Today we are making the changes to the radio that were previously announced here.
This means that from today, listeners to Last.fm Radio outside of the USA, UK and Germany will be asked to subscribe for €3.00 per month, after a 30 track free trial period. In the USA, UK and Germany, where it’s feasible to run an ad-supported radio service, there won’t be any changes. Everything else on Last.fm (scrobbling, recommendations, charts, biographies, events, videos etc.) will remain free in all countries, like it is now.
Currently you need a credit card (or debit card in many countries) or a Paypal account to subscribe. Due to popular demand the subscribe page now lets you buy subscriptions for a friend, so if you don’t have a suitable credit/debit card maybe a friend will buy you a subscription.
Comments
LB
22 April, 15:40
Mh. Warning in advance would have been a good thing.
Mind Booster Noori
22 April, 15:44
So, you really decided not to listen to your users, at all.
psjjjj
22 April, 15:53
Well, now introduce some new payment options, because PayPal sucks in Poland. I’d be delighted to see for example payment by SMS.
sati
22 April, 15:55
it’s disgusting! what just because I don’t live in uk or us I have to pay now? No way, it’s not worth paying for the way you are treating ur users.
igenius
22 April, 15:57
3…2…1…last.fm removed…
in_cognitus
22 April, 15:58
They have made it! Fuck greedy pigs! They have killed Last.fm! Farewell, bastards!
soundaddict
22 April, 15:58
yes, you told us that yo will wait untill there will be an SMS payment, LIAR
pedro
22 April, 16:00
You suck.
Rob
22 April, 16:00
So I am going to remove my music and my account. See you next life…
ziggy
22 April, 16:00
Really – communication skills – NOT GOOD!!! You need new PR people. Here, a quick lesson:
Instead of:
“hey, yo – we’re charging you if you’re not [here], [here], or [here]… starting NOW!” (subtext: and there ain’t nothing you can do about it)
Try:
“Look guys, we’re incredibly sorry but we have no choice. This is the only way we can pay the bills. We love you all, thanks so much for being a part of this site and we’d really appreciate your continued support.”
It’s really, really not that hard.
Adam
22 April, 16:03
I’ve got many days of subscribing left, but I won’t renew it, unless you will return indie labels on board.
Without their music, it’s not worth 3 dollars.
infiltrace
22 April, 16:05
Announcing this to your loyal users beforehand would have been nice.
Goodbye last.fm… it’s been great until now.
Fox
22 April, 16:06
Damn suckers, you’re only think about money, not your users.
adam
22 April, 16:11
“Hi, you’ve got a 30 track free trial of Last.fm Radio.”
But it was free before, dammit! Thank you..
Fox
22 April, 16:14
Where other payment systems ? Paypal sucks, I can’t even pay if I want. You’re not completing you promises.
hugo
22 April, 16:17
“Announcing this to your loyal users beforehand would have been nice.” – they did.
wambo
22 April, 16:19
Can you please add a parameter “user” to the URL http://www.last.fm/subscribe?gift=1 so one can link to that URL with the username textfield already containing a username? thx
infiltrace
22 April, 16:21
Hugo, if something had popped up on my radio the way it did today, that’s telling me beforehand. Posting it on a blog post that not all users will read… that’s not warning your users.
Jebruso
22 April, 16:22
Good-bye Last fm.Crisis…… What Crisis?
Mark
22 April, 16:25
It’s amazing to me how many idiots don’t bother to actually read, think about and make rational decisions. How many idiots that just react, with no thought, to a thought out, explained reason for charging.
This isn’t discrimination against anyone. Just a harsh reality due to an inability to sell enough ads in places outside of the places mentioned.
Perhaps, instead of pissing in your whiney cup and pouring it out on your shoes, you could offer suggestions? Alternative ideas? Help solve the problem instead of bitching like crybabies who don’t get their way.
Waugh, waugh, waugh…boo hoo….
p.a.
22 April, 16:33
What was the point not to announce this exact day beforehand?
Me
22 April, 16:38
Inability to sell enough ads in places outside of the places mentioned.
The “guilty” are the users who had made Lastfm, of course.
porkeyup
22 April, 16:38
It’s not GODD
Boris
22 April, 16:38
“scrobbling, recommendations, charts, biographies, events, videos etc will remain free in all countries” oh well, thank god you don’t charge for scrobbling yet.
Fox
22 April, 16:42
Anyway – it’s not user’s problem that Last.FM cat make money on ads, so it’s really discrimination and prove that last.fm a going wrong way.
psq
22 April, 16:42
why should I pay for something I can get (for free) everywhere out there? :-|
Alnmuo
22 April, 16:43
The crisis is that in our heads.
alex13
22 April, 16:47
“scrobbling, recommendations, charts, biographies, events, videos etc will remain free in all countries”
thanks god biographies is still free… LOL
griffin801
22 April, 16:50
It’s quite odd that Ireland isn’t included in the free radio area – it’s largely the same advertising market as the UK and it’s regarded by the labels as part of the same geographical region.
Anyway, bye bye last.fm until you get sensible about the Irish position.
Jens Nikolaus
22 April, 16:51
♥
Fox
22 April, 16:51
Say farewell to last.fm
Beigebeard
22 April, 16:52
I don’t care. Your radio smells like old people anyway.
Non-American HUMAN being
22 April, 17:02
Discriminating cunts!
Babs
22 April, 17:06
euwww…. that was a bit rubbish
Splee
22 April, 17:07
Oh great.
“If you can’t give us your money, you can pester your friend to give us their money for you.”
away
22 April, 17:11
go away with this sucking thing
mosquitokillah
22 April, 17:11
i don’t mind
pooh brain
22 April, 17:20
aload o old bawlacks
Kubajz
22 April, 17:20
Discriminating varoius countries are bad, but discriminating parts of EU which is a single market is pure evil.
Wojtek
22 April, 17:24
Hey! You have fooled us! You clearly said that payment through SMS will be available. So what can I do now? I don’t have a credit card or PayPal.
Vampire
22 April, 17:30
now will must pay …
Ali
22 April, 17:32
It’s a shame you really didn’t offer MORE for those who you are asking to pay to continue to listen to music.
Those favoured countrys, irrespecitve that you mention that advertising covers the costs in those areas, are still getting a better deal out of it with full song previews.
I can go to Deezer and find the song I want to listen with out playing the Random song generator that is lastfm Radio.
I am going to subscribe and see how it goes however, I still think you should have looked at what you offer a little better.
Kpt
22 April, 17:32
You lied Richard Jones!
This is what you said in Radio Announcement Revisited
Shift
22 April, 17:34
Can you add some Russian money pays metods like http://www.roboxchange.com/ in Russian nobody use papal
mosky
22 April, 17:39
This is rasism!
mp3sii
22 April, 17:49
Goodbye, It’s been a pleasure but i’m not gonna pay for this service, ever.
So this is what bad management does, ruin a service foreverer.
Keep in mind that last.fm competitors will be stronger and when last.fm reacts it’ll be to late
tatisouza
22 April, 17:53
I want to pay and I can’t. Thank you very much. :(
xrehash
22 April, 17:53
Bye.
djarcade
22 April, 17:57
I think it’s not fair to charge only users outside of UK, USA and Germany.
Wether you charge anybody or nobody.
I’m living in Germany but working in Spain and just for keep listenin in Spain I need a Subscription!? Thats a really (sorry) fascistic policy, isn’t it?
What about charging male listeners 3.00 and women 3.50??
Sander
22 April, 17:59
So what you are actually saying is: We’d love our foreign listeners to pay for our largest group of listeners, so they can listen for free.
Well, thanks for that, we’ll move on to the next best thing and make that as big as last.fm now is :)
youngpilgram
22 April, 18:01
I’m just confused as to why my 30 song free trial includes a big google ad right next to it, when ad-supported radio is apparently not feasable in Canada.
the big boss
22 April, 18:02
Do I charge for all the useful scrobble info I sent you? Do I charge for the artist descriptions I write? Do I charge for letting you stream my music? Just some random questions
froysm
22 April, 18:02
This is discrimination!!!
seb
22 April, 18:04
Is it that hard to send out emails notifying customers / users? If it wasn’t for this blog – which I checked out to see if there’s something new – I wouldn’t have noticed.
Please, care to employ some new PR people. They will help you keep your customers instead of scaring them off.
vertigo
22 April, 18:06
Well, we all know that when lastfm’s interests start shifting to make the big record company bosses happy, the users will always suffer. No way around it.
So, for me it’s time to leave and enjoy my own shuffling and other free streaming choices available out there.
I won’t feed lastfm data with my scrobbling anymore – just keeping my listening habits for myself.
I’m afraid the number of users will go down a lot quicker than who ever thought this was a good idea expected, and soon all of it will be shut down. :-(
alex
22 April, 18:09
After migrating from Pandora to Lastfm, it’s now time to migrate to Finetune! See you there!
EU citizen
22 April, 18:09
Well, it was fun while it lasted. Too bad I’ll need to use a proxy now to access last.fm now.
AlemaZ =/
22 April, 18:10
Bitches =/ It’s all that i could say about this situation….
p.s. sorry my english
Trampas1
22 April, 18:11
Goodbye Last.fm
I will not pay. It is a shame!!!
213123
22 April, 18:11
Community site huh ? How a site like last.fm say that “i am a community site” ? Everyone have to pay exclude 3 “rich” country ?THE COMMUNITY MAKE LAST.FM , NOT LAST.FM ITSELF . NOT YOU “CBS” , YOU THINK YOU BOUGHT IT AND YOU CAN CHANGE IT TO WHAT YOU WANT ?
INTERNET SUPERHERO
22 April, 18:12
It was fun while it lasted.
Glad I managed to get spotify before this change.
Pedro
22 April, 18:15
We’re managing a band, placed outside one of the “three lucky countries”. Since a new album is nearly ready, and in Lastfm we had a wide audience, we did decide to promote it there. But now… the audience will decrease drastically in most countries. So it is not a good idea to invest in promotion here anymore…
It’s a real shame, but I understand it’s a business, and they have to do whatever is better for them.
Good luck!
Eu citizen 2482
22 April, 18:16
Obviously i wont pay, alternative to last.fm ? Only Finemusic ?
Jasho
22 April, 18:16
Well, it was so pleasant all the time since I knew you LastFM /3 months :(/. I was in love, but all are cycles in life isn’t it? Well, my cycle with LastFM is over.
I don’t feel sad at all, I’m sure there will be another better choice, just like LastFM used to be.
And I am so sad about you, because now, you will get less money than you got about selling ads, even when it wasn’t what you’re expected to.
R.I.P. LastFM
Andrea Grandi
22 April, 18:16
I repeat my idea: if users have to pay, ALL have to pay, not only ones that live outside USA and UK. I stop using it and, more important, I’ll stop scrobbling too! Your service LIVES with data scrobbled by users and I won’t give it for free.
Bye bye.
Unkind
22 April, 18:17
Last.Fm – You’re losers!
92m1
22 April, 18:17
bye bye last.fm
me too
22 April, 18:17
hope the cynicism your website showed with this treatment of your existing users sees you all out of work soon..
lilyfathersjoy
22 April, 18:18
Just lost Launchcast a week ago in Canada. Now, on my birthday, I learn that I’ve lost Last.fm. Happy birthday to me. Sorry, guys, I haven’t been using Last.fm long enough to decide if it’s worth paying for, and I rather resent being forced to pay for something that is free in a few chosen countries.
BenjaminKrauze
22 April, 18:22
I am gonna hear the last thirty tracks, jot down the titles of the cool songs and pieces I´ve discovered, as well as with the artists I didn´t know, find a way to keep in touch with the users I´ve made friends with, close my account and go to a peer to peer program to download all that music. SLSK anyone?
By the way,suggestions were made, Mark, but it seems that they didn´t matter. (check the other entries in the blog and their comments)
PS. Fuck last.fm
анонимус
22 April, 18:22
подавитесь своими деньгами, пидарасы.
Jasho
22 April, 18:22
by the way, I’m not interested about your artists biographies file, I didn’t knew you had it. Wikipedia is my best source about that…
x
22 April, 18:25
thank you guys, it was a good service… now i’ve to find something else…
Bring back the free last.fm!
22 April, 18:25
Bye last.fm.
ВашаСмерть
22 April, 18:25
+5000 подавитесь
eat you money, scumbags
Feel free to delete my account.
Gina
22 April, 18:34
You can’t expect users to buy your service if you don’t even enable more payment options…So you’ve postponed your decision without working out a solution…I’m deeply dissatisfied with the service, if it stays that way…there are tons of free services out there, just as good as or(better)than last.fm
colm
22 April, 18:36
Thanks for the warning :D
Dre
22 April, 18:37
Haha, i was playing Last.FM all day long, still ain’t noticing anything :)
If i keep it running without closing down, then i wont get cut of after 30+ songs? :D
It sucks that you can’t make a country specific ad campain, got to know a lots of new artists here.
The biggest bitches are the record labels, they just can’t get it, that there will be more downloading now, because ppl can’t listen via Last.FM anymore for free.
Just my 2 cents
kaiyi li
22 April, 18:37
Hey Richard,
Is the new radio API now officially online? I tried to accessing it last week and I think it allowed me to listen to more than 30 tracks.
It would be great to have like a development account that we can use to test the radio api without constantly hitting the 30 track limit.
shattered_
22 April, 18:38
way to ruin it.
i was a subscriber once, when the radio was free, just because i wanted to support the cause. now last.fm got greedy – i can afford it, but i simply won’t pay for it.
ever wondered how wikipedia runs without charging users? ever thought of doing the same?
i’ll just sit back and watch the fall of last.fm. you know you’re not the only radio service on the web, right? there are lots of them out there. FREE ones.
bye last.fm, hello next best thing.
Dre
22 April, 18:42
Hahahahaha, this rulles, i got a pop up, didn’t click on it and radio just continues :D
Gert
22 April, 18:43
Thanx for the notice, what about all the protests? Have you at all have a meeting about that? You know you are gonna loose a lot of people here now!!! that is just so sad, you didn’t make a difference, on the payments methods, damn, how ignorant!!!
3inT
22 April, 18:54
It’s fine that you start charging really, it’s just immensly retarted to know three countries don’t have to.
You can still get the radio’s from the API/site. So you can download the music elsewhere. (spotify and the like)
Three questions:
Does paying give you the extras old subscribers got (the playlists)?
