[via Yeti Don't Dance]
They usually hit it out of the park, but Google does have some occasional bad at-bats. Their Google Talk service has failed to upend other IM apps, but that won't stop them from data mining entertainment. If you use Google Talk and share your listening preferences, you'll be weighed into a Google Music Trends service. Apparently you'll be the sort that likes Panic! At the Disco, James Blunt, Evanescence, and ... Nickelback in the 11 spot. The Black Eyed Peas take up 11 out of 20 spots on the hip-hop singles list. I wish I were joking. It's just getting started but early results are frightening.
So, apparently the electronic masses like the same stuff as the clasically catalogued masses. Prefix is considering launching an all-hipster social networking and music recommendation service. (This is almost certainly not the case - ed.) A few requirements:

• Your hair must use product to look like you just got out of bed.


• You must not recommend bands we recognize. And we know our indie rock, so it better be horribly obscure.


• Any hip-hop you recommend must be of the ignorant variety, because earnest or conscious hip-hop is just passe.


• Outkast is no longer cool.

Cynical marketing gestures aside, it would be nice to see a recommendation engine that led to good music. Netflix recently offered up a prize to improve their recommendation service, and apparently someone took just a few days to beat out Netflix's homegrown solution. Then again, perhaps music critics do serve some purpose after all.