What do YOU want in ListenBrainz?

ListenBrainz
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I have two suggestions: one that comes to me from feedback by others and one that is specific to me.

Others: More convenience for users

It should be more convenient to submit listens to LB. We need more convenience.

It is not convenient to submit listens to LB (beyond Android) from the people I know actively using Last.fm. One needs to first find a tool that supports ListenBrainz for your $PLATFORM of choice. The LB website does not link out to any specific tools or apps that support this.

I see a couple of ways to make this better:

  1. Add page to ListenBrainz.org with links to different submission tools and what platform(s) they support
  2. Some MeB developer attention to choose 1-2 critical platforms and create submission tools for those platforms (GSoC / GCI idea?)
  3. More obvious call-outs on website about how to submit listens – it is not actually described anywhere on the site other than the Import page

Pros

  • Build user community around LB by making it more convenient to use
  • Submission tools that submit plays in real time are familiar to users who already use Last.fm
  • Encourages a developer ecosystem to begin forming around LB (by calling out and recognizing developers and their tools with the highly-prized “front page” recognition on ListenBrainz.org)

Cons

  • MeB maintains 1-2 listen submission tools specific to some platforms – might not be the most demanding of development priorities
  • Could delay or impede progress on new features in LB (in terms of time/focus areas)

Other considerations

I think the timing of when to build out this community depends. On one hand, maybe we want more features and capabilities before we really start encouraging more people to use it (and then possibly being frustrated if it doesn’t have the same tools as something like Last.fm). On the other hand, changing focus to build the community sooner than later also enables more developers to discover the project and experiment with their own ideas based on what is possible today. Some of these people may even come on board later as proper LB contributors.

So, there are a lot of things to consider, but ultimately I think the user community should get a raised priority if the LB dev team is looking for new ideas on what to do and what to focus on. I don’t know if this aspect of LB has been part of a development roadmap before.

Me: Listening statistics :heart_eyes:

Statistics, metrics, data! :heart_eyes: I want to learn more (about my music, maybe myself) through the statistic ideas I explained here:

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