Why not charge he UK/US/DE-trinity? If you need money you might as well. It doesn’t matter that you can advertise there, it would make it fair. (I would pay more for fair)
Why am I seeing ads?
Trampas1
22 April, 18:54
Alternative?
Who knows a better alternative without discrimination??
Last. fm: do you think that is a good idea?
Read our messages!!!!! Bye bye Last
nikitachikita
22 April, 18:56
i will not pay. BRING BACK THE FREE LAST.FM!!!
how can i pay if i don’t have credit cards or things like that? and it all was FOR FREE before.
villagenomads
22 April, 18:59
Ta Very Much Richard Jones.
You just ruined my red wine and nice piece of Caerphilly Cheese!
Mou
22 April, 19:01
Don’t forget that users made Last.fm fucking idiots!
leavelastfm
22 April, 19:02
http://www.lastfm.de/group/we+will+leave+lastfm+June1st+if+changes+wont+be+cancelled
scott
22 April, 19:04
If you’re gonna charge, charge everyone. This is just asinine.
cjmatos
22 April, 19:07
I was using this service since 2004 but as
I don’t want to contribute to a racist company, I’ve just deleted my account.
Now I just want you to delete any scrobber I’ve did on this time period.
Hope any body else do the same.
Allen
22 April, 19:08
Ohh… i understand, well… good luck! i have to move to another place, free for all around the world.
http://www.blip.fm
kasparins
22 April, 19:11
It’s a shame that such great idea is turned into such utterly disgusting discrimination. Even though I could afford to pay, I won’t. Good bye.
f-u
22 April, 19:13
You’re telling me that since I live in Canada, I have to subsidize last.fm listeners in the US and UK so they can listen free? What an insult. I hope you tank, clowns.
HP
22 April, 19:14
You Racist Bastard!
Geert
22 April, 19:15
Can’t believe you actually going through with this. You guys suck!
Bye bye last.fm, you gonna loose a lot of users…
Coló
22 April, 19:16
hey!
10 free alternatives to the Last.fm Radio service.
StumbleAudio
Spotify
SHOUTcast
Musicovery
Deezer
iLike
Tunerec
Songza
Live365
RadioBeta
Anyone knows another option?
villagenomads
22 April, 19:17
Ta Very Much Richard Jones.
You’ve just ruined my glass of red wine and piece of Caerphilly Cheese!
Lucas Engel
22 April, 19:17
Why am I still seeing ads? I live outside the ‘three chosen countries’. I need to pay but there are still ads around?
You have the best social community around but your team sucks hard. Idiots!
Alternatives
22 April, 19:21
-Spotify
-Grooveshark
-Finemusic
-Jamendo (about indie artists)excellent!
-musicax.org (listen & download songs)
I won’t pay, record label should pay, not me.
Shooie123
22 April, 19:23
When I recently signed up to your service there was nothing to indicate that this was a Trial run. I look on the main page and prior to today there was nothing clearly posted about your policy change. I received nothing in my email regarding this change until today well after I signed in and found the ’30 song trial’ posted on my page. I do understand that nothing is free, but clearer communication would have been appreciated. This is information I should not have had to search out to find.
When Pandora had to close the borders to international listeners, we were informed well in advance, giving everyone time to adjust and find alternatives. I wish you had done the same. While I do appreciate that we haven’t been shut out completely, and don’t mind the low subscription cost, I will not be subscribing merely due to the lack of clear communication on your part – I can’t be sure that something like this would happen again.
benn
22 April, 19:23
fuck you dicks! i seriously cant believe you wont find another option. If myspace can operate free around the world you can figure out too but you just simply dont want to.
if you actually gave a fuck about your users youd find an alternative.
Non-American HUMAN being
22 April, 19:24
I hope the site fails. Paying for a radio service is the most ridiculous thing ever.
Milo
22 April, 19:25
Well at least scrobbling is still free!
And personally 3 euros doens’t sound too bad when it costs about 70 for a track of itunes!
hugo
22 April, 19:27
“Paying for a radio service is the most ridiculous thing ever.” – So you think all other internet radios don’t pay royalties to music labels?
Carol
22 April, 19:27
F****** Nazis!
3inT
22 April, 19:31
Alternatives to last.fm are:
limited to FR, UK, scandinavia:
spotify
US only:
slacker, pandora
I don’t know:
seeqpod, blip.fm
There’s more on alternativeto.net
Do consider that none of them are last.fm, you’ll have to pay for the real thing.
Erica
22 April, 19:31
Buh-bye.
asdfg
22 April, 19:32
Pay for internet radio? Internet radio that doesn’t even let you fast forward, rewind, select tracks, etc?
Ha ha. Enjoy losing all your Canadian users, idiots. And really, how hard would it have been to include all of North America in your new plan? You don’t even offer an explanation for why Canadians are being discriminated against. Learn some PR skills, you fucking amateurs.
m
22 April, 19:33
Hi there all: I was really surprised when I heard, or better when I read it. There goes the freedom of listen what you want to listen to.How is it possible that in other countries whithin Europe we are not allowed to listen to last fm for free? This, what is happening now with last fm users, is really unacceptable, this 100% discrimnination and not fair.
clara
22 April, 19:38
I would like to pay by sms, I have no other means to pay.
How can I become a subscriber if I cannot pay the subscription?
Evelin
22 April, 19:38
Goodbye Last.fm, been fun while it’s lasted.
3, 2, 1. poof Account deleted.
funnyav
22 April, 19:39
Yay for AdBlock plus. =( =(
Bodosan
22 April, 19:39
I play often music from last.fm. So I took a subscription for 6 months. I payed 18 dollars, which IMO is not to expensive. Sure, I would prefer free listening and the whole affair with the ‘free’ countries isn’t very nice towards the other ‘nonfree’ countries, but in the end I’m not yet able to give up my music listening.
Georgio
22 April, 19:42
Well, what I can say… black day… R.I.P. Last.fm…
delusionbeta
22 April, 19:43
Last.fm just epic failed somewhere.
Put the bloody adverts IN THE RADIO STREAM like everyone else!
But no, they decide to charge practically everyone, chasing them away.
I’ll give you six months before you see sense and reverse the decision: by then, it’ll probably be too late.
RIP last.fm. Death by suicide.
jeff
22 April, 19:43
WHENEVER!!!!!
From time to time you hear something good but way too many repeats… I’ve heard London in the rain at least 500 times.
BYE EH! I guess living in Canada just doesn’t pay off.
bartlomiej_p
22 April, 19:45
Account deleted bye
mosquitokillah
22 April, 19:46
hehe, my free 30 tracks are over but radio still runs. now I will listen until you’re bankrupt :D
oooooo
22 April, 20:00
Very suprising that the ad support in other countries doesn’t hold up to the demands. Not once (and I’ve been using this great, great service for years now) have I seen an ad that isn’t something along the lines of “Free IQ test – Prove your intalligence to yuour friends” (quite literally translated).
And while I do agree with the people complaining about the country restrictions I’m all for the fee (and oh how do I wish it was international). Even if it is pay-per-play, Last.fm still does provide me with the service I joined for in the first place – Finding great new music just by listening to the music I like.
solncasve
22 April, 20:03
от же ж блядь козлы
kadir
22 April, 20:04
la$$$$$$$$$t fm.
cam
22 April, 20:06
Seriously, how old are you all?
You’re acting like it’s some horrible betrayal…yet they’re just doing what’s necessary.
They’re a business. They can’t make money in these countries. They can’t afford to pay the bills.
What are you whining about?
Paul
22 April, 20:14
Goodbye Subscription. i will never again pay money to support this site (and yes i live in the UK). Frankly this is really pathetic.
thanks last.fm, all my friends are leaving the site… congratulations!!!
piger
22 April, 20:16
€3.00/month for a Radio would be okay, but last.fm isn’t a radio, it’s just a software… no schedule, no speakers, no programs, just “similar music”. sigh.
Ard
22 April, 20:20
Damn it. Just as I was starting to enjoy having last.fm running in the background >.< Ah well, the recommendation station sucked anyway.
At least my country has a fun legal loophole that makes it okay to download music. Yarrr.
marloes
22 April, 20:25
My subscription ends in 7 days and after paying for your service for over a year and a half, I won’t be renewing it this time around. Too bad, it was fun while it lasted.
Good luck, Last.fm.
rolabd
22 April, 20:26
Are you serious?
Im never gonna pay to listen to the radio!
There are so many other sources on the net to listen to music, noone is gonna pay to do it here!
Ae
22 April, 20:27
Hurry up everyone, jump on the hysterical bullshit bandwagon before it leaves!
Asdruble
22 April, 20:29
oh… thats why i get an Unknown Error when i try to play.
I’m sad that i was right about finding the answer to my problem in this post.
Too bad.
alexeykuptsov
22 April, 20:38
Please, add WebMoney to subscription ways.
malvesp
22 April, 20:45
I can read many explanations in “terms of use” about the rights you reserve, but I don`t Know who I have to talk to if the service I will be paying is not running. I guess you will earn a lot of money…
And… could you explain us the difference between my country and Germany? Why should I pay for the same service in the EU? Why nobody responses our comments?
Kai SD
22 April, 20:46
Just support more payment systems. For example, make support for webmoney to give users from Russia an ability to pay for your service.
And try to think about some renewable trial (for example 30 songs per week or something like that).
Rob V
22 April, 20:46
As someone from the Netherlands, I’m not gonna pay so that people in neighbouring countries (Germany, UK) can listen for free.
It’s pretty ridiculous to treat member states of the EU which in many ways are pretty similar, in a such a different way.
With all the international brands out there and nearly all Dutch people understanding English, I don’t understand how you can’t get the advertisements.
The EU is a common market. Please treat it that way!
kiss-my-ass-chin
22 April, 20:49
RACIST PIGS!
LIARS!
CORPORATE SLAVES!
ED
22 April, 20:51
YOU SUCK BIG TIME!!!
RENEW?? MY ASS!!!
AND YOU ARE GOING TO TELL PEOPLE TODAY????
JUST GO TO HELL!!!
Carol
22 April, 20:53
NAZIS NAZIS
you suck!
Sin
22 April, 20:58
what a joke! never again, there will be other services!
VaWaR
22 April, 21:14
Que pena! Mataron algo realmente bueno!!!
Mourner
22 April, 21:15
I totally second ziggy’s comment on this. You have a HUGE problem with communication – if you had done it right, you would recieve many times less negative feedback. Whoever made up the announcement text is really, really dumb.
Becca
22 April, 21:21
Wow, thanks for charging us money for services that were previously rendered free. I live in Canada and have paranoid parents that refuse to allow me to use money on the internet, so I can’t use the site anymore. Awesome. And…I agree with Rob up there. I’m not paying so random countries can listen for free.
Whatever.
Gabriel Mazetto
22 April, 21:21
I really think you guys should put some google ads to support “free users” instead of just cutting then off…
retrogaming
22 April, 21:29
Bye bye radio, R.I.P.
...
22 April, 21:37
well, fuck this radio then, no one needs it.
Bartie
22 April, 21:37
Some people posting here live in dream land. The worst economic times in 50 years is here and the days of free everything online (in every country) are limited.
I’m sure last.fm would have loved to have just kept offering free music to every user and country on the planet for ever but hey – reality check time me thinks. Ad can only pay for so much by the sounds of it. They’re not Google you know.
Just wait for all the other free music sites to start doing the same thing – i rekon its just a mater of time.
RosOne
22 April, 21:39
Racism
dfsdf
22 April, 21:44
imagine being charged for listening to the radio in a car…
bullshit
Sieg heil last.fm >_>
mksm
22 April, 21:45
just no radio then
another option
22 April, 21:47
this is a pretty new and cool alternative: www.aupeo.com
Quentin Foussette
22 April, 21:48
This post is so cute. It shows how most internet users are completely disconnected with reality. Music industry will have to change and this change has already started but as every diying beast, they keep thinking that things won’t change or that they can stop it. When a great service like Last.fm distribute for free what they charge, they will of course try to make money over it. This is reality. To quote Mick Jagger (afterall, you’re not on a pro-nazi website, as some really clever people suggested it but on a music site), “You can’t always get what you want”. And the price is far from being exorbitant. You’ll have to buy a pack of cigarettes less per month, that’s all…
mandrak2000
22 April, 21:52
Find something else, you have already made this one!…
I Used To Love LastFM
22 April, 21:52
Thanks to LastFM I found out many bands that now have become my favourite ones. It was like a Bible to me.
But now I feel like it cheated on me. I thought I was in the EU, but it must not be so. I don’t see why I should pay UK, USA and German listeners, even if I love these countries. If everyone had to, I would pay. What about that SMS option? It would be great. I think that most of LastFM users can’t afford a Paypal account. But since it’s been made such a irrespective and discriminative choice, I’m not using LastFM anymore and I’m not going to scrobble a damn track any longer.
What a disappointment!
It’s been nice until it lasted.
Bye LastFM. I wish you’re gonna do well, although comments show that it’s not gonna be so.
european 'used to' listener
22 April, 22:07
discrimination it is,
Bye bye
mailkirill
22 April, 22:07
Bye bye radio!
Sorry guys
22 April, 22:11
..but I will not pay for something that others get for free. It’s not musical revolution anymore but just making money.
Fortunately it’s not that hard to get an U.S. IP address.
Mhahaha
22 April, 22:11
Haha, I found a way to get your radio for free, even though I am not from the “cool” countries, so yeah. You are most welcome to suck my dick, biaches $) You better spend that dirty money you’ll get for new staff. A polite announcer and a good programmer are highly recommended.
Jesus Antonio Gonzalez
22 April, 22:14
bye last.fm
Sybele
22 April, 22:15
I understood all money business. Bottom line: even if I wanted to pay a subscription I can’t – PayPal doesn’t work in my country…. So what should I do? Wait for sms payment? Ask someone from chosen countries to buy a subscription for me?…It’s a shame. When I read your last announcement I thought you would really try to find the way for us from “not listed countries” to be able to pay a subscription.So now you cut me out, giving me no choice but to leave even if I did not want to. Very disappointing ….
eham
22 April, 22:16
Uninstalling scrobbler.. sorry guys, my scrobble information outside my country is not available for free anymore.
gerard
22 April, 22:23
so long, and thanks for all the music
;(
cvele
22 April, 22:23
PayPal – Serbia
Please help me! I am desperate man, my country don’t have PayPal possibility!
