Lessons from Building world's largest social music platform

Slide 1: Lessons from Building The World’s Largest Social Music Platform Matthew Ogle & Anil Bawa Cavia FoWA 2007

Slide 5: How does it work?

Slide 6: How does it work? Listen - to your own music - to Last.fm radio

Slide 7: How does it work? Listen - to your own music - to Last.fm radio Share -your taste instead of files - automatic, via “scrobbling”

Slide 8: How does it work? Listen - to your own music - to Last.fm radio Share Discover -your taste - via your friends instead of files - via people with - automatic, via similar taste “scrobbling”

Slide 9: How does it work? Listen - to your own music - to Last.fm radio Share Discover -your taste - via your friends instead of files - via people with - automatic, via similar taste “scrobbling”

Slide 11: 15 million tracks scrobbled / day

Slide 12: 15 million tracks scrobbled / day (175 scrobbles per second)

Slide 13: 15 million tracks scrobbled / day (175 scrobbles per second) Over 6 billion tracks scrobbled since 2003

Slide 14: 15 million tracks scrobbled / day (175 scrobbles per second) Over 6 billion tracks scrobbled since 2003 10 million artists

Slide 15: 15 million tracks scrobbled / day (175 scrobbles per second) Over 6 billion tracks scrobbled since 2003 10 million artists 70 million tracks

Slide 16: 15 million tracks scrobbled / day (175 scrobbles per second) Over 6 billion tracks scrobbled since 2003 10 million artists 70 million tracks 700k tracks streamable on Last.fm radio

Slide 17: 15 million tracks scrobbled / day (175 scrobbles per second) Over 6 billion tracks scrobbled since 2003 10 million artists 70 million tracks 700k tracks streamable on Last.fm radio 17 million items tagged

Slide 18: 15 million tracks scrobbled / day (175 scrobbles per second) Over 6 billion tracks scrobbled since 2003 10 million artists 70 million tracks 700k tracks streamable on Last.fm radio 17 million items tagged 145k artist wikis

Slide 19: Last.fm World Domination Headquarters Whitechapel, London, 2004

Slide 20: Early Growth Lessons

Slide 21: Early Growth Lessons Don’t overextend – scale with your growth, not before

Slide 22: Early Growth Lessons Don’t overextend – scale with your growth, not before Make sure revenue sources scale with increased usage

Slide 23: Early Growth Lessons Don’t overextend – scale with your growth, not before Make sure revenue sources scale with increased usage Google ads

Slide 24: Early Growth Lessons Don’t overextend – scale with your growth, not before Make sure revenue sources scale with increased usage Google ads User subscriptions

Slide 25: Early Growth Lessons Don’t overextend – scale with your growth, not before Make sure revenue sources scale with increased usage Google ads User subscriptions Involve users in your web application’s story

Slide 26: Early Growth Lessons Don’t overextend – scale with your growth, not before Make sure revenue sources scale with increased usage Google ads User subscriptions Involve users in your web application’s story Make growth a selfish aim for existing users

Slide 27: Early Growth Lessons Don’t overextend – scale with your growth, not before Make sure revenue sources scale with increased usage Google ads User subscriptions Involve users in your web application’s story Make growth a selfish aim for existing users Be as open as you can afford

Slide 28: Audioscrobbler.com homepage, late 2004

Slide 29: Openness and Growth

Slide 30: Openness and Growth In 2004, we had a cool service, but needed data

Slide 31: Openness and Growth In 2004, we had a cool service, but needed data Audioscrobbler Protocol 1.0

Slide 32: Openness and Growth In 2004, we had a cool service, but needed data Audioscrobbler Protocol 1.0 Webservices for accessing users’ music profile data

Slide 33: Openness and Growth In 2004, we had a cool service, but needed data Audioscrobbler Protocol 1.0 Webservices for accessing users’ music profile data Together, provided “round trip” incentive for plugin developers

Slide 34: Openness and Growth In 2004, we had a cool service, but needed data Audioscrobbler Protocol 1.0 Webservices for accessing users’ music profile data Together, provided “round trip” incentive for plugin developers Winamp, iTunes, WMP, Amarok

Slide 35: Openness and Growth In 2004, we had a cool service, but needed data Audioscrobbler Protocol 1.0 Webservices for accessing users’ music profile data Together, provided “round trip” incentive for plugin developers Winamp, iTunes, WMP, Amarok Foobar, QCD, mpd, XMMS, mpg321

Slide 36: Openness and Growth In 2004, we had a cool service, but needed data Audioscrobbler Protocol 1.0 Webservices for accessing users’ music profile data Together, provided “round trip” incentive for plugin developers Winamp, iTunes, WMP, Amarok Foobar, QCD, mpd, XMMS, mpg321 Noatun, Quod Libet, Jinzora, Ampache

Slide 37: Openness and Growth In 2004, we had a cool service, but needed data Audioscrobbler Protocol 1.0 Webservices for accessing users’ music profile data Together, provided “round trip” incentive for plugin developers Winamp, iTunes, WMP, Amarok Foobar, QCD, mpd, XMMS, mpg321 Noatun, Quod Libet, Jinzora, Ampache (and dozens more)

Slide 38: Openness and Users

Slide 39: Openness and Users Involve non-technical users as well

Slide 40: Openness and Users Involve non-technical users as well Promote a community around your application

