No free last.fm radio for non-USA/UK/DE residents anymore (1 Viewer)

[onkl]

Just to make sure everyone is aware: Last.fm has decided that people who do not reside in the USA. UK or Germany can't have free access to last.fm radio streams. There 'll be a 30 track free trial, after which you'll have to pay EUR 3 per month for further listenning. Scrobbling etc. will remain free. Seems to be related with international licensing.

While I think that the comment section of their blog post announcing this is the proper place for feedback on this measure as it is, it might be useful to discuss the consequences for the last.fm plugin.

As a kickoff to that:

• An option to stop using the radio features of the plugin, so that listeners can remove the "irrelevant" buttons.
• Even better: Maybe the plugin can check whether the user has a valid subscription for radio listening and show/hide the radio section as a result of it.

 

[Spragleknas]

Just read it. Really sad. I can't figure out why it should be free for USA, UK and Germany. Doesn't seem right.

Hopefully an alternative will arise, but since Last.FM is still attractive to the above countries, I guess it might take some time.
I wouldn't mind paying for it - if everyone else did the same.

 

[frenzy]

Sad. From what I read the apps using it will cease to work altogether. Does this mean that even if you pay for the service yoy won't be able to listen through MediaPortal, for example?

 

[rtv]

Sad. From what I read the apps using it will cease to work altogether. Does this mean that even if you pay for the service yoy won't be able to listen through MediaPortal, for example?

No - there shouldn't be any changes regarding that.
Although I am still curious what changes their open source client might receive. I assume that they'll just determine the country by DNS and then leave their severs handling the rest.

Last.fm radio already evaluates whether you are subscriber or not. This is why I pay although I am from germany:
- You can use your "own" personal radio and your own loved tracks
- Your streams are priorized (no hickups during the rush hours)
- You can use the discovery mode and will get better suggestions.


In the end I really hope that this model will work out and not annoy too many users. Last.fm pays many artists and offers them more publicity than any small label could achieve. In addition they demonstrate that the DRM mafiabig labels are useless and a direct artist to listener platform can work.

So after all I just remember that I bought at least one CD per month when I was still at school and didn't have that much money. Now that these 3 EUR (maybe pay in GBP ) won't do any harm to me I think it's a true bargain.

 

[Spragleknas]

As I said: Paying is no problem, but it should be equal for all countries.

Btw: I have personal radio, even though I am not a subscriber

 

[frenzy]

In the end I really hope that this model will work out and not annoy too many users. Last.fm pays many artists and offers them more publicity than any small label could achieve. In addition they demonstrate that the DRM mafiabig labels are useless and a direct artist to listener platform can work.

This is very true under this scope. However I am a bit annoyed that I was used for years filling up their databases through scrobbling with my preferences and tags.

 

[tourettes]

In the end I really hope that this model will work out and not annoy too many users. Last.fm pays many artists and offers them more publicity than any small label could achieve. In addition they demonstrate that the DRM mafiabig labels are useless and a direct artist to listener platform can work.

Not all small artists are happy with last.fm politics Leafblade ? Listen free and discover music at Last.fm

So after all I just remember that I bought at least one CD per month when I was still at school and didn't have that much money. Now that these 3 EUR (maybe pay in GBP ) won't do any harm to me I think it's a true bargain.

True if the streaming would be in better quality, currently the radio can be used only for discovering something new, not for a real music listening.

I have found the Last.fm to be good for two things:

#1 keeping history on the played tracks -- this will stay free
#2 discovering new music -- this will stay free

 

[ysmp]

how abut Music Discovery Community it's free..
ysmp

 

[Shukuyen]

The reason they give why listeners in the USA, UK and Germany don't have to pay is that they have enough revenue from ads in those countries.

tourettes: You have to be really audiophile to say the stream quality is not good enough?

 

[Cuitlahac]

subscription service postponed...

Last.fm postponed their decision when they will change their business model for people outside USA, UK and D to a subscription service.

Seems like they didn't expect that much negative feedback from the community.

Read more here: Last.fm ? the Blog · Radio Announcement Revisited

But I think it's just a question of time when they will finally do it...