Last.fm only free for those in US, UK and Germany
by Stevie Smith - Mar 26 2009, 17:00
Want access to these artists and more? Pay the Web radio piper! Image: stringbot/Flickr.
Someone once said that nothing in life is free. And, if you’re an avid Last.fm listener then paying for its free social music service is fast approaching a blanket reality after the online platform erected a payment structure around all but three of its broadcast territories.
Specifically, listeners situated anywhere but the United States, United Kingdom and Germany will now have to cough up a subscription charge of €3,00 per month in order to continue enjoying the site’s popular Last.fm Radio streaming service.
On the plus side, the mandatory euro amount is minimal, listeners subject to paid subscription will be granted a free 30-track trial, and other content such as artist biographies, videos, charts and scrobbler music profiling will remain available without charge.
According to an explanatory Last.fm blog post, the charge is strictly a business decision that will enable the continued improvement of Last.fm Radio as a service while also supporting other free features.
“While we would like to provide the same service for users of all countries, the world is a huge place and it’s not cheap to deliver music over the Internet,” outlined the blog post ahead of a sizeable outpouring of user scorn.
Presently avoiding the payment bullet, users in the United States, United Kingdom and Germany will retain full service freedoms as CBS-owned Last.fm expects to be able to handle related licensing costs via advertising revenue garnered from those three major contributing territories.
Having first opened its musical doors in 2002 and boasting the largest catalogue of online Web radio music thanks to seven million tracks, it remains to be seen whether Last.fm’s decision to implement a subscription – however minor – impacts negatively on its 30 million users.
Some comments posted beneath the official blog announcement certainly suggest the charge could potentially drive users towards similar music services such as Spotify, which is completely free.
Last.fm’s subscription structure will be put in place on Monday, March 30.
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