As Spotify continues its path of domination, another major player in the streaming service is reshuffling its priorities in the spirit of survival. Beginning in late April, streaming giant Last.fm will no longer offer its subscription-based streaming radio service, according to Billboard.
Last.fm will continue to offer streaming music on their new player (currently in testing), but they will now outsource audio from YouTube, VEVO, and Spotify rather than host their own servers.
“Following the launch of the new Last.fm Player earlier this year and Last.fm’s partnership with Spotify for on-demand playback, we’ve revised the subscription service in order to focus on the new Last.fm Player and Last.fm’s over-arching mission: world-class music recommendations,” said Simon Moran, Last.fm’s managing director, in a statement to Billboard.
Last January, the company agreed to employ Spotify as a source, as part of an arrangement to avoid paying music licensing fees. Of their 55 million registered users, Last.fm hasn’t disclosed how many pay the $3 monthly charge for the personalized streaming radio service.
Moran said that the “subscription changes only affect a small sub-set of Last.fm users.”
We wish them well, just as long as we don’t have to start saying “scrobbling” anytime soon.
