to our crazy growth
Along the way, discovered some useful
models for desktop-web interaction
Hints that desktop might be even more
important in future
18. In the beginningā¦
Last.fm began in 2002 as two separate projects
: personal online radio that learns
what you like and gets better over time
19. In the beginningā¦
Last.fm began in 2002 as two separate projects
: personal online radio that learns
what you like and gets better over time
Fig. 1-a
20. In the beginningā¦
Last.fm began in 2002 as two separate projects
: personal online radio that learns
what you like and gets better over time
Fig. 1-a
21. In the beginningā¦
Last.fm began in 2002 as two separate projects
: personal online radio that learns
what you like and gets better over time
ą¶
Fig. 1-a
22. In the beginningā¦
Last.fm began in 2002 as two separate projects
: personal online radio that learns
what you like and gets better over time
ą¶
Fig. 1-a
23. In the beginningā¦
Last.fm began in 2002 as two separate projects
: personal online radio that learns
what you like and gets better over time
ą¶
Fig. 1-a
25. In the beginningā¦
: desktop media player plugins
that track (āscrobbleā) what you listen to, build up
detailed personal music proļ¬le
26. In the beginningā¦
: desktop media player plugins
that track (āscrobbleā) what you listen to, build up
detailed personal music proļ¬le
Fig. 1-b
27. In the beginningā¦
: desktop media player plugins
that track (āscrobbleā) what you listen to, build up
detailed personal music proļ¬le
Fig. 1-b
28. In the beginningā¦
: desktop media player plugins
that track (āscrobbleā) what you listen to, build up
detailed personal music proļ¬le
Fig. 1-b
29. In the beginningā¦
: desktop media player plugins
that track (āscrobbleā) what you listen to, build up
detailed personal music proļ¬le
om nom nom
Fig. 1-b
34. Last.fm
Combining the two = ideal feedback loop for
crowdsourced music recommendation
Last.fm and Audioscrobbler gradually merged
over 2004ā2006
35. Last.fm
Combining the two = ideal feedback loop for
crowdsourced music recommendation
Last.fm and Audioscrobbler gradually merged
over 2004ā2006
Online radio and music recommendation have
become primary user-facing services of Last.fm
36. Last.fm
Combining the two = ideal feedback loop for
crowdsourced music recommendation
Last.fm and Audioscrobbler gradually merged
over 2004ā2006
Online radio and music recommendation have
become primary user-facing services of Last.fm
But the fuel comes from the desktop ā
via scrobbling
42. Last.fm
The API for sending this data to our servers has
been public since our inception
43. Last.fm
The API for sending this data to our servers has
been public since our inception
Last.fm only added an oļ¬cial scrobbling app in
mid-2006
44. Last.fm
The API for sending this data to our servers has
been public since our inception
Last.fm only added an oļ¬cial scrobbling app in
mid-2006
More than 100 media players, devices, and
platforms can scrobble, and we currently handle
up to 800 / second at peak
54. World oā scrobbles
āMy nameās Matt and Iāve just listened to
āEdmontonā by the Rural Alberta
Advantageāā¦times 30 billion
55. World oā scrobbles
āMy nameās Matt and Iāve just listened to
āEdmontonā by the Rural Alberta
Advantageāā¦times 30 billion
(Thatās a lot of music taste data)
56. World oā scrobbles
āMy nameās Matt and Iāve just listened to
āEdmontonā by the Rural Alberta
Advantageāā¦times 30 billion
(Thatās a lot of music taste data)
But why all this scrobbling, especially
with desktop barriers-to-entry?
And how did it drive growth?
58. Scrobbling and growth
Scrobbling helps the scrobbler ļ¬rst: their
proļ¬le pages show oļ¬ their awesome
music taste in real-time
59. Scrobbling and growth
Scrobbling helps the scrobbler ļ¬rst: their
proļ¬le pages show oļ¬ their awesome
music taste in real-time
Scrobbling helps the network next: every
time we donāt recognize an artist or track,
we add it to our database
64. Desktop growth fuel
Ambient page creation via desktop app
Tons of incoming links to personal music
proļ¬les + long tail of pages built by
scrobbles = great free Google juice
65. Desktop growth fuel
Ambient page creation via desktop app
Tons of incoming links to personal music
proļ¬les + long tail of pages built by
scrobbles = great free Google juice
12 million artist pages
43 million track pages
25+ million unique active users per month
68. Desktop growth fuel
Kept desktop app unobtrusive and simple
during successive website updates
Only a few major additions since 2006
69. Desktop growth fuel
Kept desktop app unobtrusive and simple
during successive website updates
Only a few major additions since 2006
iTunes bootstrapping
70. Desktop growth fuel
Kept desktop app unobtrusive and simple
during successive website updates
Only a few major additions since 2006
iTunes bootstrapping
Audio ļ¬ngerprinting
75. Scrobbles = attention data
Attention data is a digital recordĀ that
describes the time spent interacting with
someone or something.
