Why not, right? You’ve had to click one too many times to find the music and so has everyone at the appeal. Maybe you are music obsessed, listening to a lot of it on the internets and occasionally you look at the search results on your screen and say “really?” or “no internets, that’s not what I wanted, in fact, that’s the opposite of what I wanted.”
Here are the top 5 music metadata fails of the decade. Who knows what the future holds – the music space is just a wee bitty baby; what’s grosser than gross is the truer image: this baby still has an umbilical cord. Maybe still in utero. But here we are, in the early age of metadata, little preemie infants trying to walk, without much coordination in the backend.
1. I downloaded Three Days. I hit play and heard “Jane Says”
It happened in 2008 and iTunes fixed the error. I can’t upload the mp3 file to prove it because that is not legal, but I’ll show ya sometime. So to prove another JA metadata fail, check out their artist page in LaLa and you will find 2 copies of Nothing’s Shocking, both with 1988 (correct) release dates.
The choice on the bottom indicates 2 discs. Click it, et voila, both choices lead to the same album. Each album also has it’s own listen count. That’s all kinds of data fail.
2. Liz Phair “Exile In Guyville” is listed three times on LaLa but only one link leads to a copy you can purchase. The listing with the correct release date is 1993. If you click it, you cannot buy anything. Super fail, and a great album!
3. Incomplete Glenn Tilbrook is listed in LaLa only under the artist name Tilbrook, Glenn
4. Search for Jimi Hendrix on Rhapsody and get 10 choices. It’s a music service. I searched for Jimi because I wanted to hear Jimi. Cut out the noise, search nerds. Get me as close to one click as possible – and thanks!
5. This one came via a tip(!!) after my first piece on metadata, and it’s pretty awesome. Search for alt rock band The New Regime on google and revel in the new google music search. Now hit play on one of their fabulous new play buttons. Now you are perplexed. You do not hear the new alt rock band The New Regime. You hear jazz. Also note the double fail: the album art indicates the correct band and album. Awesome giant corporate merger play button fail!