LastFmSucks
22 April, 22:34
I would NEVER pay for that ELITE 3 countries!
You are saying that “All other countries suck” with this stupid ass subscription rule.
Farewell Last.Fm, I’ll take my 120+ friends with me and WILL NOT LET YOU GAIN €360 every month for that crippled radio applet.
Niño Bomba
22 April, 22:55
I was hoping you guys got smart and creative and figured ways to keep running that wouldn’t make people who love your site (us) feel screwed.
It’s the whole “we all build this as a community, i alone (cbs) profit from it” attitude which i hate. I know if you really tried you could sell ads in the rest of the world (making local enthusiastic teams, i know people who would do it for an account and a small percentage of sales), make free users listen a limited amount of time a day, or other alternatives. Don’t tell me “these trying times call for us to charge, there is no choice” because i can smell the stinky RIAA putting pressure on an otherwise great site. This is part of a corporate agenda, and it is filled with half truths and plain lies.
Funny how you don’t even mention all the music licensed under creative commons or public domain (which even i as an individual can stream for free) and don’t come up with something like “if you don’t want to pay you can only listen to freely avalaible music”.. but hey, that would be a great boost for that type of music, and i guess big daddy RIAA and record labels wouldn’t want people looking somewhere where they don’t have any control.
Anyway, the way i see it, you are profiting from music that i and other people like me gave you to stream for free to people so anyone could get to know our work. That sucks and if i wasn’t so legally challenged and lazy i would probably sue you. Instead, i’ll take all of our music out of your site.
As other persons have said, there are alternatives out there already. The web is an hydra and someone will be smarter and get all the audience you are losing now. You guys should appreciate the great community that built your site and this frankly feels like a slap on the face.
I didn’t delete my account because i loved your site, i gave you a huge amount of word of mouth, i wrote biographies for obscure artists that almost no one knows, and im certain im just one among many many many users who acted similarly.
To the last.fm core team, thanks guys you built something great, too bad the big boys ruined it.
Alternatives where there (they still are), but if you choose to side up with the dying record industry, you will die with them.
Say bye to my account, both as a user and as an artist and as a label. I won’t pay you so you can profit from everything i give you. Including my listening habits.
I say “New times call for new ways”, and you are just trying to uphold a failing system. So so long.
You were loved, you will be remembered.
Luca
22 April, 23:20
This is the beginning of the end of Last.fm, as you will see… Shame on you, guys… I feel sorry but this is the end. Bye
Disappointed user.
22 April, 23:44
I sincerely wish you go bankrupt after this.
Way to ruin one of the only good things on the internet.
angelito
22 April, 23:46
new wave racism :D death by suicide
frank
22 April, 23:48
now when have enough data collected they can afford to do this, but they’ll see they’ll lost users.
tjl
22 April, 23:52
Well, I’d consider paying, but based upon the last few times I listened to my radio, you’ve been substituting tracks (e.g., a live version for the album version). I don’t want the live version, I want the album version.
BARTY7
22 April, 23:54
its up to people to destroy this site (people made it big anyway) and create a new one…
imagine one day to tell you that you have to pay for msn facebook myspace etc….
“they are addicted to the drug so they will pay for it” thats how the system works…..
Vladislav_Vict
23 April, 00:24
Ну и уебаны же вы.
Oh, you bastards >_<
Are you trying to lose as much as possible of your audience? Well done. I left this f*cking service.
ZPick
23 April, 00:34
LastFM, I’m extremely disappointed. I’m not surprised that you’re moving to a subscription service, but would it have killed you to show a little respect for your users who don’t live in the USA, UK, and Germany, and make an official announcement about this?
You know, a big ‘hey, we can’t make money on ads you’re not watching, so we have to move to a subscription service in the coming months’ on the main site? An email? Instead of burying it in a blog?
It’s hard to turn a ship like this on a dime, without losing a lot of passengers, if you know what I mean.
JohnDoe
23 April, 00:42
Following the buy-out from CBS, personally, I thought this would happen way sooner.
Since I live in a Country where there’s a loop-hole allowing me to download music legally, I guess Ill just look-up the recommendations from last.fm, download them, and cancel my account. Now that you (last.fm) gathered so much information from my listening habits anyway.
I dont see why I should pay so that someone else can listen for free.
Oh, and I totally agree that your PR team sucks. So does most of your teams, for not being able to come-up with something (like smart advertising by location (ip) outside the aforementioned three zones).
Its sad to see how its easy for corporations to change the agreement whenever they want (and, in this case, w/o proper warning). I guess since I wasnt a paying customer, I also was a second rate user.
Ciao!
kaiyi li
23 April, 00:50
hi, sorry to double post.
is there an api port that allows third party last.fm client to check a user’s remaining number of free tracks? Actually i know there isn’t one yet, but it would be nice to have one, so that the client can prompt the user to subscribe.
Laura
23 April, 01:03
Screw that last.fm ..Finally I thought I found an awesome website, and literally a couple of days later, complete disappointment, utter shame.
Emlyn
23 April, 01:09
Finally the day comes. You bastards. I’ll spend the morning telling everyone I know that they should disregard my previous recommendations, and in fact you guys suck.
Vizigor
23 April, 01:25
bastids
burn in hell
eu
23 April, 01:27
bye bye lastfm, i hope you spend your money well
bastards
d
23 April, 01:28
I won’t be paying for low quality streaming music. Thanks, but no thanks.
geegee
23 April, 01:33
Last fm is going down, going down…
I really think, that no-one is that stupid, that would pay for a radio – especially a poor one. It just doesn’t make my sense.
I will be waiting for the news, in which they tell that last.fm shuts down, because of the lack of users and money, at least outside those three countries.
Eric
23 April, 01:39
“Due to popular demand the subscribe page now lets you buy subscriptions for a friend, so if you don’t have a suitable credit/debit card maybe a friend will buy you a subscription.”
Well, guess what. My friends left too.
fqfq
23 April, 01:42
fuck offfffff
Cid
23 April, 01:50
Chinguen a su madre
pinches putos
diegoo21
23 April, 02:00
Now motherfuckers, How do I delete my account? It seems like you’ve got money in your ears, stick you subscription up your ass, and I actually don’t care if you delete me bitches, if you haven’t notice that’s what I’m looking for. I want to see how Last.fm will return pleading for us to return when they find out the drop in their visits. Fuck off!!!
pharbus
23 April, 02:00
Charge all users or charge no one. I won’t pay for something that others are getting for free. Bye bye last.fm.
videohq
23 April, 02:44
account deleted :) (and I’m even in the US lol) till never
Katie
23 April, 02:47
well… is there any chance of other places getting it free again in the future?
crlsgms
23 April, 02:50
Well, im very disappointed. Since i upload material from some bands, directed most of our parties to the last.fm eventlist, even printed huge amouths of flyers with the last.fm logo for its great and “social music revolution” motto, but i was wrong. On the peak of the cultural mass media revolution, another giants goes down after the golden eggs. Congratulations for the core team, you just changed my way of look in webdevelopment, but on social compromise you all suck. Here in brasil that we got no money, no credit, no credit cards, and no way to subscribe.. we are all gone. Im absolutely sure that if you at least made an effort on allocating people from the countries that now gotta pay to listen, in a social and polite way, i believe many of us would help promptly, and you will be part of the real revolution that is now, and its faceless. See for yourself the great work of wikipedia, that always were transparent and raised the funds needed when they really need.
Shame on you. When you got the big bucks, wach the zeitgeist movie, and the qatsi triology.
MissLynx
23 April, 03:04
While I don’t agree with the hysterical tone of many of the comments here, or the mentality that everyone is entitled to have everything they want free and it’s someone else’s job to provide it to them, this whole change does not look like it was well handled at all.
I fully understand that businesses need to make money. At the time that I discovered Last.fm I had been about to sign up for a paid subscription to Live365 because the audio ads on there were driving me insane. This site was like a godsend, and I remember wondering how on earth you made any money offering it for free. Guess I know the answer to that now – you didn’t. :-)
So I have no problem with bringing in a paid membership structure, and it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than Live365. HOWEVER… I do think there are a couple of big problems with the way the change was made:
First of all, the lack of notice. Apparently you announced it on this blog, but up until today, I didn’t know you had a blog, and I expect most other users didn’t either, considering how many people are complaining about this coming out of the blue. A change this major should have been announced somewhere more visible – at least as visibly as the “free trial” notice that’s now appearing to everyone, or better yet an e-mail to everyone. I doubt more than a tiny fraction of your users ever saw the original blog post.
Second – what on earth is up with charging or not charging people selectively by country? That makes no sense to me. I am sure there’s some business logic behind it, but it’s a move that is virtually guaranteed to upset and alienate listeners outside the “preferred” countries, who quite understandably feel they are being unfairly asked to subsidize people in those three countries. It would have been far, far better to charge everyone equally.
And it’s rather harsh to cut off listeners in all countries but those three if they aren’t able to pay by one specific method that is not available in all countries. I have no problem with PayPal myself, but it’s not available everywhere, and many of your members are not going to have any way of paying you even if they want to.
I really don’t have a problem with signing up for a paid membership, and I will probably do so. $3 a month is very little to pay for pretty much unlimited music, and I have no sympathy for those of your members who are complaining simply because they think no one should have to pay for anything.
But I very much hope that you will listen to the more valid criticisms you’re getting on the other points, make some changes to those of them that can still be changed (like the lack of payment methods and only charging certain countries but not others), and apologize for the one that can’t (the fact that most people received no notice of this change).
And I just hope those changes don’t come too late to prevent you losing a large share of your membership.
reisfeldt
23 April, 03:23
“The Social Music Revolution”
FAIL!!
M.I.Be.
23 April, 03:26
I’m gone and not turning back, I assure you.
Natalie Harker
23 April, 03:36
I have been using last.fm since 2006 – I love it – it makes my day fabulous – I start the day by typing in mood and I listen to that music all day long ….well now the dream is over – last.fm is making me pay!! Why Why Why – Hopefully so they can pay artists royalties – I fracking hope so and I fracking hope they get a good chunk of it!
4 years of loyalty – and I cant tell you how much I have promoted the crap out of last.fm – and now I have to pay – Thanks for the warning last.fm – would probably be happy to pay with a bit more warning…bad form dudes
richard
23 April, 03:41
Yes, perhaps it is a small fee, and perhaps everything costs, fair enough. But to discover this on the day it happens, and to have to research what this mysterious trial period thing that suddenly appeared, was kind of annoying.
I agree, bad business, should have been told via email in advance, and an apology and explanation would have been nice, rather than just the ‘you have no choice’ approach.
alfredo
23 April, 03:46
Bye Last.fm
No more scrobbling.
Deleted Account
Hello Spotify, Grooveshark!
EOF
lalo
23 April, 03:53
Its a fucking shame, take the money!
ex-Last fm user
23 April, 04:53
I won’t pay… screw you la$t FM!!
shocked
23 April, 04:54
Yeah, that’s disgusting – discrimination in it’s finest. I have listened to Last.fm for a long time, but I would never pay to listen to radio – heck, I wouldn’t even mind if you had ads in the stream to cover costs.
As someone mentioned above, the web is a hydra – there are already many other FREE alternatives.
RIP last.fm . . . bad move – bad, bad move.
Javier Pimentel
23 April, 04:57
I strongly suggest leaving Last.Fm or changing your profile picture to a Black Square in loving memory of the music revolution.
Maxx
23 April, 05:14
stupid wankers
doh
23 April, 05:15
Ok, I see no reason to continue use last.fm.
Deleting my account after 3 years with your service.
bye.
snax
23 April, 05:18
i agree with everything misslynx said above.
i find it particularly ironic that last.fm recently made the effort to create interfaces in various world languages, only now to make france, russia, china, and everyone else pay for the service.
with so many people from the rest of the world leaving last.fm, your data is going to be skewed towards listeners from the uk, the us, and germany. where i live in canada, radio is already saturated by british and american music.
i made new last.fm friends with users from sweden, iceland, chile, russia, australia, etc so i could find new music from those areas. if they all leave, what good is the service?
too bad, it was fun while it lasted.
Sarah
23 April, 05:20
Once upon a time there was an awesome HUGE network where you could listen , watch & have access to everything from everywhere around the world. Some time ago, You tube started to restrict videos dependening on which country do you live in, and now Last.fm gives benefit to people to just 3 countries and messing other countrie’s people. THOSE ARE EXAMPLES OF DISCRIMINATION.
This is so fucking unfair.
Thanks for helping Internet ruin.
Rodrigo
23 April, 05:23
Because you do not charge those who have heard more than 5000 songs, I started to use less than 15 days and now I want to pay.
You want to lose Brazilian users with this, it is not.
Enter the Last FM for college friends, work and family, I tell them that they will charge for listening to the radio and we will return to listen to Kiss FM.
Pay for improvements?
Emma
23 April, 05:23
My heart is broken.
Javier Pimentel
23 April, 05:25
You are so right Sarah. Internet is quickly losing its democratic soul. Contents are not accesible by everybody as they once were. It’s time to start worrying. The only channel of communication that guaranteed equality of access to information is about to be extinguished.
It’s a shame that Last.FM is becoming part of that trend.
Chris
23 April, 05:32
deleting my account too. it’s not good you didn’t listen to your users, so you will have just customers…..
Darius cel Tulbure
23 April, 06:14
I looks like you really hate Last.fm. And its users. I refuse to believe that you are that stupid. No. You deliberately want us to go away.
binarypoetica
23 April, 06:21
Like many of the users remarked, you should have at least given prior notice. Ads in the radiostream and on the site would be a better way to go, because I am not paying 3 euros for a radio. It wasn’t paid until this point and i’m sure it could be free from now on too.
Mick
23 April, 06:22
You are loosing most part of russian audience. Bet 1-3% maximum of ‘em are using PayPal – this service is absolutely not common here. If there’d be sms-pay system, you’d keep much more – 3 euro is not a hard submission – hard is a way to do it. Making another credit paypal-compliant card just for paying for last.fm.. sounds reasonable? I don’t think so. I quit, while there is no sms-pay.
