Hello everyone! Plus, some encouragement and ideas.

Tumblr tells me we have about 50 followers at this moment. Considering this whole idea was just a vague notion in the back of somebody’s head this time yesterday, we’re pretty pleased. If just half of y’all submit something, we’ll have an excellent first month to look forward to.

Interested? Here’s how to submit!

Feeling stumped? Here are some things that might help!

— Take a look at the most-played tracks or albums in your iTunes library or on your Last.fm account or whatever doodad you use to play music. Maybe the stuff you listened to most in 2011 is no big surprise, or maybe it’s not what you expect. Ask yourself: What made you keep hitting play? Was it something about the music itself, or something going on in your life at the time, or maybe a little of both? As cliched movie psychoanalysts have been saying for decades, “Tell me more about that.”

— A similar thing: Were there any songs you found yourself repeatedly sharing with other folks, like on playlists or mix CDs? What was up with that? Why was it so important for that song to be shared?

— Did you make any musical discoveries this year that you got really excited about? It can be a brand-new artist, or an older one you just hadn’t heard much of before. Or maybe you decided to investigate the back catalog of an older artist and finally realized they totally were not your style. That’s something, too.

— Play a little game called “It’s A Few Years In The Future And I Am At The Grocery Store And A Song Comes On And I Am Immediately Transported Back To 2011—What Is The Song?”

— You can also just think back on the big things that happened to you this year and sniff out any music you might associate with that. Did you get married? Go to a funeral? Have a baby? Start a new job? What was the soundtrack of that day?

— Oh, and hey, you know what’s fun and great? Coming clean about a “guilty pleasure” and then resolving never to feel bad about music you enjoy ever again. Unbest would be honored to host a coming-out party re: your deep, deep love of Ke$ha or ABBA or James Taylor or whatever other skeletons you stashed in your closet this year.

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