Tastebuds, Date People That Like Your Music

Online dating, love it or hate it. The majority of dating sites ask you to fill out a profile, and sometimes a test, before you can complete the sign up process and become a member of the community. They then use algorithms to match you with other people on the site. Some information are taken directly from your input, e.g. if you are into males or femals, the age range, or location, while others are calculated from test results, and how good they match with prospective dating candidates.

Tastebuds

Tastebuds is different, and that's the only reason why I'm writing about it. Unlike other sites that ask you to fill out a long list of information about you, Tastebuds asks for groups and artists that you like. You can either fill out those information manually, or import your music taste from Facebook or Last.fm on dating site's front page. Once you have added at least three artists or bands, you can click on the go button to see your matches on the screen.

According to the developers, the more artists you enter the better the match making in the end. I first tested the site with three artists, which returned 2 pages of results, and then with the artist selection above which returned 9. And do not worry if Tastebud gets your location wrong, you can change it on the next page easily.

The majority of users seems to be from the United States and United Kingdom. A switch to the U.S. for the second query resulted in 126 results page, a lot more than the 9 I received for Germany.

While you can use the sidebar to change the age range or location, you will get a sign up request for most of the activities on the page. You cannot access a profile page or flip through all matches without signing up first. That's possible either with your Facebook account or a brand-new account that you create directly on the site.

The full functionality becomes available then, so that you can open profile pages, contact people on the site or look at all pages with matches.

Tastebuds at the time of writing is free of charge. It is not clear if the site follows Plenty of Fish in this regard, or if monetization will be added at a later point in time. The idea itself is pretty unique, even though it is likely that we will be seeing copy cat sites eventually that match people by other media or likes.

Then there is the question how well this match making based on one's music taste is really working out. I honestly cannot tell, but there are users who have added hundreds of artists to their profile, which naturally results in a lot of matches. Another thing to consider is that a similar taste in music does not make people automatically compatible in other regards.

Still if you are fed up with traditional dating sites and would like to try something new, you may want to give it a try.

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