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The Truth Behind Last.fm Story: Techcrunch conned?

CalmQuiet 17y ago
The truth is that "there's no story". Because somebody (everybody?) is stonewalling. Paul Carr provides a good summary of what (impaired) journalistic-like investigation has been done so far. I don't follow Carr, but glanced around the guardian.co.uk page and noticed that the 3rd "most followed stories" was, "Woman may have kept mother's body in freezer for 20 years." Ah. Well, I guess Guardian is not exactly targeting HN readers.
- intranation 17y ago
  The Guardian is one of the UK's biggest newspapers, and is generally known for being tech savvy. This is a decent "elevator pitch" summing up of the story for the Guardian's typical audience.
  - danw 17y ago
    The Guardian is a good source and certainly understand tech the best of UK newspapers (they have an api, post the raw data used in articles, host barcamps/hackdays, etc). Carr on the other hand is know for bitter opinion pieces, such as this one about the Le Web conference http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/dec/10/startups-internet http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/dec/10/startups-in...
    - olifante 17y ago
      That piece Carr wrote about Le Web was a hack job -- yet another manifestation of the undying British national habit of badmouthing the French on every possible occasion. Done by professional comedians once in a while it's fun. Done by an entire nation it's disgusting. Compared to Carr's, Michael Arrington's article on Le Web seemed like a balanced critique, and that's saying something.
      - Jem 17y ago
        > Done by an entire nation it's disgusting. One piece of journalism does not equal the opinion of an entire nation.
    - martey 17y ago
      Incidentally, in this same column, Carr linked to an earlier piece - http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jan/28/not-safe-for-work-techcrunch-arrington http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jan/28/not-safe-fo... - where he basically apologized for trashing Le Web, and bemoaned the culture of schadenfreude and cynicism that causes his negative columns to be more popular than his positive ones.
windsurfer 17y ago
Wake me when it's all over. It's just too much.
bep 17y ago
Great post. I won't hold my breath to see it linked on techcrunch
- jonknee 17y ago
  Great post? He basically said, "He said, she said, he said again, she said again and we don't don't know what happened." Which is what everyone already knew.
  - cake 17y ago
    Exactly : weak article ! Instead of giving a factual opinion, he's biaised because, well, Last.fm are his friends and TC are his friends too. It seems like he doesn't want to be in conflict with any of them.
- boundlessdreamz 17y ago
  Arrington linked to it from his twitter a/c. That's where I picked it up http://twitter.com/arrington/status/1949086115 http://twitter.com/arrington/status/1949086115
daleharvey 17y ago
I dont like the implication that techcrunch and last.fm are both equally innocent victims in this. techcrunch's traffic no doubt rose well above average during the whole affair, they have a few detractors questioning their legitimacy, but where are they? techcrunch deleted every comment that wasnt calling for the death of last.fm from each post. whereas last.fm, they may have had some extra traffic, but they have had quite a few people deleting accounts, 3 posts on the worlds largest(?) tech blog along with threads on slashdot and a long list of people in their own forum worrying about being sued for using last.fm. combine that with the ridiculous practice of posting these attacks on friday nights and the fact that techcrunch were the only people to hear from this tipster, its hard to pass off techcrunch as the innocent victim.
- pg 17y ago
  I doubt very much that TC deliberately posted their stories on friday night. Those guys don't distinguish between days, and I think they forget that anyone else does.
  - daleharvey 17y ago
    the first time fair enough but I find it hard to believe after doing it the first time, and being called out on it, That they werent remotely aware of the timing the second time round. even if they were completely oblivious, that doesnt make it right / fair. It follows my original point, techcrunch are wielding the ability to do serious damage to companies and the best last.fm can hope for is damage limitation, no matter if they are completely in the right.
    - tptacek 17y ago
      I agree. It's a pretty weak argument to imply that Arrington forgot there was such a thing as a weekend. Graham's response also leaves hanging the assertion that TC is censoring unfavorable comments on their blog. If they're victims too, what are they hiding from?
      - 17y ago
ErrantX 17y ago
2 big points im not sure he addressed. - TC originally explicitly accused Last of handing over the data. Which everyone agrees now didnt happen. So probably Last's original "TC are full of shit" response could be considered partially fair? - This "source" has just disappeared? That's interesting... not wanting to sound like I am accusing TC but it's more than a tad suspicious. Has someome been leading them along? Sounds a bit like it to me! Otherwise good article :D
fauigerzigerk 17y ago
What baffles me is how incredibly incompetent the PR operation of CBS is. This is after all one of the biggest media companies in the world. Instead of issuing an unequivocal joint CBS+Last denial, they keep stressing how unimportant a source blogs are. This isn't just a matter of truth but also one of professionalism. It's yet more evidence that media companies have been living under a stone for many years and any startup should avoid ending up in the claws of one of those.