By the way – why banners work in US and why they don’t RF? For the few month I’am here – visiting main page, I saw some NBA banner. Maybe NBA is cool in US, but there is petty thing called the “rest world” where NBA is far less cool. The less cool, the less banner-clicks. Imagine.
beatlebum
23 April, 06:22
No offense, but that really Sucks!
good thing now i’m using Spotify to stream music for free..
lomodeedee
23 April, 06:32
I understand that marketing rules, but you broke the essence of social networking and you broke your own roots.
radio is free media, it should be in 21st century.
it’s not about money, it’s about principles…
goodbye last.fm and thank you for good time I spent here,
lomodeedee
p.s. interesting, I wanted to start with paying option two months ago, but when I saw what you decided, I realized that would be wrong, coz i don’t wanna finance CBS and similar corporations.
Leo
23 April, 06:36
Sigh. This is such was fantastic free service, it gave me hope that greedy corporations were starting to be nicer to their customers and embracing the power of the web. Customers first right? huh? It’s going to cripple this site’s user base for sure, there’s evidence of that already. I’m sure last.fm hate being called greedy, I’d like to believe that they aren’t to blame, but I am not convinced. I appreciate the nice little message now, but no advance warning makes the wound sting like rubbing it with a lemon and sprinkling salt on it.
Goodbye
23 April, 06:36
Filed under:
The bean counters seize control over Last.fm, music lovers leave.
Maya
23 April, 06:42
What’s with all these upcoming geographical discriminations on the internet? Just makes me feel even less like paying. I understand you wanting to charge but I’m sorry, I will have to use another service.
tripmedia
23 April, 06:43
Hello, I would like to transfer my subscrition to a friend. Is that possible? How?
mel
23 April, 06:44
So out of control disappointed. Can not believe you came up with an incredibly old school model that disadvantages people outside of those locations and didn’t even email us to let us know!
You guys need to get some internal PR and damage control happening cause you have just pissed a lot of your customer base off.
Say Something too
23 April, 06:58
It’s time to let the record labels die already. Stop buying their crap and subsidizing them by paying for services like this radio. Support the artists directly
Meta
23 April, 07:21
If you think that’s unfair, repeat after me:
RIP La$t.fm
zvukofor
23 April, 07:25
C’mon guys! We sharing our music through your services music — how could you be such a fascist — yes, we are not Britains neither Americans, but what the matter? It is all about only music, what damn money?
zvukofor
23 April, 07:34
BTW, a payment to be a “club member” is not a smart business decision at least in XXI century, you can and will lose significant part of listeners. So, at least — no listeners — no ads — no money.
It is looks like Last.fm with its great idea and realisation was bought by one of that old greed corporations — and it will destroy all the wealth, as usually.
Marnix
23 April, 07:36
To everyone who is talking rude above: Last.FM was free, and was fabulous indeed. Now not all of it is free anymore: don’t cry. Just remember all the good moments. If someone gives you a piece of bread one day, and the next day he does’nt, will you react the same?
To Last.FM headquarters: good luck with the advertising in UK / US and Germany, one day you will find advertisers in my small Dutch country too…
tonyloco
23 April, 07:42
No more scrobblings, i uninstalled it.
miguel
23 April, 07:47
U really suck.
U really suck.
U really suck.
U really suck.
U really suck.
U really suck.
U really suck.
U really suck.
U really suck.
U really suck.
U really suck.
U really suck.
U really suck.
U really suck.
U really suck.
U really suck.
dick
23 April, 07:48
Do you really think that the service will continue to be that good event for those 3 countries if all the people outside stop using it… no it wont. Bye.
arsenale
23 April, 07:57
at the end you’ve done it. it’s just a question of greed and racism: you suck
goodbye lastfm
rodan
23 April, 08:03
outrageous and a very stupid move!!!
RIP last.fm!
time to find new horizons..
Mourning Due
23 April, 08:15
Well, there goes my homepage.
It still blows my mind…the fact that I have purchased roughly 50 albums solely on hearing one track I really liked on Last.fm, and the RIAA and others want to actively make it more difficult for me to sample their product.
Sigh…first Pandora.com, now this…
Canada gets smacked yet again…
Dana
23 April, 08:18
Goodbye lastfm, untill we meet again, which i hope is never.
Good look!!!
23 April, 08:18
Hey guys…
I’ll start looking for some radio options like this one used to be…!!!
So feel free to post here links to other sites.
Many, many people will appreciate!
Goddamn
23 April, 08:20
Ok scumbags, I’ll pay BUT I can’t pay TRHU THAT FUCKING PAYPAL, WHERE’S OTHER PAYMENT SYSTEMS, LIARS ??????????????????????????????
disappointed :(
23 April, 08:24
Have someone said it is not fair? I think so. I do love last.fm but I think this is a bad move and maybe it is the time to start looking for the alternative. Maybe if you put “donate” button somewhere on the profile so people could send you donations instead of this? It would be much fairer and I am pretty sure people would donate.
Good look!!!
23 April, 08:26
Here’s what I found out!
http://www.spotify.com/
Let’s go music lovers!
Ivan Vodka from Russia
23 April, 08:33
Я отказываюсь от дальнейшего пользования данным ресурсом. Ребята, ну вы же блять сами так и вынуждаете меня пиздить музло в торрентах :-D
А на Ласт.фм я буду хуярить отныне лишь только неверные тэги, т.к. считаю что неправильно это, когда ты вкладываешся в это ёбаное радио полтора года, а после этого тебе говорят: иди нахуй или плати. А кто мне заплатит за потраченное время, как сейчас оказывается зря ?
azami from Japan
23 April, 08:35
It is very sorry to this news for Last.fm had been my recent most favorite internet radio.
KAYAMONO
23 April, 08:38
PAY FOR A RADIO,
YOU ARE STUPID OR WHAT?
CORPORATION’S SLAVES
Good look!!!
23 April, 08:41
www.mixturtle.com
go, go guys!
quackstership
23 April, 08:52
Bye bye.
MrsLouder
23 April, 08:57
What a pity, I thought this was an unselfish and generous page, facing our greedy world. I thought you were different but now I see you’re the same rubbish.
So bye.
anonymous
23 April, 08:58
“good news, everyone” © Prof. Hubert J. Farnsworth
First, I heard that Last.fm handed data to the RIAA. Then, I got to know that listening to Last.fm radio is required a subscription of €3.00 per month.
me
23 April, 09:03
fu last.fm
Ginfress
23 April, 09:10
First, I heard that Last.fm handed data to the RIAA
You might want to do some howwork before posting something on the net. 8)
JoeyDean
23 April, 09:11
Since when do we have to pay for listening to radio? Byebye Last.fm….It’s a shame…
naymandij
23 April, 09:20
hey Richard, as Kpt already mentioned above but, on your last post you said “as soon as we’ve completed the upgrades noted above, we’ll move ahead with the transition.” and it was meant that you moved ahead after you made support pay-by-SMS right?
but on your statement today, you just ignored what you said, and moved ahead before comply new payment method, suddenly.
i’m not a native english speaker, don’t understand/write properly in english, but still i feel that today’s statement is ungrateful.
you should mention even a little something like “we can’t completed the upgrades yet but we had to move ahead”, on this kind of very important announcement. especially you said that you do this before move.
i believe that this place was a userbased great social music network. it’s sad to see the founder has “such” a lack of communication.
also, you better write about this biggest change on proper page on main website that more users (and people who consider to join in) can notice about it. not only on blog.
Jeroen Trappers
23 April, 09:25
Hi Richard,
Too bad last.fm is going to start charging for radio, that is freely available elsewhere on the web. think digitally imported, think m1live.com, shoutcast stuff…
I really love Last.fm, and am considering to take out a subscription.
Wouldn’t it be possible to interweave ads between the tracks in places where you need more income from advertisment?
Then users would have the choice to pay for a subscription, or just offer a bit of their time to listen to some short publicity.
Another option would be to offer a cheaper subscription, while still showing/playing advertisement, otherwise you will soon lose the opportunity to geographically expand into those regions, which now become paying. And if it works out well, those accounts could maybe become free in the future.
I guess you could make it work!
Good luck to you guys!!
Hope you can convince publishers that your ad-space/time is worth it, so that the users can enjoy free radio.
kind regards,
Jeroen
ff
23 April, 09:29
3…2…1…last.fm removed…
Bart
23 April, 09:30
Quite too bad. I really liked it, but as others before me have already stated, it’s just incredibly stupid I have to pay while others don’t. I won’t say it’s racism, but it’s just sad to exclude users in countries where running last.fm is not profitable.
I mean, it’s not like you earn too little money, or you would be gone by now. Can’t you do with a little less profit?
I’ll see what I do with an account. I’m probably not going to pay…
mikowhy
23 April, 09:31
good bye – 42k of songs – that all
DumbDumbDUMB
23 April, 09:36
Don’t they get enough money out of selling our data which we provide for free?
So, you ARE SUPPOSED TO PAY US, LAST.Fm, not charge us!
sstoilov
23 April, 09:44
bye! чао! adios! farvel! nashledanou! au revoir!
Mikel
23 April, 09:46
Are we paying the UK and US users radio??
Gap
23 April, 09:48
You should send a notification to all users. Not everyone looks here.
Jeroen Trappers
23 April, 09:48
by the way:
so funny that you can choose the currency :-)
€3.00€ $3.00 £3.00 ???
I guess I’ll go for USD then :-p
It’s actually just worth it!
Last.FM still rules
lopokin
23 April, 09:50
das wars dann wohl…..
woohoo
23 April, 09:57
I can live without Last.fm radio, you’ll get nothing from me (not that I don’t have EUR3 to spend on music…). I never paid for listening to any radio and I do not plan to change this in future.
anonymous
23 April, 10:01
>>First, I heard that Last.fm handed data to the RIAA
>You might want to do some howwork before posting something on the net. 8)
Ginfress, you’re definitely right! but can you explain me what does it mean – ‘howwork’, you slaggy cunt?
ANGRY
23 April, 10:04
R.I.P Last FM
Bye bye, motherfuckers!
Gabriel
23 April, 10:04
Assholes
Your fat mothers ass
23 April, 10:09
Put your damnass 3$ subscription deeply inside your rotten ass, you fuckin’ greedy morons
fips
23 April, 10:13
bye bye last.fm
James Nightshade
23 April, 10:17
Oh man, all you freetards bitching and whining in this thread make me sick. You claim to love music but aren’t willing to spend a measly 3 euros for access to millions of songs, millions. Do you have any idea how much many it costs to set up a service like this? Last.fm have to pay the labels for every song you freetards listen to “for free”, never mind all the other costs they incur like bandwidth, hosting, machines, staff to keep it all running, energy etc. Do you idiots think this is going to pay for itself? YOU are the people who are killing music, not Last.fm. Even so-called “free”, CC-licensed music has streaming and bandwidth costs. So please, stop spewing all this naive vitriol and think about who’s really being a bunch of greedy tightwads for refusing to stump up a few euros a month for an awesome music service..
my last visit here
23 April, 10:18
2 words for you: google-adwords
alian28
23 April, 10:19
I have to pay for listening to the radio? (read last.fm)
In this way I prefer to pay Spotify and choose every track!
Last.fm = Lost.user
Ginfress
23 April, 10:22
>First, I heard that Last.fm handed data to the RIAA
>You might want to do some howwork before posting something on the net. 8)
>Ginfress, you’re definitely right! but can you explain me what does it mean – ‘howwork’, you slaggy cunt?
http://blog.last.fm/2009/02/23/techcrunch-are-full-of-shit
Btw you’re so brave posting anonymous!!!!
Oszkar
23 April, 10:23
I guess this is goodbye then?
ANGRY
23 April, 10:24
Козлы ебанные, подавитесь своими деньгами! Пидарасы!!!!!
Капитализм не пройдет!
Robert
23 April, 10:27
This sucks!
I’m from sweden and now I will not visit your website anymore, just do the scrobbling. I loved the radio. I cannot study to music that I know and your website met my demands. But not any more… sad.
sds
23 April, 10:27
It sucks.
Danielle Gaspar
23 April, 10:28
I live in London and I already pay for Lastfm because I want to….but I have been checking this discussion and I totally, immensely disagree with what you(lastfm) are doing and the way you are doing!
I don`t think I`ll renew my signature and probably I`ll stop to use Lastfm, because most of people that I know there are from the countries which are (unfairly) not included among your absurd list.
As a Brazilian, I know that music and internet are a perfect combination in my country. Are you aware of this? Are you aware of how huge Brazil is? Are you aware how easy is to find another radio as yours? And I`m sure that you`re going to lose the majority of listeners there and in other countries as well, because most of people I know doesn`t pay and this is (was) the strength of Lastfm.
I tried to find some reasonable argument to explain yours attitude, but I couldn`t find it!
Sorry, guys, but what you`re doing and the way you`re doing sound stupid…sound like suicide!
I`m so so sorry!
Your mammas fat ass
23 April, 10:33
> Oh man, all you freetards bitching and whining in this thread make me sick. You claim to love music but aren’t willing to spend a measly 3 euros for access to millions of songs, millions. Do you have any idea how much many it costs to set up a service like this? Last.fm have to pay the labels for every song you freetards listen to “for free”, never mind all the other costs they incur like bandwidth, hosting, machines, staff to keep it all running, energy etc. Do you idiots think this is going to pay for itself? YOU are the people who are killing music, not Last.fm. Even so-called “free”, CC-licensed music has streaming and bandwidth costs. So please, stop spewing all this naive vitriol and think about who’s really being a bunch of greedy tightwads for refusing to stump up a few euros a month for an awesome music service..
O.K. you can pay for me if you care so much about corporate dorkheads. Also you can pay for the regular FM radio, because that’s pretty much the SAME SHIT with the millions of tracks and people working there. They just get all the money from the ads like last.fm did before. Now they want some extras from you pocket.
In my case, “Bite my shiny metal ass”
mj0lnir
23 April, 10:34
I just subscribed!
indifferent
23 April, 10:38
Who t.f. cares?
I’m using shoutcast
anonymous
23 April, 10:46
>>>>First, I heard that Last.fm handed data to the RIAA
>>>You might want to do some howwork before posting something on the net. 8)
>>Ginfress, you’re definitely right! but can you explain me what does it mean – ‘howwork’, you slaggy cunt?
