So you're listening to your new favorite Korean-Metal-Rap band and feeling just a bit self-satisfied (smug) because you've "discovered" the next big star. But the same CD gets boring after a while, right? Ever start wondering how to find more artists in the same vein that you'll like? Amazon.com's "People also bought..." feature is great, but it doesn't offer much depth. This is where LivePlasma comes in. Just plug in the name of a band, artist or movie, and you're presented with a visual map of other artists you might like, based on the recommendations of LivePlasma members. While the genre and flavor of the media is similar to that movie you just loved, this spider web of films can open up the variety of that genre.
The map shows flowchart-like relationships between media. The closer two items appear to each other, the more similar those songs, artists or movies are in genre and taste. Each map is interactive. If the search term you used links to a bunch of media you're already familiar with, you can move through those and find increasingly distant links.
The site also has a very diverse library, catering to those who like American pop culture, French romance films, and Soviet-era underground music alike. Accessible in French, English, German and Spanish, LivePlasma is currently seeking translators to help make it easier to use for those who speak a foreign language.
The site remains free with little or no advertising to be found. My requests for information from the webmaster went unanswered, but it seems the main sources of revenue are user donations and referrals to Amazon.com. Getting a free user account adds increased functionality, such as being able to save your maps or send them to others, making this a great tool for anyone looking to see or hear something new.
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3 comments:
Pandora.com is very similar. You type in the artist/genre/song name you like and it gives you similar artists/songs. You can create your own "stations." I like using this :)
-Skatina
Strikes me as a great and simple resource. It would work really well in incorporation with something like Last.fm as well.
Really handy for me, I'm terrible with knowing anything about music apart from "I like this", so this kind of resource is invaluable.
That's a good point, Robin. I have the same problem. It seems a lot of people are like that. As for Last.fm, it seems like most services like that believe their "user recommendation" systems are doing just fine. I'm sure if they got enough pressure from users, they'd take a second look. Thanks for your response!
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