last.fm

I am going to ask a favor.

I don't usually like doing this sort of thing, but I really can't see any easy way around it. And, no, don't worry, it's nothing more than a few mouse clicks.

I'm trying to get a little more prominence in a few different online venues. One of them is last.fm, an online radio station where I've gotten a surprising and gratifying amount of play. I thank all of you who listen to my stuff online there, and it's you folks I'm asking the favor of.

Next time you're there, I would greatly appreciate it if you would tag me as "geek music" and "geek rock". And maybe just "geek".

Seriously. Those seem to be the tags that would get me into the same general listings as Jonathan Coulton and Weird Al and a whole bunch of the "right" folks, which is where I think my stuff belongs. I've got a number of other tags, which are accurate and even flattering but which mire me somewhat in the nether regions of the nebulous "male vocal" catacombs.

I mean, Justin Timberlake is a "male vocalist".

That's all. Just... next time you're at last.fm, tag me as "geek rock", "geek music" and "geek". (Any other tags you find descriptive, such as "singer-songwriter", "pop culture" [great idea, selenesue], "computers", or even my name, are appreciated as well.)

Thanks.

Promotion

This, ha ha, ties in with the last post.

I have a number of promotional pages at various online venues. I'm trying not to go overboard, partly because I'm trying not to just whore myself hither and yon across the internet and partly because it's a real time-sink to maintain all those pages. But the truth is, the only way this is going to continue to work is if I hype myself some. Finding the balance is the key, I think.

Besides my own pages (tomsmithonline.com, filkertom-itom.blogspot.com) and this LJ, I've got pages at:

• MySpace
• The FuMP
• Podsafe Music Network
• last.fm
• Sonic Garden (not up to date, but that's for later this week)
• a couple of albums on CD Baby, which have in turn got me some decent digital distribution over which I personally have no control. It's an on-off switch -- either it's up there, but I can't add new tunes or edit the info or tweak the page, or it's not there at all
• Eventful -- I'm just setting that up, and soon you'll be able to Demand me if you want to ;)

I'm debating going full-bore into FaceBook, payplay.cd, mp3 unisgned, and discrevolt. But I don't want to go too far past that. I'm also thinking of advertising a bit through Project Wonderful.

So, my questions are: Does this seem reasonable? Am I going too far? Not far enough? Am I missing something really big or important?

Reactable

Nicked from mbumby, demo videos of Reactable, "a collaborative electronic music instrument with a tabletop tangible multi-touch interface". Take a look, and a listen:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0h-RhyopUmc
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPG-LYoW27E
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEDia3CFdfg
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zodf6_YGujo

I believe there are software packages that do similar stuff, and I'll try to track them down and link to them here. But the fact that this is physical, and immediately responsive, is just amazing.

2007 Pegasus Awards Nominating Ballot

Here's the results of the Brainstorming poll, and then go here to fill out the Nominating ballot. Thanks to the lovely catalana for the heads-up.