>http://blog.last.fm/2009/02/23/techcrunch-are-full-of-shit
>Btw you’re so brave posting anonymous!!!!
http://pic.ipicture.ru/uploads/090423/swxAF5bNGK.jpg
I hope you’ll get it.
libre.fm
23 April, 10:50
last.fm alternatives: libre.fm
http://libre.fm/
“We’re building a free network service that will let you share and discover new music. Libre.fm is a project to help you keep track of what music you like and share that, with your friends, discover new music, and meet new people who share your taste in music.
* Complete public source code licensed under the GNU AGPL! * You own your own data! * Use our service, or run your own! * Get started and hacking today! “BlackGian
23 April, 10:50
I’m an italian user, I will delete my account soon and I will recommend the same to all my friend on Last.fm! I’ll not pay for a radio.
Goodbye Last.fm
madmaster
23 April, 10:56
This is the only sure step to loosing 50% popularity in just a weekend. As I work in the gambling, I’ve seen online casinos to close within 4 hours – from total success to financial crash… So … guess where you guys are heading!
piger
23 April, 11:00
>YOU are the people who are killing music, not Last.fm.
€3/month for this “radio”
€10 or more if you wish to buy the mp3 version of an album
€20 or more if you wish to buy the REAL album.
€40 or so if you wish to attend a live concert in a decent place
Enough?
lordofanywhere
23 April, 11:01
In the Spanish site, you can still read “gratis” (free) on the same phrase than “radio”
I’d sue them since that’s illegal in Spain, anyone would join me?
And, btw, I’m a subscriber, but I find this totally unfair, and, as soon as I find an alternative, I will leave Last.fm since I already consider it dead.
c-hood
23 April, 11:08
Boycott last.fm
Stop scrobbling
Pedro Silva
23 April, 11:08
Very, very bad.
nonamestolemyna
23 April, 11:10
I GAVE them music by scrobbing?!
And now they are selling MY ALBUMS.
It’s an outrage.
I encourage everyone to NOT ever pay last fm and hopefully it will die out, the last fm team will lose their jobs, become unemployed and starve to death (ok, maybe I’m a bit extreme but you get my point).
El Tomo
23 April, 11:15
I agree with all the other EU customers who feel pissed off with the €3 Monthly charge…..you have just dropped 100’s of millions of listeners off the radar! Whoever is making up the very short sighted Subscription policy should get the boot. Big….big Fuck-up in your Brand building….don’t ever forget…its the impression is in your customers mind…not necessarily in their pocket that will make Last FM successful!! And I don’t read that many ‘positive’ thoughts here!
Fools….
your mommas evil twin ass
23 April, 11:16
>>>>Boycott last.fm
>>>>Stop scrobbling
+9999999999
Eindhar
23 April, 11:27
uhm…maybe they could make a full-year subscription discount…
btw, speaking as a musician, i feel sorry having to pay this fine only to replenish royalties cashes. I think lastFm was a real good way to spread new music and launch new musicians. The cancer of music is everything that prevent it from spreading. I’m financing royalties in many ways, buying cds and dvds, and playing on stage…I can’t see why i should pay them in another new way, subscribing to lastFm.
this is the reason why I had real fun, I am very grateful to this community for the lots of new artist that i discovered, and to new music i listened to, but I’m leaving. I prefer to continue to listen to free music from other streaming radioes. There are many others outside, in the web.
Thanks LasFm, this is goodbye
suninus
23 April, 11:27
rest in pieces, last.fm
account deleted
Denija
23 April, 11:27
Sad, although 3$ is not too much, it still makes me sad, cause I liked last.fm a lot. I guess I will have to start us jango or other alternates. :(
anonymus
23 April, 11:37
By the way, I am a musician too. And we uploaded our new EP on Last.Fm, to let the people listen to it for free. We haven’t got any goddamn money for it.
QUESTION: if you charge everybody – where the FUCK IS MY MONEY?
Marcelo
23 April, 11:37
And I liked Last.fm. Sorry, but 3 euros is so expensive. I think change to Yahoo! Music, there radio is free.
When block Last.fm, I will boycott and stop scrobbling too.
anonymous
23 April, 11:38
I represent all the anonymous musicians, who ever upload their songs and tracks on Last.fm for free listening. And I want to ask you, R.J. WHERE IS OUR MONEY, GODDAMN YOU??!
We did it for free, and now you’re trying to make a money on it!
Damián
23 April, 11:44
Only the artits lose. Now I’ll have to download illegally the songs of my favourite artists who don’t sell their cds where I live.
Thanks CBS for this social music involution.
umara
23 April, 11:49
gash, what a big deal. There is no other place on the internet with music like this. And 3$ per month or 36$ per year for music which is legal to listening it’s ok for me. And I just read some regulations about music in Poland and for me it’s ok.
anonymous
23 April, 11:52
Probably, I should return to listen to FM-radio. At least, they dont ask me to pay them.
Last.fm, go begging elsewhere!
B
23 April, 11:52
This is discrimination!!
Bye bye!
Richsky
23 April, 12:09
Money, Money, Money, nothing but money…
www.jiwa.fr!
o.
23 April, 12:10
It sucks living out of US/UK. I was once in love with Pandora, until they took it away and never return it. Then I discovered last.fm radio, which I couldn’t live without. Last.fm radio was the life at work. Now thanks to this new subscription method, my life was miserable.
For 1 minute. Because over at Yahoo Music, whose beta radio, I’m so glad to find out, is free. They have ads, but the good thing is they only appear after half an hour or less. Not terribly annoying. No similar artists or personalized station, but you gotta appreciate what you can have for free.
Not that I’m cheap, but I don’t have credit card, so I can’t pay for it. Too bad. Thanks for everything though.
Jrim
23 April, 12:11
I don’t have any problem with paying for this service. 3 Euros a month is nothing, and I think Last.fm has turned me on to enough good music in the past to make it worthwhile. All the people complaining about how everything on the internet should be free need to understand that it isn’t free to put a site like this together, let alone to keep it running. The buck has to stop at some point, and people need to figure out a way of monetizing what they’re doing or else they won’t be able to continue doing it. I think Last.fm has been quite clear about where it stands on this-i.e. they can get the ad revenue in some places, not others-which, yes, is a real pisser after getting this service for free for so long, but understandable all the same.
That said, I’ve been trying to access the Subscribe page all day long, and every time it’s told me to have a quick cup of tea and refresh the page. My bladder’s now swelled to the size of Ireland and I still haven’t got past first base. Guess I’ll be looking at Deezer after all, then…
daaaaamn
23 April, 12:15
Some people pay, some people don`t pay.
…And Justice for ALL??
lekjamk
23 April, 12:17
bye, bye last.fm
now open.fm – polish website
Heretic
23 April, 12:20
>YYou claim to love music but aren’t willing to spend blah blah [….] YOU are the people who are killing music, not Last.fm.
>€3/month for this “radio”
€10 or more if you wish to buy the mp3 version of an album
€20 or more if you wish to buy the REAL album.
€40 or so if you wish to attend a live concert in a decent place
Enough?
————————
Exactly, tell us what percentage of this money actually goes to the artists. I’m a musician and happen to know that first hand, bullshit.
The guys who say naive things about racism are supposed to be the hysterical ones, the retarded 4chan photocopies speaking about “freetards” and whiners, arguing that you can’t claim you like music if you don’t shove your hands into your pockets even for radio from now on, those are the “rational” ones. Bite me.
BARTY7
23 April, 12:20
AND ONE MORE…3 dollars are not 3 euros…even there you try to steal money
RandolphCarter
23 April, 12:27
I’m not paying. I’ll keep my account because it’s useful in other ways, but instead of making some pay and some other not, why don’t make EVERYONE pay less? How much could that be, 0,50 per month? Maybe less. That would have been fair, don’t you think?
Jesper
23 April, 12:27
This news is really sad. I’m not so sure if I’ll be paying any time soon – but untill then I’ll be using jamendo.com for Free music, and keep on scrobbling.
Thanks while it lasted guys – and if you ever bring it back for free, I’ll start listening to your radio again :)
becerro
23 April, 12:31
It’s a sad day. What bothers me most is the way you’ve done this. This website is what it is because of its community and you’ve shown no respect for it. Despite of the many complaints you’ve not heared anyone and following a consumed facts politic (I don’t know if this is correct in english) you’ve fooled the people that build this site day by day, I hope this people treat you with the same disregard which you’ve shown to them. I’ll delete my account today four years after joining LastFM, not because you’re charging but because you’ve been unfair to the community which made you what you are. I hope you’ll have a slow and painful death.
Nsuch Ting
23 April, 12:40
Last.fm wont survive as pay service and it is the wrong way to go. I understand the problem with license costs, but:
Last.fm relies heavily on user input to establish tagclouds and links between artists, post concerts, write artist description, everything. The users ARE last.fm and you are making them pay for their own work? Find another idea to finance it, but nobody is gonna put effort into a service when it needs to be payed and last.fm is nothing without the user generated content.
Be creative and don’t go down as a deserted pay service.
I am getting myself a spotify invite somewhere, those guys try to live on commercial…
See you when you change your mind again, last.fm rocked for some time.
morkil
23 April, 12:41
So long, and thanks for all the fish.
WebCM
23 April, 12:42
I am strongly disappointed of your decision. No, I will NOT delete my account. I will download as much free music from your servers as possible.
When I play Creative Commons songs via music player, do the artists receive money from Last.FM or must man listen them via RADIO?
The era of free music is coming on…
LAST.FM CLIENT —-HNO~3~—-> TRASH
SkylineAtNight
23 April, 13:00
< When I play Creative Commons songs via music player, do the artists receive money from Last.FM or must man listen them via RADIO?
As far i know uartists only receive royalties by their music being played on the radio and not by music scrobbling from a player.
kamil
23 April, 13:00
If you made this $1 for user from every country, the reaction would be very different. It seems you’ve forgotten that there are no boundaries in internet. I see some plugs at the bottom of this page, replacing this image with cables unplugged from the wall would be very appropriate.
caio
23 April, 13:02
what a shame. un-freaking-believeble.
Hello?
23 April, 13:07
THESE NEWS MUST BE SEEN ON YOUR MAIN PAGE.
Listener, 3 years whith last.fm
23 April, 13:10
You shit stupid LAST.FM, i give to jango.com for next music and to ever. Why i muss give 3 dollars, because i am not german or stupid american? Kiss me arsh you stupid idiots! FUCK YOU!
Spotify user
23 April, 13:15
Spotify has unlimited on-demand radio, better sound quality, better software player etc. Why would I pay when I get a far more superior internet radio – for free?! Your’re crazy.
J Frank Parnell
23 April, 13:19
You profiteering fops, may you sink into the oblivion of the interweb never to be heard from again.
Yours etc
Ed
23 April, 13:21
Nobody has a right to free music.
Claudio
23 April, 13:24
Bye Bye last.fm!!!
Albertp
23 April, 13:25
One question (just in the case the last.fm staff bothers to read this, because It seems they don’t, since there isn’t any answer of any of them).
Are you, at least, making efforts to add countries to the ‘land of the free, home of the brave’?
Pedro Silva
23 April, 13:26
bad, too bad
le-ventre
23 April, 13:30
ok, last.fm is dead … exept in germany, england and usa ! Very clever !
karrask
23 April, 13:35
i’m not paying for the rich guys. it was good while it lasted, but now it’s over. thank you and bye.
account deleted!
D
23 April, 13:35
and you think someone will pay for this shit? :D
Br1g1tt3
23 April, 13:36
My very LAST.fm
Dear Last
I loved you.
I’ve listened to you for many hours.
You’ve helped me through days of boring work.
I’ve helped you evolving, by adding comments, tags and other content.
Now you want me to pay for our love.
I don’t think that’s fair.
This will be it for me and you then.
I’ll have to go and look for another love.
Michael
23 April, 13:39
It’s interesting to see how much people value the music they are/were listening to. No, actually, it’s really really depressing.
anonymous
23 April, 13:51
>>As far i know uartists only receive royalties by their music being played on the radio and not by music scrobbling from a player.
Well, how can the artist be sure, that his track was played on the radio and wasnt scrobbled from player?
jonziepoo
23 April, 13:52
If I have to pay to listen to music, how come you don’t have to pay for all the listening data I’m providing to you for free? what about all the tagging work? and the wiki contributions? I haven’t seen a penny.
I suggest everyone who is pissed off like me to go to your account settings, clear all their listening and tagging data and then delete their accounts. I did.
Platy
23 April, 13:52
Er… My main disagreement with the whole charade is the lack of warning through email. Y’know, that would’ve been nice. I came here tonight, clicked the “play your library” button, and then clicked out of that window. 18 songs later, I click back and… hang on, what’s this. STOP.
Not happy, folks. :|
Listener, 3 years whith last.fm
23 April, 13:54
I am now at http://www.jango.com/, it is FREE internet radio, no money need :-)
Another Canadian
23 April, 13:55
Fuck you from Canada !
metorfun
23 April, 14:06
Dear, Last.fm!
I’m your listener, and uploaded some of my music as a musician. And
now, after I shared some of my music, actually promoting your
buissiness I must to pay for it? Just because I’m not a British
citizen??? I don’t think it’s a kind of fair play. I should contact my
lawyer if you behave in such a way. It could be subject of my author
rights: I shared with your service with my music, and you want money
from me? Don’t be silly, living in Russia, I could tune to a British
radio station on a conventional radio completly free of charge, so WHY
I MUST pay? Only questions and anger…
I’m waiting for a compensation or at least a right of a free of charge
listening and apologys, otherwise I’m going to ask a right of court.
Jack
23 April, 14:11
Bye Bye
Marcelo
23 April, 14:17
Wow, you’re efficient… My 30 trial tracks goes with wind and an e-mail comes and the player not download the list. Well, my Amarok scrobbling musics, don’t will delete my account, but radio never more. :(
Thanks for years of free radio, good, but don’t values a 3 euros.
ripper
23 April, 14:17
so…
i’ve finish record hours of my library
tnkz 4 the prew. annuncment!
fuNk you lOst.fm
LOST LOST LOST .fm
Eindhar
23 April, 14:19
it’s not about moralistic arguing. there are other free radios on the net, I don’t see why have I to pay to have something that in other places is free. The only difference between LastFm and any other free radio was about all the work that users like me did to tag, share, invite ad rate songs and artists. If I have to pay to do work for someone else, I rather prefer to not doing it.
