Last.fm launches free on-demand music platform in UK
Last.fm has today announced that it is the first website to offer free, global, on-demand access to the largest licensed catalogue of music from Universal Music Group, Sony/BMG, Warner and EMI, plus CD Baby, IODA, the Orchard, Naxos and more than 150,000 independent labels and artists.
The service is ad supported, which means that they can implement the second part of their master plan: paying unsigned artists each time one of their tracks is played on the Last.fm service.
Any track can be streamed for free up to three times each, at which point the track can be purchased via one of Last.fm’s affiliate partners, which includes iTunes, Amazon, and 7 Digital.
The service launched today in the UK, the US, and Germany, and will be rolled out globally over the coming months.
Martin Stiksel, Last.fm co-founder, said: “We’re giving the listener free access to what is basically the best jukebox in the world. The ability to dip into such a uniquely broad catalogue from your laptop, home or office computer, and listen to whatever you want for free represents a new way of consuming music that in turn might change the way you listen to music. In that respect, nobody else can currently offer what Last.fm is offering right now.”
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3 comments
OK, Bryan, so (not that you have any say in the matter) you’d *fire* people for accurate reporting? Brilliant!
Not only are you an obnoxious and rude anonymous troll, but I think you’ll find that last.fm *is* the web site in question, and it *is* the first service to offer this amount of globally available legal music.
And as to whether it’s free — that’s a whole different debate. Don’t shoot me for saying that you don’t have to pay with money for the service. Sure, you have to endure ads, but then THAT’S LIFE. Get over it.
By the way, my name is Andy, at least do *your* research — oh no, hang on, you’re probably busy trolling some other site aren’t you?
This isn’t true, the journalist in question should be fired. First, Last.fm isn’t the first website to offer this, in fact, they’re rather late coming to this particular party.
Secondly, and probably most importantly, it isn’t free. Not even remotely. You get the first three plays of any song without having to pay a fee to Last.fm, but you are paying through the nose for the advertising.
All well and good but the app needs some work. It refuses to see my USB speakers and that has NEVER happened before with ANY app.
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