The truth is that "there's no story". Because somebody (everybody?) is stonewalling. Paul Carr provides a good summary of what (impaired) journalistic-like investigation has been done so far. I don't follow Carr, but glanced around the guardian.co.uk page and noticed that the 3rd "most followed stories" was, "Woman may have kept mother's body in freezer for 20 years." Ah. Well, I guess Guardian is not exactly targeting HN readers.

intranation 17y ago
The Guardian is one of the UK's biggest newspapers, and is generally known for being tech savvy. This is a decent "elevator pitch" summing up of the story for the Guardian's typical audience.
- danw 17y ago
  The Guardian is a good source and certainly understand tech the best of UK newspapers (they have an api, post the raw data used in articles, host barcamps/hackdays, etc). Carr on the other hand is know for bitter opinion pieces, such as this one about the Le Web conference http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/dec/10/startups-internet http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/dec/10/startups-in...
  - olifante 17y ago
    That piece Carr wrote about Le Web was a hack job -- yet another manifestation of the undying British national habit of badmouthing the French on every possible occasion. Done by professional comedians once in a while it's fun. Done by an entire nation it's disgusting. Compared to Carr's, Michael Arrington's article on Le Web seemed like a balanced critique, and that's saying something.
    - Jem 17y ago
      > Done by an entire nation it's disgusting. One piece of journalism does not equal the opinion of an entire nation.
  - martey 17y ago
    Incidentally, in this same column, Carr linked to an earlier piece - http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jan/28/not-safe-for-work-techcrunch-arrington http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jan/28/not-safe-fo... - where he basically apologized for trashing Le Web, and bemoaned the culture of schadenfreude and cynicism that causes his negative columns to be more popular than his positive ones.

windsurfer 17y ago

Wake me when it's all over. It's just too much.

bep 17y ago

Great post. I won't hold my breath to see it linked on techcrunch

jonknee 17y ago
Great post? He basically said, "He said, she said, he said again, she said again and we don't don't know what happened." Which is what everyone already knew.
- cake 17y ago
  Exactly : weak article ! Instead of giving a factual opinion, he's biaised because, well, Last.fm are his friends and TC are his friends too. It seems like he doesn't want to be in conflict with any of them.
boundlessdreamz 17y ago
Arrington linked to it from his twitter a/c. That's where I picked it up http://twitter.com/arrington/status/1949086115 http://twitter.com/arrington/status/1949086115

daleharvey 17y ago

I dont like the implication that techcrunch and last.fm are both equally innocent victims in this. techcrunch's traffic no doubt rose well above average during the whole affair, they have a few detractors questioning their legitimacy, but where are they? techcrunch deleted every comment that wasnt calling for the death of last.fm from each post. whereas last.fm, they may have had some extra traffic, but they have had quite a few people deleting accounts, 3 posts on the worlds largest(?) tech blog along with threads on slashdot and a long list of people in their own forum worrying about being sued for using last.fm. combine that with the ridiculous practice of posting these attacks on friday nights and the fact that techcrunch were the only people to hear from this tipster, its hard to pass off techcrunch as the innocent victim.

pg 17y ago
I doubt very much that TC deliberately posted their stories on friday night. Those guys don't distinguish between days, and I think they forget that anyone else does.
- daleharvey 17y ago
  the first time fair enough but I find it hard to believe after doing it the first time, and being called out on it, That they werent remotely aware of the timing the second time round. even if they were completely oblivious, that doesnt make it right / fair. It follows my original point, techcrunch are wielding the ability to do serious damage to companies and the best last.fm can hope for is damage limitation, no matter if they are completely in the right.
  - tptacek 17y ago
    I agree. It's a pretty weak argument to imply that Arrington forgot there was such a thing as a weekend. Graham's response also leaves hanging the assertion that TC is censoring unfavorable comments on their blog. If they're victims too, what are they hiding from?
    - 17y ago

ErrantX 17y ago

2 big points im not sure he addressed. - TC originally explicitly accused Last of handing over the data. Which everyone agrees now didnt happen. So probably Last's original "TC are full of shit" response could be considered partially fair? - This "source" has just disappeared? That's interesting... not wanting to sound like I am accusing TC but it's more than a tad suspicious. Has someome been leading them along? Sounds a bit like it to me! Otherwise good article :D

fauigerzigerk 17y ago

What baffles me is how incredibly incompetent the PR operation of CBS is. This is after all one of the biggest media companies in the world. Instead of issuing an unequivocal joint CBS+Last denial, they keep stressing how unimportant a source blogs are. This isn't just a matter of truth but also one of professionalism. It's yet more evidence that media companies have been living under a stone for many years and any startup should avoid ending up in the claws of one of those.