Furthermore, now that i heard that small artists didn’t even get a single penny out of their listening, I won’t pay to enrich furthermore the royalties…
former member
23 April, 14:28
Lost another member….
A shame that you don’t understand how to build a stable businessmodel and how to inform customers.
Listener, 3 years whith last.fm
23 April, 14:30
Metorfun is right. You reach a lot of people, there is a link here to send your music “and then you pay a squab? What are you in the bum for last.fm? You are a nice bitch! To capitalize on someone else’s work and ignored their copyright? You probably will nicely and I hope that for someone with Last.FM nice ass wipe.
RoB
23 April, 14:31
Fuck you bastards…
Niño Bomba
23 April, 14:33
Sorry last.fm, my listening habits are no longer freely avalaible in your country. But for just 30 dollars a month you can track me all you want. Just let me know when you will start paying.
Berendaki
23 April, 14:34
No warning….very bad this.
Bye bye im listening to the last songs and then..see for something else!
nomas_wanderer
23 April, 14:38
one of the main reasons last.fm had been so popular was the fact that the user had the right to contribute to the site by writing a description, tagging etc. we used to search for a tag and then listen to whatever users all over the world tagged as similar to what we searched in the first place. Your users helped you grow, i introduced you to several friends who joined and are active users ever since. Your behavior is nevertheless unacceptable and gets me into the process of considering leaving the site and yet advising all friends to do so. It’s a pity that you turned to a profit company in such a short notice! the least you could do was warn your users via private messages… not all of us are visiting the blog!
I have been searching since yesterday for a site that depends on its users’ help and not their money.
Had a fun time though and hope you reconsider your pricniples.
NitsFM
23 April, 14:42
Too bad because I really don’t see any reason to pay for music you only listen. There are so many free online radiostations, which are not as easy to listen to your own music like here, but it saves the money. I can only hope you’ll change it back to a free and open environment to enhance creativity and new music. Because I think that is the strenght of Last.fm.
Caro
23 April, 14:42
I second all the comments about lack of notice. First I heard about it was when it cut me off today.
I was fully prepared to pay the 3 euros, now that I see users in the UK, USA and Germany will continue to have the service for free then I’m sorry but no way am I contributing to this.
gwynbleidd
23 April, 14:45
Pity for me, I used to like this site.
Not only you have moved ahead with the chenges, but you’ve made it in a way (no previous announcement) that seems to close to “hideous”.
It’s obviously all about the money, but that’s not to blame: we’re all here to make a living, aren’t we?
The problem here is that… most probably, you’ll make no money out of this anymore… you’ve turned somthing global to a local website. Good for you, then. Guess that’s what low profile people do. Pity this site wasn’t created by someone with higher looks…
Bye, Last.
Toine
23 April, 14:55
Thanks a lot Last.fm! After promoting your web-site to many friends and telling how great it is, you suddenly ask money. Trickey it is and you’ll lose a lot of listeners. Solution: satellite-radio or another internet radio station.
Ex-listener
23 April, 14:57
Byebye last.fm.
I’m really really disappointed in last.fm. I’ll not pay €3,00 a month. I think many others will not pay too. It’s a dumb decision you guys made, you’ll lose many many listeners.
lindztaylor
23 April, 14:58
As someone who doesn’t read the blog here compulsively, I’m annoyed at the lack of communication about this matter, as we were unaware until we say the progress meter. If you had put a notice on the radio earlier I would be less disgruntled about the lack of professionalism and courtesy.
Thanks for the service while it lasted. I’ll be back when it’s free again, showing that you listen to your membership.
zetareticoli
23 April, 14:59
goodbye lastfm, removed from my favourites
a user from italy
x-f
23 April, 15:00
ORLY?
We continue to scrobble, and you get the music trends form us for free not giving us back anything?
NOWAI.
Atrus
23 April, 15:02
Uh, yeah, how about telling people you were turning this on today? I found out I finished the trial while I didn’t even know I had started it.
Ah well, time to find a new free radio then…
I Used To Love LastFM
23 April, 15:03
I do love LastFM. I still do, even if it has disappointed me so badly. What has let me down is the way it’s been told to users that they have to pay. I found it out while I was listening my library: suddenly a notice appeared, telling me that a free trial period (sorry, trial? whaaaat tf?) was over. I was really upset. I was on the point of asking dad how to use Paypal, but then I found out this ‘fantastic’ initiative: everyone has to pay, APART FROM three countries.
Not to be rude, but that really sucks.
I don’t care if I have to pay. I love music, I stil buy CDs, I still go to live concerts (rush of adrenaline, it’s amazing) and I was in love with LastFM’s service. I swear I was: it introduced me to the real world of music. But it’s the way you did this that has let me down.
Next time (I hope you’ll have another chance, but I’m sorry to say that I think you won’t) think twice, three times, four times, one hundred times before taking such a decision. A word instead of another can change everything.
I’m sorry, but I’m leaving. I already deleted my listens and my account. It’s really over now.
Bye LastFM. I loved you.
klauditz
23 April, 15:06
PÚDRANSE
Sergey
23 April, 15:13
Thank you so much for this media-fascist policy.
Pedro Silva
23 April, 15:14
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
Charles d'Albret
23 April, 15:19
Obviously France must be a third world country since we’re not included in the list of priviledged countries, now we have to pay 3.00 euros just to listen our playlist… Great, Thanks alot and thanks for warning us, I see that Last FM sole motive of its existance is purely motivated by money, money, money…. good on you, i’m sure we will be 100’s or 1000’s to leave the site thanks to this money orientated will… You’re just like the others money grabbers, you want the milk, the butter + the waitress now !…. it’s a shame, we’ll just have to look for another site and stop recommending yours as I’m sure you’ll not review this new condition you impose… as usual, money interests rules, well has it occured to you that allowing people to find and listen to tracks they’ve forgotten, that they are also likely to buy these albums…. well, no point to say all this, when money is the sole argument, nothing else matter…
bombadil25
23 April, 15:19
Be proxy, my friends…
Digitel
23 April, 15:30
good bye la$t fm
user from bahrain
account deleted
Mitch
23 April, 15:35
Hey last.fm, It would be really cool to get full streamable songs on last.fm, so in place of 30 seconds you will be able to hear the full song :) That would be a big improvement
Jim
23 April, 15:38
Should have made it $1 a month for everyone, with a notice 2 months beforehand on the mainpage. Discriminating on geographic base on the internet is the most ridiculous thing ever.
R
23 April, 15:39
Warning would have been nice. I didn’t know I had a 30-track trial until it told me my trial had expired. Then you sent me an email saying it’s only €3 and isn’t that cheap? To which I’d like to point out, ummmm no. There’s this thing called the exchange-rate, oh, and the global economic crisis. Being an unemployed student doesn’t help, either.
I can understand that Last.fm may have a need to charge people for its service to keep surviving. I can respect that – or rather, I could have, had I been not discriminated against for my geographical location and been given adequate warning. (An acknowledgment that not everyone can actually afford a subscription would have been appreciated, but I realise that may be asking too much from you.) As it is, hurt and indignation are making it difficult for me to view the matter rationally.
Eoin O'Riordan
23 April, 15:40
I’d be happy to pay for the service. Really.
I would.
But I would expect to get the same level of service that everyone else who pays gets.
If you buy a book from Amazon you’d expect the same content wherever you bought it, prices might vary but it’d be the same thing! why is it different here.
In other words, if you become a paid subscriber, why does someone in the rest of the world not get the unlimited plays of full tracks that the people of the Magical 3 DE/UK/US get? (and actually an even worse service to what people can get for free in those countries)
http://blog.last.fm/2008/01/23/free-the-music
“Full-length tracks are now available in the US, UK, and Germany, and we’re hard at work broadening our coverage into other countries. During this initial public beta period, each track can be played up to 3 times for free before a notice appears telling you about our upcoming subscription service. The soon-to-be announced subscription service will give you unlimited plays and some other useful things. We’re also working on bringing full-length tracks to the desktop client and beyond.”
It looks like I’ll keep my account open for a few days while I see how this plays out and then consider my options but the fact that the spirit of Last.fm has been subsumed by the corporate entity of “CBS Interactive” means that I’ll probably be joining the fleeing masses!
Thanks for the good tunes but the social/ community/ fun element of Last.fm has gone so it’s time for me to make tracks elsewhere!
Phil
23 April, 15:49
Bye bye, it was fun while it lasted.
One day a horrible disease will lay waste to all the lawyers, and there will be much rejoicing, and free radio stations in countries with less than 60 million inhabitants.
ESB
23 April, 15:58
This is discrimination!!!
Oszkar
23 April, 16:00
I know last.fm is the best, but I think I’ll still switch to the free similar services.
Blastyle
23 April, 16:00
I stopped scrobbling today, sorry about that but I see no point in supporting you anymore. It was nice to be a part of this community but now it’s gone for me.
Bob
23 April, 16:02
http://www.lastfm.de/group/we+will+leave+lastfm+June1st+if+changes+wont+be+cancelled
Non-American HUMAN being
23 April, 16:05
Where can we see how many accounts are being deleted?
cbs bo$$
23 April, 16:07
so, the gals from CBS (Corporate Bullshit from the States) want more money for their so expensive corporate bitches and airplanes and so on… back to free internet radio and free bulshit stations!
my Last comment!
LeonB
23 April, 16:12
Not worth it for me. Wish you could’ve found a way to keep it going with ads instead.
TristisAnima
23 April, 16:21
Bue Bue lastfm
a Romanian music fan
23 April, 16:29
Hello, Last.fm, you’re a great team and you did a terrific job, but can you please add a pay-by-SMS system for those of us who don’t have Paypal or credit cards?
Also, wouldn’t it make more sense to charge the people FROM WITHIN the U.S. + UK + Germany, since they are wealthier and they could support the system for the poorer people in other countries?
Talvi
23 April, 16:32
Why? :/ Are listeners in UK, USA and Germany better than us? :/
keeko
23 April, 16:32
Lastfm Staff.. You made big mistake. This is pure shit. Now people delete accounts, and move to other sites. How you can be so stupid, that u not even told about the radio-change earlier?
bye bye
Carol
23 April, 16:42
for you its just €3.00
for me its R$8.7
just not fair
Ed
23 April, 16:52
“We uploaded our new EP on Last.Fm, to let the people listen to it for free. We haven’t got any goddamn money for it. QUESTION: if you charge everybody – where the FUCK IS MY MONEY?”
Try reading the terms you agreed to, anonymous, instead of bitching about it anonymously. Better yet, post a link to your music. Then you won’t be so anonymous!
Mrissa
23 April, 16:52
I won’t pay, this is ridiculous.
Bionic Buddha
23 April, 17:03
Last.FM is a great service, and it’s worth €3 a month. Whether I want to spend CAD$4.85 /mo (CAD$58 /year), I’ll have to think about that.
Thanks for many months of enjoyable listening so far.
-Bionic
blaka_neko
23 April, 17:03
Apart from the lack of warning and alternative ways of payment and apart from the user contributions building this site, the prime reason this sucks imho is, like was said before, this is a radio service…
If subscribing gave you the option to listen to specific songs, albums or at least radio stations of one artist I might consider subscribing. Most songs in my personal radiostation by now are songs I owne on CD or on my PC anyway. I can just put my I-pod on shuffle for the same effect…
The one thing I really enjoyed of the radio was that you could sample the taste of your friends, and to get to know new artists, especially those outside the mainstream, and this made you buy their work or attend their shows, so in a way it works as an advertisement, and I don’t really feel like paying for commercials… I dont pay extra for watching mtv either.
3 euro isnt that much (Netherlands aren´t a third world country), but the payment is a bitch.
Guess I will go back to illegal downloading to try out new bands…
On a side note, come on people, being pissed is one thing, but the vindictive tone of so many of you, its not like they´ll pierce your eardrums and forbid you to listen to music for ever… the fuck…
bildungsroman
23 April, 17:05
the radio service should be either completely free (which understandably is not sustainable) or a paid service for EVERYONE, not just for some. the fee should be equal as well, as apparently last.fm does not think its users are intelligent enough to realize that $3 < €3.
until that happens, just change your IPs, people – don’t let last.fm profit from this inane policy of discrimination:
http://www.smarthide.com/
for mac users:
http://www.topshareware.com/free-anonymous-proxy-os-x/downloads/1.htm
you’re welcome.
red_cabeleira
23 April, 17:07
It’s going against the tide…
Sooner or later another interesting but FREE radio community will come up to scene and take last.fm place… It’s a pity. This is Internet… if the basic is not free? Why should I care? Bye, bye last.fm. It has been a great pleasure. See you in your R.I.P.
Remember Napster?! That’s the idea… :)
k
23 April, 17:12
Firstly, Thanks very much for the ‘free trial’. Euh. Last.fm has always been free and it should remain free.
Secondly, favouring 3 countries is racist. Either you make everyone pay or no one at all.
You are definitely not getting my subscription. What a shame, I just recommended it to my friends a few days ago.
Goodbye Last.fm
Gerald M.
23 April, 17:14
Everyone outside the three countries: Just use a proxy service. Screw Last. I am sending links to everyone I know, and will make a page which will hopefully climb up the Google rankings which will explain how to get around subscription. Everyone do your part to subvert this crap new system – it’s deplorable the way Last has treated their core users and the artists who have in many cases donated their music and made the site what it is today.
So where are the promised improvements? What does Last.fm offer in terms of streaming service that is unique? The answer is nothing. Scrobbling is great; it was a wonderful innovation…but Jango also has a system based on listener input, and you can stream all their songs for free. I could name a bunch of services from which you are now indistinguishable. At least with other streaming services you get to download songs, stream whole albums, and do a bunch of other stuff that Last can’t. The problem isn’t an inability to support your service with ads, it’s that you are no longer innovating, your relationship with the artists who have made your site what it is has been ignored, your tech support is laughable, your site is incredibly buggy and issues are not promptly fixed or even acknowledged despite widespread reports, basic functions of the site are disabled for long periods of time…I could go on, but you’ve proven you’re tone-deaf to any kind of logic or input from your current users/artists/subscribers. Some people are even willing to pay and you are alienating them! Shit, there was a bug that was not fixed for weeks which didn’t let us pay (for artist things like powerplays) even when we WANTED to give you money! You’re sad. Thanks, CBS, we all know it was your plan to destroy this site once it was acquired. Luckily, you can’t destroy an idea, and although the word ‘scrobbling’ can be patented, the idea can pop up on other free sites which will surely attract the users you are currently repelling…the new sites will just have to come up with some new vocabulary terms…no big deal.
