Farewell Last.FM, We Hardly Knew Thee…
Before you panic, Last.FM hasn’t gone bust and disappeared. They’re still around, still available and still going strong. No, the reason we’re saying goodbye is because they’ve just announced that for all customers outside of the US, UK and Germany, they’re going to be charging a monthly subscription fee of €3.00 per month (about $5.80). The subscription fee is for the ability to listen to the radio network - all other functions like Scrobbling, recommendations, charts, biographies, events and videos will remain free. But is that enough? Will people in Australia still consider using a service just so it can record what you listen to and make recommendations? iTunes does that already, and there are so many other Internet radio stations out there in the world that you can always find music to listen to for free.
Plus, the fact that the service is still free to the US, UK and Germany just leaves the impression that any other market isn’t really important to them.
So, farewell Last.FM. It’s been a blast, but you’re just not worth $5.80 a month. Sorry.
[Last.FM]
- Next Post: Enhanced Boxee Browser and API Brings Hulu Back to Your TV (Along with Pandora) »
- « Previous Post: Creme That Egg: Rube Goldberg Machine Destroys Easter In 8,000 Easy Steps
Comments
Yeah, no way I am paying for LastFM radio..I’ll still continue to use it for all the other services besides radio – but Im not sure how long that will last…
Shit. I’ve found so many new artists from Last FM. Why oh why…
Goodbye Last.fm nice knowing you
Pandora I may pay for, but not last.fm, the fact that certain countries are excluded just rubs salt in the wound.
Goodbye Last.fm
Thanks for coming Last.FM. Don’t call me, I’ll call you…
well, looks like the only viable (australian) alternative to pirating shitloads of music you may or may not like and chucking it on ranndom has fallen.
*runs back to torrents/buys new hard drive*
I used LastFm thru songbird, as there is a nice tie-in between them. However unless I was missing some sort of killer App part of LastFm, I struggle to see why I would now want to pay for the service. Perhaps I’m the type of user Lastfm is now trying to shed, if so: Mission Accomplished
It bites the dust, just like Pandora did before it. Hard times in web 2 world, but I only used it for the scrobbling anyway.
I’ve been using the scrobbling part of Last.fm since back in the days when it was called Audioscrobbler and I’m unlikely to stop now. Even so, it seems very unfair and annoying to me that their post offers no explanation at all as to why three countries are exempt from the subscription fees. If I have to pay to listen to Last.fm radio, I think people in the US should have to pay too.
I think it’s because the major 3 are well covered by advertising revenue, Australia’s click throughs are low compared to others.