Weekly Site Review: Fairtilizer
Lots and lots of social networks are out there, and many of them are centered around music and art. The particular one I’m talking about has a simple premise: act as a “word of mouth” radio. Pretty simple right? Exactly, and it’s executed really well. While some sites like The Hype Machine are run by the taste-maker bloggers, Fairtilizer is run by the users and listeners of the site. The site claims that it “filters” music by allowing the good stuff to go through and the bad stuff to stay behind. Of course this is a little elitist in it’s attitude, but then again, writing for my own blog, Tiny Mix Tapes, and The Hippodrome tends to make me kind of elitist too.
So elitism might just be necessary when it comes to divulging new music, especially when your taste is carefully groomed on a daily basis by fresh and original work. By observing the site’s chart, Fairtilizer looks to be a pretty pleasing collection of tracks all across the board. Of course the most popular tracks are those from bigger indie bands, which is typical from most social music networking sites. In a way, Fairtilizer is kind of like PureVolume without all the mall punk bands and with a bigger emphasis on user interaction.
Users are able to make and vote for each other’s playlists and can subscribe to music genres, artists, and labels, making Fairtilizer internet radio on crack. The simple site does its magic when users vote for the songs, putting them up the charts. You could say that Fairtilzer is a very democratic music service without any sort of hierarchal editing or promotion. Leaving it to the people yields different results than leaving it to the taste makers and that’s not always a bad thing, especially when it gives all of the musicians a fair chance, no matter how popular initially.
Musicians can sign up for free accounts and promote their music just like they’d do on MySpace or any similar social networking site. Fairtilzer may sound similar to other sites, but don’t let that fool you. Its simple premise and excellent execution is something you need to check out. This is no throwaway link; I can say I already plan to check back regularly. To top things off, the site is gorgeous and absolutely easy to use.