F off, Last!
Love,
Your former fans, users, listeners, artists, subscribers…
sootsprite
23 April, 17:15
I would much prefer that I could listen to the radio for free, purchase songs I like directly through Last.fm and have you guys make a cut that way. I hate ongoing service charges and I refuse to install iTunes so that I can purchase through crApple.
Now I don’t like either end of the pay for music online models.
You guys used to be my favourite. :(
WebCM
23 April, 17:15
Last.FM supports The Pirate Bay. The founders are in trouble so piracy must increase a lot of times and quickly. 23rd April is the day when Last.FM commercialised itself.
Self-sufficient
23 April, 17:24
What a bunch of babies you all are, crying out “discrimination!” and “racism!” without trying to understand WHY Last.fm had to make this decision. Do you really think they wanted to?
hiro1337
23 April, 17:35
I feel like I’m being betrayed by a very good friend that I have come to love and cherish over the last 2 years. Well I guess shit happens eh. Good buy ol’ buddy, it was nice to know you while it lasted. I am not paying to continue our friendship for it will no longer be a friendship if it has a price tag. I’ll move on and look for a new friend. One who will hopefully never betray me.
Pet
23 April, 17:42
Well, those of you who are threatening to quit – come on, you don’t get it. It’s not YOU who are dumping last.fm, but last.fm is dumping you!
Customer is always right, but no revenue = not a customer, never been a customer. Those of you who do not want to ever be real customers (i.e. paying) of anything, those of you who are offended by the very thought of having to pay – good luck, but really, nobody ever wanted you anyway on their site.
Joanna
23 April, 17:54
What about if you use VPN through a UK site? Should we waste some more internet bandwidth that way? Actually, I’m living in Austria, are you sure your German staff aren’t actually generating revenue from Austrians too? (& the Swiss?)
abagiatikos
23 April, 17:54
This kind of hypocrisy is not just disturbing…it’s actually extremely alarming, since this is not the first time that the users who supported a cause, an idea or a medium, are screwed over. We have seen it happening before: the owners claim in every possible way that the site will remain free and open to everyone so that they attract as many as possible and become stronger by enriching the content…then, sooner or later, when the site/communityprogram feels strong enough, everything turns upside down. Now that the people actually need Last.fm (or so they think), is the right time to welcome the money.
It’s not the subscription amount that bothers…after all, 3€ is really not that much and I personally can think of many other far less rewarding ways I spend this amount of money over a month.It’s the feel that they disrespect you entirely and make you feel like a fool, since they Last.fm benefited the most out of all those users that decided to leave out of the game just like that. I’m feeling as cheated, as if the Wikipedia decided to do the exact same thing, delivering less content (content that I built with my contribution) to users outside the ones you chose or any other country whatsoever. And even Wikipedia with far larger costs to maintain, stays under the “donation” principal. We the users, through scrobbling and other such activities, we made Last.fm what it is…or what actually was till yesterday. We, the users, will abandon the sinking ship, punishing those who lied and cheated us.
You think that you can do without the non-US, UK, German users? Think again!
Take care Last.fm. No more scrobbling from my part.Which means less usable information to your part, in order to sell. Multiply this action (or more drastic ones as well) by thousands and you get the whole picture. It seems that such foolish attempts of other sites in the past, didn’t help you to come to your senses. Alea jacta est…
madmaster
23 April, 17:57
@Self-sufficient – they probably not, but their bosses surely wanted to. And they did not do anything about it ;)
Account deleted
Daina
23 April, 17:58
HI EVERYONE, THERE IS A SIMILAR SERVICE CALLED FINETUNE http://finetune.com/
I’M MOVING THERE! I JUST LIKE TO HERE RANDOM MUSIC ANYWAY. SO THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE…HOPE THIS GIVES YOU SOMETHING ELSE TO LISTEN TO!
stachuj
23 April, 18:02
it is called APARTHEID!!! did you know that nazis also said some people are better and some are worse? why is the rest of the world so much worse, that they have to pay?
Alex
23 April, 18:05
Bye bye money bags! I will never use lastfm anymore. Bookmark deleted. Hope u happy now.
Bepus
23 April, 18:06
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
$$$$$___$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$___$$$$$
$$$$_____$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$_____$$$$
$$$$_____$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$_____$$$$
$$$$_____$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$_____$$$$
$$$$_____$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$_____$$$$
$$$$_____$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$_____$$$$
$$$$_____$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$_____$$$$
$$$$_____$$____$$$____$$_____$$$$
$$$$_____$______$______$_____$$$$
$$$$_____$______$______$_____$$$$
$$$$_____$______$______$_____$$$$
$$$$_____$______$______$_____$$$$
$$$$_________________________$$$$
$$$$_________________________$$$$
$$$$_________________________$$$$
$$$$_________________________$$$$
$$$$__________________________$$$
$$$$__________________________$$$
$$$$__________________________$$$
$$$$__________________________$$$
$$$$__________________________$$$
$$$$_________________________$$$$
$$$$$_______________________$$$$$
$$$$$$_____________________$$$$$$
$$$$$$$___________________$$$$$$$
$$$$$$$_________________$$$$$$$$$
Jenn
23 April, 18:11
I am really disappointed in this decision. It would have been nice to know about this (example… banner or note on your home page to tell listeners of these changes). I really enjoyed last.fm but I guess I will just have to look for something else. If your going to make it free for some countries why not make it free for everyone! I am in Canada for godsake you can’t tell me we are that different from the USA.
Daina
23 April, 18:16
ok so finetune kinda sucks…if i pay for this will i at least be able to listen to my favourites finally!!!???
sati
23 April, 18:21
already erased my tagging history and I encourage u all to do the same.
Unfair
23 April, 18:23
€3.00 per month is a lot when you consider I only stream a very few songs every once in a while. If I listened to last.fm all day every day, It’d be a good deal, bur I’d like to have other payment options, like X USD per song streamed or something like that. Until then, I’ll look for my streams somewhere else.
a
23 April, 18:23
Goodbye last.fm
O Brasil deseja a vocês um 8====D
Charles d'Albret
23 April, 18:27
Wrong ! your site was successfull because it was free to listen pieces of music, just like any radio worldwide, you’re just using the pretext to be on the net to say that you’re different but it’s wron,g you’re not different from any radio, we were just able to create a list of preferred tracks and your adds were permanently displayed, now radio don’t do that (they can’t)+ indirectly, people that find a track, want to find the CD and there, we do pay, so this arrogant condescendant comment of yours Mr Pet, is just a typical argument of someone that has no other argument and in fact, you’re insulting, some may have done so here but I haven’t…. just think, people reading your comment will be extremely interested….you’ve just admitted that they’re just good for their cash and are not if they don’t…. great stuff, keep talking like this, I’m sure many like me will be really delighted to read how nasty your comments are and what place users hold in this site…
Dizzie
23 April, 18:29
GREEDY people, 1 2 3 Uninstalled, and I will always WARN people of Last-FM, instead of before 22th of April,recommend it like I used to,to every ppl. Long live SPOTIFY. This was the most PR-negative move I´ve ever heard about, ever. Incredibly stupid choice.
Silviu Dancea
23 April, 18:36
bye bye last-fm, there go all your fans, hope you file for bankruptcy soon!
Spyros
23 April, 18:40
It is good to see the power of people changing things. We do not think irrational. Last.fm gave us joy and all of us gave them the power.
I don’t care about the 3 euros but I would like to see more management moves before the easy way of charging their users.
I could be in their side but I demand respect, I would like to treat me like as a human being not as a dollar.
CSPhD
23 April, 18:41
Strangely enough, other businesses, like Spotify, have worked out a way to set up profitable advertising in countries other than the ones you cite.
So, looks like old-school broadcasting companies still have no idea what teh intertubes are all about. I’ll go for some popcorn and watch the show, we’re in for a good one!
toots
23 April, 18:42
People use word they do not understand. “Racism” has to do with “race”, not nationality. Discrimination is however more correct I believe.
I am sadened to see this happen. I truly believe this was not exactly what the lastfm creator wanted to do at first place.
Ironically, I had a volontary subscription at the very beginning of the history of lastfm. However, I do not feel like I will pay anymore, this is just too discriminative for me to pay because I am of the wrong nationality.
This announce will probably mean that last.fm will stop being a popular service, and this is really sad. In the mean time also deezer is being challenged and pressurized to remove most of its songs.
If in any way this decision has something to do with pressions from the major labels and music companies, then you really ought to communicate on this.
Kindly..
Heidi
23 April, 18:43
I used last.fm to discover new music, well, that’s over. I’m gonna set iTunes on shuffle and save myself some money.
Non-American HUMAN being
23 April, 19:01
Sad. Yet another site turns gay.
name
23 April, 19:01
Just when I was promoting last.fm to all my friends. Think I will do the opposite right now.
trpb
23 April, 19:01
bye bye last.fm bad times for this decision.
Silviu Dancea
23 April, 19:21
blip.fm is the new shit…check it out!!!
GTFO
23 April, 19:23
Farewell last.fm! Paying for radio is one of the most ridiculous idea I’ve heard in a while!…
If you can’t survive with ads only where other can, you are clearly doing something wrong!…
WebCM
23 April, 19:30
Open.FM is a good alternative for Last.FM :)
I’m going to uninstall original Last.FM client. I am looking only for extension to WMP11 which shows current played track on my profile. Old version of WMP plugin does NOT do it. If you want me to keep my account on Last.FM, point me the proper extension!!!
Third-party WMP11 plugin would be good too!
vanessa
23 April, 19:30
last.fm sent an e-mail announcing this to users about a month ago.
raph
23 April, 19:31
Noooooooooooooooooo!!! fees are every social network’s death! loved your platform and radio! It’s so sad, you fools! hope there’s soon a competitor in the market which will bring back free customized radio!
Gaganpreet
23 April, 19:31
Et tu, last.fm?
Well, it was fun while it lasted. RIP!
regip
23 April, 19:34
> Exactly, tell us what percentage of this money actually goes to the artists. I’m a musician and happen to know that first hand, bullshit.
Who cares? You are the artist, I’m the listener. It’s up to you to find OTHER WAYS to distribute and promote your work.
One More Canadian
23 April, 19:35
Last.fm had it’s prime back 3 or 4 years ago. You’ve changed, man. And frankly, one more change and it’s done.
And you’re gonna charge Canada when we’re right NEXT to the states? Ya okay, whatever.
Conversation, over.
IbnDubai
23 April, 19:37
Like many other I agree that some forewarning would have been nice. If they had the ability to send us a message the day of that we need to subscribe at 3Euro’s a month they could have offered some sort of a count down. I had heard about Last.fm planning to introduce a revenue based model, but was expecting some sort of a warning. Now I can’t even use my Last.fm add-on for itunes. Don’t know why.
SeriousSpoon
23 April, 19:38
@MissLynx and James Nightshade:
Amen.
Helge Krabye
23 April, 19:57
This change is just logical and fair. Last.fm is taking their business seriously and wants to pay royalties to the artists Performing Artist Societies. My respect for you has grown! Those who damn you (see above) are used to get everything for free. Good music has never been free.
cesare
23 April, 20:23
Bye bye LastFm !!!ACCOUNT DELETED!!!!!
no more scrobbling 4 yours!!!
God bye iPhone APP
Welcome , Spotify or Groovershark!!! really Free!!!!
I'm from USA, btw
23 April, 20:24
No one can hurt you more than the one you loved. Change is imminent. The only sure thing is death and taxes. It’s better to have loved and lost than not to have loved at all.
MormegilGr
23 April, 20:25
I am sorry but I can not accept this discrimination. If you cannot provide free service for all, then ask everyone to pay.
3€/month is not much to ask, but the way you ask it is offensive.
I have enjoyed the service, but I am signing off now.
A.S.
23 April, 20:35
you are racists and greedy pigs.
I watched Muppet Babies on CBS
23 April, 20:40
I am from the USA, but as an artist, I look to reach out to other countries, mainly the ones that are now being charged….MySpace music sucks for finding new artists that you never heard of….anybody know any good alternatives to reaching out to the whole EARTH, not just US, UK and Germany w/my music?
anna
23 April, 20:51
What a shame. Sorry – gotta uninstall! Good luck though….
Damian
23 April, 20:53
It is my fault for using a product that is against the principles of free software. Luckily I found http://libre.fm/
Thanks for the services provided and good bye last fm.
yaiez
23 April, 20:53
i wasn’t listening to anything on my own pc, used only the lastfm radio – now i have shit left. PayPal really sux in Poland, anyway the price is too high so i wouldn’t pay anyway – last.fm was popular because it was totally free, now it is slowly beckoming totally shit. Look at number of people who deleted their accounts when this change appeared… do you really think it’s such a good idea? Popularity loss will be enormous. I wouldn’t complain so much if all countries had to pay the fee – I understand that you don’t HAVE to put the payment in UK, Germany and US but you really SHOULD, just to keep your service equal for every user, all arround the world.
Toine
23 April, 21:06
I’m managing the band AEMEN, they are independent but really good! It was a good chance for musicians like them, but finally……….MONEY RULES!!!!!!!!!!
Toine
23 April, 21:09
And more!!!! Why only US, U.K. and Germany!!!!!
Because…..they have better taste or more money!!!
DISCRIMINATION!!!!
eon
23 April, 21:11
bye
DisenchantedOne
23 April, 21:20
Wonderful! Dig your own grave, guys!!!
Maybe i’m wrong, but i guessed that last.fm was a social network!
Just one last question to everybody.
On this path we’ll have to pay even to listen the radio broadcastings???
Goodbye, have you a long life… (i don’t think so) …
nobody
23 April, 21:22
I guess I’m nothing to you now, since I’m not british, german or american. Alright then :(
Fuck?
Agzas
23 April, 21:33
So, I’ve been on last.fm for 3.5 years and now I’m searching for alternative. I heard some rumors some days before that this service will be paid soon and I even considered paying as I loved it, when I listened to it. But 3$ is too much for listening 2 days a week, as well as now, when so many users has deleted their accounts, I won’t get any tags from them, so maybe it’s time to start creating tag cloud in other free radio site.
