Please Don't Stop The Music

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Listening to music is something that I really enjoy, a combination of iTunes, Last.fm, Hype Machine and the Pirate Bay provide my listening fix. I have been prompted to join many services but none have presented themselves as ideal candidates to break into the 'big four'.

I have sounded out Hype Machine to many people as an ideal source for discovering new music. So it was good to see the site getting exposure from the main blogs I follow regularly. It will come as no surprise that the attention was primarily Twitter related as the service introduced an interactive Twitter music chart -

How does it work?
We monitor Twitter for links pointing to tracks on the Hype Machine. We then give each of those tweets a number of points based on the number of followers (and the ratio of friends & followers) that person has. Finally, we add up all the points and figure out which tracks are tweeted by either the most influential twitter users, or by the largest group. Simple. ~ The Hype Machine Blog

Although Hype Machine is a site that I enjoy using for discovering new music, I do share Fred Wilson's concerns about the increasing trend of new services that include the social (and viral) element of spamming our followers. I know at times my sports related conversations have created noise but I try to remain consistant and also aim to follow his rule: "four to six a day or you'll send your followers away". I'm sure that this will be aspect of Twitter we will all be confronted with over the coming weeks and months. In much the same way as Facebook experienced similar growth through viral applications this is sure to be a popular method for developers to generate interest.

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