I was a bit late on the uptake but the radio service on
Lastfm is now free in the USA, UK and Germany but 3euro/month for everyone else. Furthermore, the 'big three' get free access to
whole albums and other enhanced features which you don't get if you pay money outside these countries.
I can understand that lastFM is trying to make it commercially viable, which IMO isn't necessarily bad, but the 'big three' get a service that's vastly
superior and free, while the rest get a downgraded service that they have to pay money for. Irrespective of the economics and politics that seems like a bad move, atleast make the charge service equivalent to the free service. I realise that a lot of this is down to the labels throwing their weight around and making licensing hard outside the three key markets. The lack of advertising dollars elsewhere is an issue that I can understand but this move locks the 'other' markets as nonviable for the advertising revenue model as all the local goodwill is gone or folk are paying for adfree content anyway. Has Lastfm just abandoned any hope of servicing the rest of the world?
I mostly just use Lastfm for scrobbling. It's interesting to see what I've been listening to over time and it improves my radio experience when I'm fatigued with my own music and feel like hearing something new. This only happens once every few months as I have an OK supply of new and interesting music from elsewhere.
Now I'm not sure of the correct action;
delete account,
stop scrobbling,
find a fake USA/UK/German IP address.
Either way this news annoys me. Stupid monkeys.
This is what happens when big
This is what happens when big media companies (CBS) buy things like lastfm... they have to jump through licensing hoops and there are diminishing returns from small markets.
yea it sucks, luckily i never
yea it sucks, luckily i never really listened to streams, i just like the scroblling
I'm similar to you but we are
I'm similar to you but we are feeding another of their commercial assets by adding data to their database.
That's the bit that annoys me, cause I like scrobbling, cause I'm a nerd and I like lists.
I assume you've seen
I assume you've seen http://libre.fm/ ?
I expect to migrate over there at some stage when its a bit more mature, or perhaps run them in parallel.
You mean more mature as in,
You mean more mature as in, isn't a blank webpage?
I have bit the bullet...
I have bit the bullet... subscribing to lastfm... $28 for 6 months of streams... I listen to music all day, every day so should get my moneys worth.
To me this doesn't seem like a bad deal, at least compared to the price of a CD ($27) .
IMHO this is the way music should be I don't want copies I just want access to EVERYTHING. Ideally it be free (but we don't all live in the ideal world).
Yeah, I don't think it's bad
Yeah, I don't think it's bad value until you look at what the UK, US and Germany residents are being offered. It's better, they can play whole albums and request anything, and it's free.
What is the deal with the streaming on your paid account, can you request whole tracks or is just the same radio service they have offered from the start?
Is it complicated to setup a fake UK, US or German IP address?
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