LAST.FM

“We acquired Last.fm because music is one of the best ways to build communities on the internet. Adding such a tremendous collection of content to Last.fm will help it grow by leaps and bounds. The skill set that we’re learning along the way will be very important as we build additional online communities around our other world-class content as well.”

At the same time, Last.fm is launching an unprecedented “Artist Royalty” arrangement, whereby those artists not signed with a label who choose to upload their music to Last.fm will receive payment, directly from Last.fm, every time one of their tracks is played. This means artists without traditional recording or publishing deals will be able to reach millions of music fans, offer their music for free, while generating revenue.

“We’re building a platform to help redesign the music economy, enabling artists and labels to earn revenue according to how people listen, rather than how they buy,” said Last.fm’s other co-founder, Felix Miller. “Now we can offer the arrangement to unsigned music creators too. For the first time, anyone can upload tracks and get paid when those tracks are played. It’s a whole different model -- one that benefits the artists, labels and advertisers - but most of all the listeners.”

Last.fm is scheduled to roll out the free-on-demand service globally in the coming months. All tracks can be streamed for free up to three times each.

At that point, the listener has the option to purchase the song for download via any of Last.fm’s affiliate partners including iTunes, Amazon and 7 Digital.

  LAST.FM

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