- Jim Meyer, http://www.usingattention.com/2006/08/19/
what-is-attention-data/
76. Scrobbles = attention data
Attention data is a digital recordĀ that
describes the time spent interacting with
someone or something.
- Jim Meyer, http://www.usingattention.com/2006/08/19/
what-is-attention-data/
Scrobbling doesnāt ask a user to change or
develop new behaviours; it asks
permission to record existing ones
79. Attention data
Tons of these interactions are happening every
minute on the desktop
downloading / browsing photos from a camera
80. Attention data
Tons of these interactions are happening every
minute on the desktop
downloading / browsing photos from a camera
chatting to friends on IM
81. Attention data
Tons of these interactions are happening every
minute on the desktop
downloading / browsing photos from a camera
chatting to friends on IM
annotating a research paper
82. Attention data
Tons of these interactions are happening every
minute on the desktop
downloading / browsing photos from a camera
chatting to friends on IM
annotating a research paper
watching videos
83. Attention data
Tons of these interactions are happening every
minute on the desktop
downloading / browsing photos from a camera
chatting to friends on IM
annotating a research paper
watching videos
(your desktop interaction here)
86. Working with attention
Your service should seek to amplify + add value to
attention data
In doing so, you ideally give it...
87. Working with attention
Your service should seek to amplify + add value to
attention data
In doing so, you ideally give it...
more personal value
(this comes ļ¬rst, donāt neglect it)
88. Working with attention
Your service should seek to amplify + add value to
attention data
In doing so, you ideally give it...
more personal value
(this comes ļ¬rst, donāt neglect it)
network value
(this is where your service can really shine)
91. More desktop principles
Expose a good API from the start
(good != elaborate)
Donāt force users to change habits; use desktop to
give them an on-ramp
92. More desktop principles
Expose a good API from the start
(good != elaborate)
Donāt force users to change habits; use desktop to
give them an on-ramp
Works for more than just music or attention data
(Tripit/Dopplr itinerary parsing, photo uploaders)
93. More desktop principles
Expose a good API from the start
(good != elaborate)
Donāt force users to change habits; use desktop to
give them an on-ramp
Works for more than just music or attention data
(Tripit/Dopplr itinerary parsing, photo uploaders)
Desktop + privacy balance = hard but essential
(being open source and oļ¬ering data export
helps)
97. The Future?
Bernal Sphere, 1970s (Apologies to Matt Jones, Dopplr)
The thinking here seems to be:
āPeople like planned garden communities, and space is the future,
so letās just put one in space! Yeah! Thatās much better!ā
106. Utopian desktop futures
All these projects are interesting and
exciting and you should look them up
ā¦cause Iām not going to talk about them.
107. Utopian desktop futures
All these projects are interesting and
exciting and you should look them up
ā¦cause Iām not going to talk about them.
(Iām not yet convinced they signiļ¬cantly
change the web OR the desktop. They just
move it around a bit.)
110. Turn it inside out
Instead of sending local content TO the
web (the on-ramp) or putting the web
inside a desktop experience (Songbird,
AIR)...
111. Turn it inside out
Instead of sending local content TO the
web (the on-ramp) or putting the web
inside a desktop experience (Songbird,
AIR)...
...why canāt the web make local content
better? And leave it there?
112. Turn it inside out
Instead of sending local content TO the
web (the on-ramp) or putting the web
inside a desktop experience (Songbird,
AIR)...
...why canāt the web make local content
better? And leave it there?
ā¦using proven desktop conventions and
programming languages?
121. Parting tips
Make it selļ¬sh
Make it open
Amplify user attention
Create on-ramps to your web experience
122. Parting tips
Make it selļ¬sh
Make it open
Amplify user attention
Create on-ramps to your web experience
Be wary of uptopian futures that involve platform
lock-in
123. Parting tips
Make it selļ¬sh
Make it open
Amplify user attention
Create on-ramps to your web experience
Be wary of uptopian futures that involve platform
lock-in
Befriend local desktop developers, trade notes,
learn from each other
124. Parting tips
Make it selļ¬sh
Make it open
Amplify user attention
Create on-ramps to your web experience
Be wary of uptopian futures that involve platform
lock-in
Befriend local desktop developers, trade notes,
learn from each other
Use your web smarts to make the desktop
exciting again
125. Any questions?
See you online:
www.last.fm/user/ļ¬aneur
www.twitter.com/ļ¬aneur
irc.audioscrobbler.com
matt@last.fm