Archive for: last fm
Color us intrigued. A new webapp called Overhere allows you to enter in any Last.FM users’ account name and listen to their stream in (almost) real time. Simply click the “start listening” button in Overhere and you’ll soon be treated to the shared stream within Spotify. We say this all goes down in “almost” real time because there is a slight delay. Still, it’s nearly there and very cool. It goes without saying a Spotify account and desktop app are needed. Also, Last.FM users will have to make sure the ability to share their personal stream is left in the “on” position (default).
Give it a shot and let us know how it goes.
In the worst possible case of bad timing after European based Spotify’s U.S. launch last week, Last.fm is going through a slew of problems today. According to Last.fm’s Colin Strickland, the “Rabd” service that controls most of the Last.fm’s recommendation, scrobbling, and sharing features went down around 04:00 GMT. Currently the team isn’t sure why the Rabd service went down but is (obviously) hard at work restoring things. As for those questioning the lack of any backup service for something as large and popular as Last.fm — there is one but it can’t handle the load.
We just gave Last.fm a shot on our end and were indeed met with sporadic audio and wonky web pages. Hopefully Last.fm can get their ducks re-aligned rather quickly. With a ton of media hype still focused on Spotify after their U.S. Launch last week, the last thing Last.fm needs is to give users a reason to try Spotify, actually like it, and in turn defect.
Last.fm users: How are you coping?
Fans of streaming music have no doubt heard a thing or two about how awesome European-born Spotify is, and the sad state of affairs that have prevented it from launching State side thus far. While Spotify’s U.S. debut is still an on again/off again news item, Last.fm has some big changes that will make you question why you ever waited for Spotify.
In an interview between ElectricPig and Last.fm’s Matthew Hawn, VP of Product, it has been revealed that the music streaming outfit is set to debut cached radio streaming sometime in the not too distant future. Hawn couldn’t give a specific launch date (or month), but did relinquish the infamous “soon” verbiage.
The gist is to bring Android, iOS, and tablets “into sync” with one another. As such, the apps and cached radio streaming feature will likely launch simultaneously instead of the usual staggered affair.
Being the Last.fm junkies (and yes, Spotify holdouts) that we are, hearing news of a “Spotified” cached streaming feature hitting the States combined with the robust music-matching capabilities Last.fm employes is awesome news. With that said, is offline/cahced streaming enough to get you to pony up the recently (February) updated Last.fm mobile app which began charging subscription fees for mobile use?
- February 7, 2011 10:09 am
Users of Last.fm in the U.S. UK, and Germany will have some hard choices to make in the near future. Popular music streaming service and Pandora competitor, Last.fm, has announced that the aforementioned countries will now have to pay extra for mobile access and Last.fm usage on desktop/laptop devices. While the move to a pay-to-play scenario has already been enacted in many other places of the world under Last.fm’s reach, the U.S., UK, and Germany remained free of charge.
While we understand that the freemium model doesn’t always work and that Last.fm has to make some changes in order to make money, the added price isn’t justified. Take for example competing (and much better) service, Spotify. This non-U.S. music streaming service also allows playlist creation, downloading of content to local drives, and gives users the ability to choose the play order of songs.
Hopefully Last.fm follows the $3/month charge that is shared in other countries. Because if it is $5+, I can see quite a few defecting to other services that are either cheaper or offer more features for the money.
Users of Windows Phone 7 devices and Xbox Live will still be able to enjoy Last.fm for free, as will web users. None of these portals will see any price addition.
In what is another example of major music label’s massive mishandling of their own industry, Billboard has revealed some information tonight that is rather depressing — Spotify’s US ventures “are back to square one”. The cause is as many would guess, money. Specifically, the inability of the labels to agree to a reasonable dollar amount to charge Spotify as well as apprehension with the freemium model Spotify has perfected over seas. Years of fat cat living have spoiled the labels’ senses for the finer things in life — much finer things than they deserve, mind you.
It’s a shame really. Spotify is a great music streaming service that european users have been able to enjoy for quite some time now. The continual screw ups that the major labels commit hurt not only themselves, but end users as well. Spotify too is hurt. Each day they don’t have a service available in the US, they’re losing potential customers to the likes of Pandoara, Last.fm, Rdio, and so on. Later this year, Apple and Google are rumored to be offering their own streaming services as well. Clearly the fight is close.
Hopefully the labels can get their heads out of their asses and get something hammered together for the sake of music lovers everywhere. Because the worst case scenario — and nobody wants this — is Spotify becoming irrelevant by the time it manages to crawl into the US. Either way, it’s a simple yet clear signal that the major labels in the US need to die, seriously. They do nothing but suck money from artists and prevent any type of useful innovation and progress in the industry they claim to support. Anyone still hoping for Spotify?