Slide 41: Openness and Users Involve non-technical users as well Promote a community around your application Talk to your users (bad news > no news)

Slide 42: Openness and Users Involve non-technical users as well Promote a community around your application Talk to your users (bad news > no news) More likely to tolerate growing pains…

Slide 47: Moving into the new office Old Street, London, May 2006

Slide 48: Growing up

Slide 49: Growing up process

Slide 50: Growing up process product

Slide 51: Growing up process product

Slide 52: Growing up • process 20 to 40+ employees in 6 months product

Slide 53: Growing up • process 20 to 40+ employees in 6 months • “people trump process” product

Slide 54: Growing up • process 20 to 40+ employees in 6 months • “people trump process” product • simple tools are effective tools

Slide 55: Growing up • process 20 to 40+ employees in 6 months • “people trump process” product • simple tools are effective tools • radiate information across different channels in the company

Slide 56: Growing up process excerpt from #last.fm irc channel

Slide 57: Growing up process excerpt from #last.fm irc channel irccat: SVN commit by norman (23872) 'randomSplitter: splits data into train and test sets randomly' (changeset: https://admindev.last.fm/ trac/changeset/23872)

Slide 58: Growing up process excerpt from #last.fm irc channel irccat: SVN commit by norman (23872) 'randomSplitter: splits data into train and test sets randomly' (changeset: https://admindev.last.fm/ trac/changeset/23872) 3:40 PM

Slide 59: Growing up process excerpt from #last.fm irc channel irccat: SVN commit by norman (23872) 'randomSplitter: splits data into train and test sets randomly' (changeset: https://admindev.last.fm/ trac/changeset/23872) 3:40 PM irccat: *** jonty is refreshing webnodes now: 'Fix for group owners'

Slide 60: Growing up process excerpt from #last.fm irc channel irccat: SVN commit by norman (23872) 'randomSplitter: splits data into train and test sets randomly' (changeset: https://admindev.last.fm/ trac/changeset/23872) 3:40 PM irccat: *** jonty is refreshing webnodes now: 'Fix for group owners' mischa: jonty: memcache key should be set to: java-playlist-10093 where 10093 ==userid.

Slide 61: Growing up process excerpt from #last.fm irc channel irccat: SVN commit by norman (23872) 'randomSplitter: splits data into train and test sets randomly' (changeset: https://admindev.last.fm/ trac/changeset/23872) 3:40 PM irccat: *** jonty is refreshing webnodes now: 'Fix for group owners' mischa: jonty: memcache key should be set to: java-playlist-10093 where 10093 ==userid. irccat: Trac: ticket #1779 (http://support.last.fm/trac/ticket/1779) changed by julian, Comment: Fixed for the next release..

Slide 62: Growing up process excerpt from #last.fm irc channel irccat: SVN commit by norman (23872) 'randomSplitter: splits data into train and test sets randomly' (changeset: https://admindev.last.fm/ trac/changeset/23872) 3:40 PM irccat: *** jonty is refreshing webnodes now: 'Fix for group owners' mischa: jonty: memcache key should be set to: java-playlist-10093 where 10093 ==userid. irccat: Trac: ticket #1779 (http://support.last.fm/trac/ticket/1779) changed by julian, Comment: Fixed for the next release.. irccat: number of anon flash streams is 1440, number of registered flash streams is 764

Slide 63: Growing up process excerpt from #last.fm irc channel irccat: SVN commit by norman (23872) 'randomSplitter: splits data into train and test sets randomly' (changeset: https://admindev.last.fm/ trac/changeset/23872) 3:40 PM irccat: *** jonty is refreshing webnodes now: 'Fix for group owners' mischa: jonty: memcache key should be set to: java-playlist-10093 where 10093 ==userid. irccat: Trac: ticket #1779 (http://support.last.fm/trac/ticket/1779) changed by julian, Comment: Fixed for the next release.. irccat: number of anon flash streams is 1440, number of registered flash streams is 764 felix: hey abc when did you put the adsense leaderboard on bottom cat pages live?

Slide 64: Growing up process excerpt from #last.fm irc channel irccat: SVN commit by norman (23872) 'randomSplitter: splits data into train and test sets randomly' (changeset: https://admindev.last.fm/ trac/changeset/23872) 3:40 PM irccat: *** jonty is refreshing webnodes now: 'Fix for group owners' mischa: jonty: memcache key should be set to: java-playlist-10093 where 10093 ==userid. irccat: Trac: ticket #1779 (http://support.last.fm/trac/ticket/1779) changed by julian, Comment: Fixed for the next release.. irccat: number of anon flash streams is 1440, number of registered flash streams is 764 felix: hey abc when did you put the adsense leaderboard on bottom cat pages live? abc: friday

Slide 65: Growing up process excerpt from #last.fm irc channel irccat: SVN commit by norman (23872) 'randomSplitter: splits data into train and test sets randomly' (changeset: https://admindev.last.fm/ trac/changeset/23872) 3:40 PM irccat: *** jonty is refreshing webnodes now: 'Fix for group owners' mischa: jonty: memcache key should be set to: java-playlist-10093 where 10093 ==userid. irccat: Trac: ticket #1779 (http://support.last.fm/trac/ticket/1779) changed by julian, Comment: Fixed for the next release.. irccat: number of anon flash streams is 1440, number of registered flash streams is 764 felix: hey abc when did you put the adsense leaderboard on bottom cat pages live? abc: friday