Martedì 15 Lug 2008, 12:11

I decided to write this journal entry because of several instances of "music snobbery" I have encountered recently.

The whole point behind last.fm is to discover and share music, unless something has recently changed that I am unaware of. I myself am open to all types of music, and even if I don't like a particular genre, it doesn't mean I won't give a song from there a listen. There are quite a few genres that I don't listen to often, but I like some of the music, even if it is only one song. Everyone has their particular taste that they always go back to, whether they like to admit it or not. Some people even change their taste radically and their current profiles don't reflect their overall music profile because of these changes. Everyone is entitled to listen to what they want, when they want. That is the beauty of music: As you grow, so does your musical taste and attitude about music.

Anyone who truly loves music would agree with me. Music is the universal language. Everyone can relate to some sort of music, from metal to opera, from punk to pop. It's all a matter of what you like. However, the factor that remains is that it is all music, love it or hate it.

That being said, I don't understand why there are so many music snobs on here who think that their shit doesn't stink and that you have to be somewhat privileged to be a "friend". I personally as a subscriber can see who visits my page, and I make an effort to visit the visitor's page and say thanks for visiting and check out their profile in return. I don't always request these people to be friends. For some reason, some of these people think that I simply ask every single person for a friend request, which is absolute BS. I have friends who enjoy the same music as me, and I have friends who have almost no "compatibility" as me, yet we all enjoy music and discovering new things, whether in the end, we like them or not. How can you ever discover anything new without giving it a try?

The few snobs I have encountered acted like I was only asking them to be a friend because I either am just trying to get a crap load of friends to be "popular" or they themselves only have a friends who they chat with or maybe even know in the "real" world beyond last.fm and that's the only friends they want. Well, if I request you to be a friend, I have my reasons and if you don't want to be my friend, then all you have to do is deny the request. It's simple, really.

There is no need to write rude messages in my shoutbox or write me snotty messages in my inbox. I don't need to be told to "get a life" either, since the immature one is obviously YOU who thinks that you are better than someone else. The snobbery and nastiness just shows how immature YOU are and how maybe you need to get off your pedestal and realize that maybe, just maybe, YOU need to get a life and stop criticizing others for using the site for what it was meant for.

If you want a select few friends, fine. If you only want friends who like the same music, fine. It is all your prerogative. Just don't act like an ass and treat others like shit because they had the "audacity" to ask you to be a friend to share music with.

Maybe you snobs need to get off of last.fm and venture out into the "real" world with your attitude and see how far it gets you. I assure you… it won't be as far as you think.

Remember: the whole point of this site is to enjoy music and it IS a social site. Try to be more civil and if you have nothing nice to say, why don't you just say nothing at all? After all… you could be listening to your music instead of wasting time writing crap in other people's shoutboxes. You are only wasting your own time. It takes you longer to write a rude message than it takes for me to click the garbage can and delete it.

To those who are REAL music lovers and want to be friends so we can share new music or even older stuff that maybe the other hasn't heard before, I'm always open to friends. I know that I am not the exception when I say I have an open mind to music.

Any REAL music lover would agree.