I have been a contented subscriber of Last.Fm since 2004.
The reason I am happy to pay is because it enables me to listen to the on-line radio – either one based on my personal tags or, more often, group radios or play-lists linked to particular artists or genres.
My motivation is not to listen to music I already know or have in my collection but to make fresh discoveries , mainly of those artists working outside the mainstream channels.
It would,of course, be great if such a service could be provided free but I think to expect this for nothing is unrealistic. Last.Fm is not a charity and needs money to survive. For the price of a cappuccino & cake I get a monthly dose of great music.
There may be good economic reasons why it makes sense to charge people in Europe and the rest of the world for a service that users in the UK, USA & Germany get for free but it doesn’t take a genius to realise that such a proposal is going to cause resentment. Continue reading
