The Last (.FM) of Convergence Culture
Since the emergence of the second version of the Internet, the world of online interaction has primarily revolved around participatory culture. People online now have the ability to create content, share, and be praised—or relentlessly haggled—by their discovery. This has lead to an entirely new means of expressing and sharing information since there is constantly an outlet to do so. Many websites, like Facebook, YouTube, and MySpace, have a well-established community of users who constantly share, create, and express various aspects of social culture with one another. For die-hard music fans, the same can be said.
Last.FM can be described as a Facebook account for people who cannot step outdoors in public without an iPod in hand. The website, which actually dates back to 2002, has more than 40 million active users around the world. Primarily, the concept of the website is to keep track of what each individual user is listening to. Each person’s Last.FM homepage consists of the top tracks played, loved tracks, and a scroll of what the user’s friends are listening to.
In addition to the previously mentioned features, Last.FM has expanded its purpose to other aspects of the music industry. In a recent addition to the website, users can display what concerts they plan on attending. Now, there is a direct forum between concertgoers to share information about a particular show.
Many of Last.FM’s attributes exemplify Henry Jenkins’ concepts of participatory culture and collective intelligence. Last.FM allows users to view the week’s overall ten most played tracks within the website’s entire community. It also displays and recommends songs users may be interested in based on personal preference and the preferences of the user’s friends. The site also allows friends to personally recommend songs to one another.
The willingness of Last.FM’s community to keep tally of what songs they listen to is at the heart of Jenkin’s notion of participatory culture. By each person sharing such information with one another, it only furthers the example. Last.FM is meant to be a fun way for music enthusiasts to share fun things with one another. When this information circulates throughout Last.FM’s community, it creates collective intelligence and the website becomes an alternative source of media power.
Along with this willingness to participate, users have the capability to share music with each other. Last.FM’s message feature allows users to share songs with each other, allowing each individual who receives this message to preview and respond to a song. Again, this demonstrates a participatory culture aimed towards to the analyzing of music within an online forum.
Last.FM shares one particular feature with YouTube: it creates a cultural identity with its users. According to Burgess & Green, any website that encourages user participation and provides a text for its “social tapestry” demonstrates the capacity to have its users identify themselves in terms of the web page. Each individual’s homepage reflects directly on who they are.
To demonstrate this sense of cultural identity, I will use my very own Last.FM page. So, who exactly am I on Last.FM? Based on my homepage, my last song listened to is “Brainville” by The Flaming Lips; the band I have listened to the most is Radiohead; and my most listened to song is “Lowdown” by My Morning Jacket. Although it’s hard to reflect on what my cultural identity means to others on the website, I know that many of my friends would consider my taste in music compatible and relevant to their own.
From the perspective of a non-Last.FM user, my taste in music may seem weird and absurd. Looking at the list of bands I just mentioned—Radiohead, The Flaming Lips, and My Morning Jacket—some might say the bands I listen to are quite obscure. Yet, to anyone within the Last.FM community, these artists are highly regarded. For instance, if we were to take a look at Last.FM’s statistics we would find Radiohead sitting right below The Beatles at the number two spot on most listeners and most plays.
Alas, the opposite may also be demonstrated. Both of the songs I mentioned by The Flaming Lips and My Morning Jacket do not come close to cracking the site’s 100 most listened to tracks. Yet, if we were to jump over to a friend’s homepage, one of those tracks would sit in their top twenty lists and all three artists rest before spot fifteen on most listened to artists.
Last.FM is a very unique part of the concept of online media convergence. Reflecting on both individual and communal trends in music, the website displays how a particular hobby can be turned into a cultural phenomenon. Through empowering its participants to keep track of their listening habits and share information with others, the website has created a one-of-a-kind community reflecting the trends of the music industry.
