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The BBC News website are reporting that Last.fm are going to charge some of their subscribers for streaming.
“Internet radio and social music site Last.fm is to start charging listeners outside the UK, US, and Germany. Users outside those three countries will pay 3 euros [around $4] per month to listen to Last.fm Radio, the site’s streaming music service.”
The article is packed to bursting point with grinnables.
“The other content on the site, such as biographies, videos, charts, and “scrobbling” – the site’s musical profiling – will remain free for all.”
Last.fm is used to listen to music. A quick look at their main website page suggests that the no-pay-no-music accounts will be able to see what others are listening to, read the playlists they can’t listen to and see the names of all sort of new music they won’t be able to hear. Very tempting.
Lst.fm have been trying to make ends meet through advertising, but this clearly hasn’t worked. Perhaps they’re now trying to only target adverts at the three countries with the highest ROI?
Isn’t the point again being overlooked? Last week I put forward the idea that Facebook advertising doesn’t work because the people logging into their Facebook accounts aren’t interested in what’s being pushed at them. I just went into my Facebook account to test my idea on myself (it’s always good to have unbiased testing) and it took me a while to even find the ads.
I looked at a friend’s profile, and saw an ad for a bank I already use, an ad to get a flat stomach (I could just eat less) and an ad for a 1970 t-shirt. At least it’s available in all sizes.
And Facebook have an advantage over Last.fm, in that their site users are at least looking at their website pages in some sort of browsing mode, in theory. Last.fm’s users are there to listen to music.
Anyway, back to the BBC, quoting one of the Last.fm users, who thinks that the site should introduce a free quota service:
““This would allow people like me (who have been contributing to the Last.fm database for years now) not to feel completely abandoned. Don’t forget that last.fm is what it is because of us,” he said.” Right, that should work.
Don’t forget that Last.fm is what it is because of us?
What is it, aside from a loss maker?
Last.fm have been trying to create revenue with ads that don’t work. Spotify, on the other hand, interrupt their users with ads every few songs. For me the Spotify system works. There aren’t too many ads and their choice of music is staggering. If a competitor comes along tomorrow that offers the same range with no ads or fees, I’m not sure I’ll switch. The Spotify price is worth paying.
Yet I’m also intrigued that Spotify don’t display ads in their application. It could be because they understand I’m not going to notice or click them, but could it also be because their existing system – audio ads – can’t be tracked with the same accuracy?
This issue is a step backwards for advertising. The music industry’s refusal to adapt is incredible, and it’s going to start hurting everyone.
IMO, adding a business model to an existing free service is pretty hard, even if it’s just advertising.
People just won’t accept it.
Either charge from the start or keep it free forever.
Or: be prepared to loose a LARGE part of your existing users. Could be worth it though.
Actually, Dave, it’s quite possible to track with precision via audio, it used the same technology as any other document or file served on the net (and it’d be a no brainer to add some more surreptious stuff if they wanted into the stream).
WRT advertising and the net. This is a lesson unlearned from before the .com bust. We were all told it was learned but it wasn’t. It was repackaged and sold as new. There has to be a better model for the web, something that’s honest (gives instead of just takes?) and is not mundane. Most web advertising is worse than bricks and mortar magazine advertising, cheap, nasty looking and about as appealing as a hit over the head with a dead fish.
LOL… I guess you and I are polar-opposites, Dave. Not only do I sometimes get relevant Facebook ads, I’ve also been a Last.FM subscriber since early 2005. When I heard the news, first thing I did was buy another 12 month subscription.
Last.FM isn’t just about listening to music, it’s about recommendation. Scrobbling is still free, so you can still get recommendations, listen to previews, and download selected full tracks. It’s also a good way to find relevant music events.
Last.FM have admitted those 3 countries have the highest advertising ROI.
Something else which hasn’t been covered is that the Last.FM iPhone application isn’t available in many countries currently due to licensing. This move could allow the iPhone app to be available worldwide (eg if they can now afford the licensing costs). I’d pay for that.
Last.FM just posted an update:
http://blog.last.fm/2009/03/30/radio-announcement-revisited
Basically the ads in other countries don’t cover the licensing costs for those countries. Could be why Spotify is also not available internationally, unless users pay 10 Euros /month.
Though I am NOT a last.fm user (being in HK), wouldn’t it be a reasonable idea to suggest songs for the listener to purchase at sign on, or every 15 minutes interval, base on last.fm’s analytic knowledge of what that listener has been listening to.
It’s like saying… “Hello, welcome to last.fm. We know you enjoy xxx genre of music. We would like to recommend these songs that (last.fm knows listener would likely like). You can charge a few sites for a trial listening and then charge for the 99cents download. Just a thought!
Random Question: On facebook there are apps that show my last fm “what i’m listening to”…If I were a subscriber would I be able to see who visits my facebook? or would it only track if they click and enter my last fm site.