Update
Don’t write off Spotify and the US just yet. Looks like the allegations above aren’t entirely true…according to Spotify that is…
Fans of Last.fm, soon you’re going to notice a big, big change in how your music streaming service of choice operates. In 2009, you’d type in Last.fm into your browser and go about streaming your music. In 2010 — not anymore. Last.fm announced today that they are aborting all on-demand streaming. Suicide you say? We’ll see…
- February 10, 2010 7:29 pm
Oh geeze, another one of those music industry posts. Just stay with me for a minute. It’s actually quite important. Do you use any streaming services such as Last.fm, Pandora, and for those lucky humans outside of the US, Spotify? If so, you may want to get ready for a much thinner library of music to pull from. Warner music has announced that they see this “free” streaming business as detrimental to the music industry their business model and as such, won’t be licensing their music for said services in the future.
Straight from the horses mouth:
Free streaming services are clearly not net positive for the industry and as far as Warner Music is concerned will not be licensed.
“The ‘get all your music you want for free, and then maybe with a few bells and whistles we can move you to a premium price’ strategy is not the kind of approach to business that we will be supporting in the future.”
At no point in the last few years have I seen an honest attempt by any major music label to actually get into the digital movement full swing. Sure they’ve started grudgingly doing free, ad-supported things such as music streaming services, but they’ve done so because they’ve had to. Not because they want to necessarily. They’d much rather continue to charge you $15-$20 for a CD instead of selling you a $0.99 song. Fact of the matter is, that $0.99 is all we want these days. They are going to have to get used to that, adapt, and suck up to the fact they’re not going to be able to run massive companies built on ripping people off any longer.
If these large music labels who claim to be so destroyed by piracy were really that worried about the very thing they decry, you’d think they’d take 30 seconds to actually look at what drives people to piracy — price and availability. Two simple and blatant examples:
- Raising prices on iTunes: Music sales fell — dramatically. Of course, the labels spun it as a now saturated and mature market. RIght…
- Availability: Removing music from streaming services is the worst thing labels could do. Now that the music is less accessible, more people will be driven to piracy.
Consumers won’t be able to find popular music on services such as Pandora and Last.fm anymore, nor will they stand up for the price gouging of $15+ for a CD. End result: more piracy.
For now anyway it appears major labels are content with falling back into their old business model and practice of blindly blaming piracy and the internet for all of their problems instead of the real problem — them and their business model. Great job Warner. As if I actually monetarily supported you now, you sure as hell won’t be getting any support from me anymore…
TechDirt
- November 18, 2009 8:00 am
If you own an Xbox 360, chances are you more than likely have an Xbox Live gold account giving you free reign on Xbox Live. Without Live, the 360 is still good machine though significantly less desirable in my opinion. Whether the sinking economy stole your Xbox Live money or you simply haven’t ponied up the $50/year entrance fee because you’re “just not sure” it’s worth it, we can all agree that when someone offers you anything for free, you should generally take it.
For European Xbox owners, starting at 5pm GMT on November 25th and lasting through 5pm GMT November 25th, Xbox Silver members will be able to game in all of the online glory that Xbox Live Gold service allows. For those not in Europe, the dates of free game time will be 12am EST November 20th – 12am EST November 23. Why the date discrepancy? I’m not sure if that’s an error or not? (Anyone care to specify — I’m stuck behind a proxy at the moment unable to really confirm or deny any dates at the moment.)
The move is intended to showcase Live’s new additions of Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm, and Netflix in hopes that more people become yearly subscribers. Even though it isn’t the first time Microsoft has done this, it’s nice to see they still care. Will you be taking advantage of the free goods? See you on Live…
TechDigest
In the grand scheme of online streaming, three big names including Pandora, Spotify, and Last.fm could be considered the “big 3″ of their market. If you love the latter, you’re going to want to pay close attention to their new project titled: “Last.tv”. This new venture will revolve around (obviously) video content. Initially, CBS owned Last.tv will feature content from music festivals across Europe and is reported to be launching this coming January. Until then, CBS will be hard at work lining up sponsors and pre/post-video advertisers. Last.fm has so far enjoyed pretty widespread popularity with these new goals aiming to expand their brand name globally by pulling on board new technologies and services.
Adding video to the mix is a smart move that should bolster Last.fm’s presence. What’s interesting is that Last.tv will be available both online and offline, as well as operate separately from it’s music based sibling. Though initially, the new site will piggy back on Last.fm which will be the only way to access Last.tv at launch.
Taking on video will mean new competitors for the UK born streaming service with the most notable and immediate threat being YouTube. One leg Last.tv should have is that while YouTube initially started on not so stellar terms with music labels and had to “earn” their way to said content, Last.fm has enjoyed a relatively rosey relationship with the same labels. Hopefully for the greater good, this relationship transgresses over to the video site, Last.tv.
I’ve gone ahead and shot an email to Last.fm inquiring further, specifically on any U.S. plans for Last.tv service. I’ll keep you guys (and gals) update as I find out more.
Pocket-lint > MusicWeek
