Let us take you back… way back, to the days (specifically: May 2007) when a streaming personalised-radio startup was valued at $280m in an acquisition by a US media giant. […]
Tag: Last.fm
Co-Labs article
And the winner is…: measuring the impact of awards on streaming
Win an award, sell lots of records. That used to be the equation (or certainly the presumption) in the music business. In the days and weeks after an award ceremony, […]
Co-Labs article
Rock ’n’ yule: charting the Christmas music peak with Last.fm data
Christmas, the cliché runs, starts earlier every year. Shops, apparently, push out their Christmas stock earlier and earlier and everyone is giddy with festive delight even before Halloween is over. […]
Co-Labs article
Listen and learn: understanding uneven album consumption
How much of a classic album do you actually listen to? It turns out that even the most loftily-held LPs have a surprising number of tracks that modern listeners tend […]
Posted inCo-Labs
K-pop’s global rise: a series of well-planned explosions rather than a single big bang
This article from Last.fm is Partner Content. Most eruptions in pop music happen over a long period of time rather than immediately. ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ was Elvis’s first US number 1, […]
Posted inCo-Labs
Last.fm is 20: VP of Product Michael Horan on Last.fm’s 20 years in music-tech – and the future of data in the music industry
This article from Last.fm is Partner Content. The Music Ally Focus Podcast recently welcomed Michael Horan, VP of Product at Last.fm, which is just about to hit a remarkable milestone: […]
Posted inNews
Last·fm adds several new features for building playlists
It may seem a little strange writing about a digital music service that’s been going since 2002 adding new features for creating playlists in 2020. That’s what Last·fm is doing […]
Posted inNews
Last.fm reaches 100bn plays milestone
Remember Last.fm? The CBS subsidiary has been quiet in recent years, but yesterday it popped up with a notable milestone: 100bn plays.
Posted inNews
StreamSquid hopes to revive Grooveshark – but with legal music
We’re starting to lose count of the number of ‘new Groovesharks’ since the controversial streaming service shut down earlier this year. Many have tried to revive the Grooveshark name, but […]
Posted inNews
Last.fm’s revenues fell in 2013, but so did its losses
Last.fm’s latest set of financial results show the company’s tough times in 2013, as its revenues declined 22.8% to £4.92m, and its headcount dropped from 61 to 35. The latter […]
Posted inAnalysis, Insight Reports, Reports-Old
Music Ally Report 342 – Last Orders
In our cover feature, we look at what is going on at Last.fm and how it must evolve to survive. The service recently outsourced its streaming to Spotify and YouTube, two services that symbolically came in its wake. Since its acquisition by CBS in 2007, Last.fm – a pioneer in streaming and big data – has suffered somewhat from organisational schizophrenia and the exit of key staff members. Insiders have also told Music Ally that a deal for it to be bought by Spotify last year fell through. Scrobbling is key to its future, so can the company double down on what it does best and regain its relevance for both consumers and the wider music business?
Posted inAnalysis, News
Before Spotify bought The Echo Nest, it could have snapped up Last.fm
Spotify acquired music data firm The Echo Nest in March in a deal rumoured to be worth $100m. However, the streaming music service had also considered buying another prominent company in that space: Last.fm.
Multiple sources have confirmed to Music Ally that Spotify talked to Last.fm’s parent company CBS about buying the service in the past year or so – although opinions vary on who made the initial approach, and how much interest there really was from the streaming music service.
