Revolver

New site champions individual taste over background din

IT MAY BE A great thing that you can now listen to music on any amount of devices and have a library of a gazillion songs that can be accessed most anywhere. But the corollary of this is that music is becoming something you listen to while doing something else. It’s background or accompaniment, as opposed to being the main event.

Which is not say that in days of yore folk would gather around the turntable in almost religious devotion. But somewhere along the line music has ceased to be a pivotal event. Yes, you can tweet and update your musical listening habits as much as you like, but even then your tastes just blend into the cacophony.

A new start-up is all about reclaiming that pivotal position for what you are listening to/talking about/recommending right at this moment. Go to thisismyjam.comand you'll find a website that is a frighteningly simple idea but may well leave you severly addicted.

There’s no room for anything else on This Is My Jam. All you do is showcase your favourite song/ tune you can’t get out of your head/a magical musical moment. You get your own page where you post your individual song (no lists or anorak-style compilations, thankfully) as your own musical “current status”.

If you so desire, there are links to all the major social networking sites so you can “follow” other people and see what their jam is at any particular time. You can leave your own song up for as long as you want or change it after mature reflection.

This Is My Jam works so beautifully because it cuts out all the surrounding noise and gets people to focus on a single piece of work. What you’re really saying here is “this one matters to me”.

The site is currently in private beta, meaning you will need an invite, but if anyone you know is currently on it just get an invite from them.

According to the owners of the site, “we want This Is My Jam to be the best place to share your new favourite song and find the best music through friends, but we have a long way to go. Your feedback will be crucial as we decide how the service should function, look, sound, and taste.”

You can chose audio or audio and video (you’re best going with the former as the video can sometimes distract). There is a facility for uploading your own music (as in a song you have recorded yourself), but that feature potentially brings the site into another dimension (a new-music search), which really isn’t its point. Either way, you can let the owners know your feelings.

What impresses most about This Is My Jam is that, instead of being a hi-tech, automated, quickly changing music site, it has a real DIY feel. It’s the musical equivalent of the Slow Food movement. And it really works best for the many people out there who are track – as opposed to album – orientated.

When you really have to answer the question what’s my favourite song right now, a whole new world opens up. You first have to rule out your all-time favourites (that’s not the point) and then ask yourself if you really want to post information about what song is doing it for you at this particular moment.

After a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, I got my current favourite jam down to three: Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk, John Cale’s Buffalo Ballet and Wreckless Eric’s Whole Wide World. The way things are shaping up, it’s the latter I’ll be going with. But I really love the John Cale song, and Tusk has a majesty all of its own. So maybe I’ll change my mind . . .

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