5 ms·

Last.fm makes music free to listen to

27 points by danw 19y ago

rcoder 19y ago
This looks suspiciously like an outbreak of common sense amongst the record labels: royalty payments directly to the artists? Free full-length playback of sample tracks, with opt-in for unlimited numbers of plays? Tight integration with iTunes and other music players to track real-time listener data? On the other hand, this could only come about after the labels had basically neutered independent Internet radio streams with their insane royalty structures. Funneling everything through Last.fm gives them a single entity with whom they can negotiate and from whom they can extort^M^M^M^M^M^M collect payment.
- greendestiny 19y ago
  It's only direct royalties for independent artists. Naturally artists who signed those rights away to record labels won't get them. Why the hell should they?
paulgb 19y ago
"Ooops, forgot to mention that info on the new subscription stuff is only visible/available in our launch countries today (US, UK, and Germany). Apologies!" Anyone in one of the launch countries care to tell me what the info shown here: http://www.last.fm/subscribe/ http://www.last.fm/subscribe/ says? I wonder if this is a move towards them selling their music?
- danw 19y ago
  You can already buy some tracks from last.fm on a purchase rather than subscription model, via 7digital. From the UK the subscribe page says: Unlimited Listening Subscription We're publicly beta testing our new free listening service. You can listen to most tracks up to three times for free. When the beta is over, we'll offer a subscription package with unlimited access to a catalogue of music built on partnerships with Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner, EMI and over 150,000 independent labels and artists. We will continue to offer our existing Basic Subscription.
  - paulgb 19y ago
    You can already buy some tracks from last.fm on a purchase rather than subscription model, via 7digital. -- Cool, on first glance I like it; will have to look into it more later. From the UK the subscribe page says: [...] -- Thanks. I guess they haven't indicated a price yet.
agentbleu 19y ago
Yahoo announce today also that they will offer free music. It's the beginning of new recession and the beginning of a new dawn for music. If the labels had any clue they would have built last.fm themselves.

27 points by danw 19y ago

This looks suspiciously like an outbreak of common sense amongst the record labels: royalty payments directly to the artists? Free full-length playback of sample tracks, with opt-in for unlimited numbers of plays? Tight integration with iTunes and other music players to track real-time listener data? On the other hand, this could only come about after the labels had basically neutered independent Internet radio streams with their insane royalty structures. Funneling everything through Last.fm gives them a single entity with whom they can negotiate and from whom they can extort^M^M^M^M^M^M collect payment.

greendestiny 19y ago
It's only direct royalties for independent artists. Naturally artists who signed those rights away to record labels won't get them. Why the hell should they?

paulgb 19y ago

"Ooops, forgot to mention that info on the new subscription stuff is only visible/available in our launch countries today (US, UK, and Germany). Apologies!" Anyone in one of the launch countries care to tell me what the info shown here: http://www.last.fm/subscribe/ http://www.last.fm/subscribe/ says? I wonder if this is a move towards them selling their music?

danw 19y ago
You can already buy some tracks from last.fm on a purchase rather than subscription model, via 7digital. From the UK the subscribe page says: Unlimited Listening Subscription We're publicly beta testing our new free listening service. You can listen to most tracks up to three times for free. When the beta is over, we'll offer a subscription package with unlimited access to a catalogue of music built on partnerships with Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner, EMI and over 150,000 independent labels and artists. We will continue to offer our existing Basic Subscription.
- paulgb 19y ago
  You can already buy some tracks from last.fm on a purchase rather than subscription model, via 7digital. -- Cool, on first glance I like it; will have to look into it more later. From the UK the subscribe page says: [...] -- Thanks. I guess they haven't indicated a price yet.

agentbleu 19y ago

Yahoo announce today also that they will offer free music. It's the beginning of new recession and the beginning of a new dawn for music. If the labels had any clue they would have built last.fm themselves.