Funferal

Become a DJ without trying

Somehow I hadn’t come across the various music networks pointed to recently by Zephoria in her blog – Last.FM and Audioscrobbler – but their existence does not surprise. They act as more advanced forms of “What I’m listening to now” lists, or like a from of iTunes iMix, essentially pooling information on what people are currently listening to. As I outlined in my recent talk on the future of college radio services such as this may be able to fulfill the traditional role of radio DJs – with significant participatory potential. This is because one of the primary roles of a DJ – particularly, but not solely, in the context of college radio – is not so much to provide background noise as to be an arbiter of taste, acting as a gateway through which mass culture can be observed, interpreted and understood. This is, of course, a multi-directional process in any event, as people share and exchange tips and thoughts, but what impact might automated tools such as this, which lower the barrier to active participation in contributing your interpretation of ‘cool’ (you need do little more than listen to music on your computer as normal), have?