But I won’t delete my profile. I really hope, that this still can change back to ol’ good free last.fm
Actually I agree that you should pay for the good things, but it’s more similar to buying albums – I do this not because someone makes me to buy them.
And also, this is internet age, last.fm is service, where community is strongly involved. If you loose your community, you loose yourself. Sad, but fact. Modern PR people knows this.
HERNAN CZARNIECKI
23 April, 21:45
LAST FM IS DEAD !!!
low-level citzen
23 April, 21:55
Last fm was a really great thing but … I’m not gonna pay for it.
I’ll wait. Maybe it’ll be set free some day. I’m not citizen of one of these great, hi-level culture nations.
Maybe there are some free projects like last.fm ?
Aris K
23 April, 21:56
I really enjoyed Last.fm and I became a subscriber the very first week I started using it. However; I think the way you handled this decision is a textbook example of what NOT do if you don’t want to ruin your business- really bad pr move. I don’t think I’ll be renewing my subscription.
disgruntled
23 April, 22:05
I thought that our relationship was based on love.
You bring me tears. If you want to separate like this, then I want everything that I gave to you back. Namely what songs I like together that has helped you to build your database and service.
It sucks, and I am angry over this decision.
graystig
23 April, 22:10
I feel $3 a month is a reasonable price for what you are getting. And I still got recommendations.That’s $36 a year, not too shabby
Apodictik
23 April, 22:11
Et un en français :
Après PANDORA, Last.FM bride ses auditeurs.
Vous vous tirez une balle dans le pied. Payer ? Alors que la musique gratuite est à deux clics de souris ? Vous rêvez !
Résultat : en lieu et place de me pousser à acheter ce que je découvrais sur Last.FM j’irai, comme tant d’autres, chercher au hasard dans le Méga self-service du P2P.
Sans regrets…
Bien heureux les simples d’esprit …et les anglais, américains & allemands.
L‘été arrive et moi je garde mes 3$ pour m’acheter des glaces.
Salut !
ivangta
23 April, 22:11
Last.fm was an application almost indispensable for me… only almost, long life to Spotity!
Skeptik
23 April, 22:13
Web 2.0 goes down, lol.
Ursw398
23 April, 22:19
Booooo!
eh?
23 April, 22:27
Another profile deleted. I was subscriber before, but I think people should be equal regardless where they live. I’ll rather pay that 3 euros on CDs or books rather than a subscription I only use 3-4 times a week.
Slizka
23 April, 22:30
you must be KIDDING?!!!!!!! paying for how you are treating ur users?
NO WAY!!!
account deleted BYE BYE last.fm
Mike-Modano-9
23 April, 22:32
Last.fm is dead now!! With your decision you fucked up this great site and comunity!! Thx a lot!!
Account deleted.
Mericlis
23 April, 22:35
LastFm is dead to me
bart
23 April, 22:38
And now change the name also: from last.fm to has-been.fm
barsanuphe
23 April, 22:47
hello, libre.fm.
Joao Diniz
23 April, 22:57
Wouldn’t it be possible that artists that provide songs to LastFm, leaving their material for free download have a different treatment in this new payed system? Somehow those artists are helping to make the radio, atracting fans and new users…
corpse789
23 April, 23:02
WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i cant listen to lasfm anymore
just cause i dont live in one of the three countries
u suck lastfm
Engin
23 April, 23:05
Your end will be like “Napster” lol
Not too much money but if you need money for the bills and for life then you could want it from us like “Wikipedia” did. They had 6 million $ in a little time.
You suck,btw your recent design really bad and not handy.
Engin2
23 April, 23:06
HELLO DEEZER!
iossif
23 April, 23:09
someone told me about this but i thoght it was not true. you suck like everyone else you money mongerers
kostas
23 April, 23:31
A friend called me today to inform me that his last.fm trial is out and he was asking me to pay for him.
If you think that this is the proper way to inform your users that the service that we enjoyed for so many years is now subscription only then you suck!
Since 2007 i’ve subscribed for some months just because i wanted give something back for the music i discovered through your radio. Besides that I introduced the service at least to 10 friends of mine and they did the same to their friends.
I think that all these were worthy of a lousy (and free of charge) e-mail explaining the situation. And i am sure you know that most of your users dont even know you have a blog!
cuek21
23 April, 23:44
Wow this is pretty messed up. I have been listening to lastfm since 2005. It was because of you guys that I really got into indie bands and found some great music. But I’ll be moving on now and trying to find another upstart company, that was just like yours a few years ago, and get my daily tune fix there.
I’m so disappointed, I hope all goes well for the brand but I think you are going to get alot of users dropping off at this point.
JZ
23 April, 23:45
You’ve lost me. This is the beggining of your end. From being the nicest radio system out there you ended up being the worst.
toots
23 April, 23:54
The point made by Engine is plainly true, I would certainly have given money like for wikipedia if this was done the same way.
Unfortunately, this does not seem to be compatible with the current private company model underlying lastfm service.
That is unfortunate since I now believe wikipedia’s way of collecting money is probably the most efficient model for the web 2.0
cuek21
24 April, 00:33
Those of you who are saying that we shouldn’t be complaining because we like everything for free. I think you need to read the announcement again. People who live in the US, Germany, and UK are STILL getting LastFM for FREE! So why should people in the rest of the world pay to maintain LastFM, when people in those countries just have to listen to ads? I don’t mind listening to ads at all, and if I did have an issue with it, I would have no problem subscribing for an ad-free version of Last. If this change was made for everyone I wouldn’t have a problem.
This is the point of unfairness that people are complaining about. Not because we only want to get music for free. Last is basically saying a big F YOU, the the rest of the world by doing this.
Aevskir
24 April, 00:51
Personally, I don’t care about this non-free radio (since I rarely use it). But I can’t deny that 3€/month is quite expensive, considering that I live in Portugal.
The thing that disappoints me is this selection of countries that you’ve made. But this point have been discussed here by so many users, so I won’t repeat things that you’ve read hundreds of times.
Instead of that, I’ll give my support for some ideas that were suggested here:
- Payment through SMS would be great for many users (specially for the young users).
- Wikipedia system instead of this non-free radio system (I would be honoured to help you by this way). Payment through PayPal and SMS, at least.
Gert
24 April, 00:58
DILLEMMA, as an small artist and a user:
since this was to be a LITTLE “income on the side” for me – and other full-time working musicians; it is music that pays my bills!
(mostly touring and work in studio sessions.
you can’t get rich in here, as an small artist, – it is simply not very likely or easily done anyway)!
And to totally boycott or leave now,(that IS an option and a last resort)
IS very hard; to give up all the work and hours
(both for artists as well as users) putted in here
(and not to forget) it is thousands of small artists
and their efforts to reach listeners through their labor – especially outside their own countries.
Plus all the friendships, people connected here..
(which is just as much the reason for myself being a user) – it would be very sad for all to loose some of them:
BECAUSE THEY CAN’T AFFORD TO PAY THE 3£ A MONTH FOR ALL FEE!.
There should at least be DISCOUNTS for 3RD WORLD COUNTRIES – or some kind of alternatives (like adds,sponsors etc.) to meet the needs for – THE ECONOMICALLY CHALLENGED! Not all have that kind of money!!!
And I just can’t understand how they (last.fm/CBS) – TOTALLY IGNORED THE PROTEST DEMANDS – FROM THOUSANDS OF USER COMPLAINTS!
other than unimportant or not very sufficient solutions to the matter – like: you can now pay for others subscriptions – which always has been possible anyway!
…BUT WHO WILL/CAN PAY FOR THE REST THEN, i just ask?…
a VERY DISAPOINTED user and SMALL artist! – no change?- no chance!
shocked
24 April, 01:06
The lack of any reply from Richard Jones to these hundreds of comments is yet further example of the shocking lack of communication.
I’ve been using last.fm for years, and the first I knew of the subscription or trial period was an email in my inbox telling me that my trial period had ended. Good form – not.
Richard, I challenge you to come on here and speak up for yourself – reply to the hundreds (possibly thousands) of users who you’re shitting on to pander to the corporate CBS assholes.
If you believe that this new subscription model is the way forward for Last.fm, you would surely come here and put your case? Wouldn’t you want to defend your position and maybe explain your decision in a way that would help all the above users understand why they’re now just a bunch of $$$s to you?
You’ve had close to 500 comments to your announcement – so, it would be polite of you to respond . . .
eD
24 April, 01:33
You disappoint me, and i guess, a lot of people too. See you in hell.
I used to love last.fm, but now i realize that money makes people the worst of them.
Y van a perder a muuuuchos más… tantos que van a terminar siendo nada.
thereyougothen
24 April, 01:55
Hello?! Why am I seeing an ad for Hellmann’s effing mayonnaise in my sidebar, in Spanish, here in Chile, if it’s not an ad supported service outside of the UK, US and Germany?
We moved to Chile 6 months ago, from the UK, and last.fm has been my lifeline in the wasteland that is crap 80’s music on the radio here. Now, after being a member for a couple of years, I have to pay? You know, if you’d made it voluntary, I would have paid – I pay for my LJ account, my flickr account, because they’re important to me. last.fm is important to me too, but you know, add the compulsory payment to the fact that there’s a fucking ad in my sidebar, and I really just don’t want to give you my money right now.
Silvia
24 April, 02:08
Ok, since the inevitable has happened, you should now really take seriously the following suggestions before you loose subscribers too:
-Get other payment methods. PayPal sucks bigtime! And not all countries (or users) have access to SMS (Do it as it was before, via HSBC, that worked swell!)
-Improve the service! Improve the shuffling! I have more than 1,300 artists in my library and get to hear the same 30 old songs over and over… or the same one song from one artist when that artist has 15 or 20 different songs in last.fm.
-Don’t substitute album versions for live versions: they are not the same (and not necessarily good either!)
Good luck.
Shemkiel
24 April, 02:13
lets see the world BURNIN !!! Liberty, Equality, Fraternity !!!
Julien
24 April, 02:51
There are good buisness decisions and bad business decisions. The future will show that this one was the worst LastFM could take…
Farewell from third world country CANADA.
Andresgma@hotmail.com
24 April, 03:10
BYE LAST FM !!!
It is really sad how good ideas and people always change when money becomes more important.
The big problem is why client will have to pay for the services we got for free untill now and why peoples from this 3 countries – USA / UK & GERMANY – will not pay. IRONIC , because these 3 countries are between the G7 economies.
I´m sure soon any other will use the same idea and will give us a free and more high standard quality of service.
HOPE YOU RECONSIDER THIS IDEA IF NOT , GO TO THE INTERNET HELL
Andresgma
brett
24 April, 03:20
BUT EVERYTHING ON THE INTERNET IS SUPPOSED TO BE FREE!
RIGHT?
anonymous
24 April, 03:47
goodbye last.fm, greedy people get no love
idafia
24 April, 03:48
Thanks for the moments we shared, I really enjoyed them! But I’m not gonna support this. account deleted
Canada
24 April, 04:04
It has been a good couple years with last.fm, but am now leaving on principal. So much for a free global service. I’ll now be looking at your competitors!
p
24 April, 04:40
Last.fm is in total control by the CBS suits now. RIP Last.fm – since July 17th 2008.
Cristian
24 April, 04:40
Goodbye Last.fm! See you in a couple of years when you go back because this decision was a complete disaster.
mrroberts3
24 April, 05:01
No way. This undermines the whole sharing/community/web2.0 idea. I think it will be difficult to get people to pay when there are so many free alternatives out there. And doing this without prewarning…wouldn’t be surpised if someone told me it has been planned for a long time. last.fm was a good idea that went to h… Bye.
Steve
24 April, 05:03
Any chance this will positively affect access through other devices such as Sonos which currenly only plays radio in US, UK and Germany? ie after subscribing can we now play radio through Sonos devices in other countries?
Greg
24 April, 05:04
I plan to replace last.fm as soon as I can find a suitable replacement.
Don’t try to pretend that the information you’re collecting when I scrobble isn’t insanely valuable. That’s where your long-term profit model lies.
I tolerated you collecting piles of valuable information because you allowed me to realistically investigate new artists. No more. This is glorified Zune bullshit.
Au revoir.
Francisco
24 April, 05:10
Last.fm successfully removed.
Join “I will not pay for last.fm services!” group on facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=76200302617
the former Panzer
24 April, 05:32
screw you all.
Henning
24 April, 05:35
Removed and joined!
Cyenotifiloe
24 April, 05:59
Well… Seems I´m not the only one pissed with that great news. I´ll like to thank you for allowing me to listen all music I love till now, and say I´m sorry for your inability to keep it up. It happens everywhere, don´t worry. We´ll find other places in the net. Cya.
Babacas.
Carola
24 April, 07:06
Personally I’m not going to pay while other countries can just listen for free. I wouldn’t mind paying if EVERYONE would have to pay, but seeing that’s not the case… I’m sorry we’re getting punished for not living in the US/UK/Germany.
I’ll consider paying if last.fm gets their act together and finally does something about the functions missing after the release of the current version of last.fm. Like Recommended Reading, that we’ve been begging for nearly a year for now.
MtBelacqua
24 April, 07:25
After 4 years you do this to me
Have you really thought this through?
FU
24 April, 07:38
fuck you greed.fm
lu_becks
24 April, 08:27
€3.00 * person * month
it’s a lot of money for your costs…
Adios Last.fm
Eirik Kjolsrud
24 April, 08:29
I was not too happy about this. I’ve discovered and bought so much music through last.fm and in that way I think I help finance the music industry. No way I’m going for a subscription, forget it.
I found grooveshark.com though, so now I’m happy. First impressions are way better than last.fm ever was. I’m so happy last.fm made me leave, because now I discovered something better ; )
This is amazing
24 April, 08:35
Go cry somewhere else kiddos. Like you would spend that amount of money on something worthwhile.
Thank you Last.FM! Don’t listen to those greedy jews.
Bazinou
24 April, 08:42
Please, keep last.fm free for all … or it’s not last.fm !!!
I’ll try songza.com …
Cyril
24 April, 08:44
you suck,
bye
gd
24 April, 08:56
All pay or none pay
chromosomerororo
24 April, 09:02
Thanks again, financial capitalism. You really want to control the whole goddamn world, don’t you? Give us a chance to evolve, you inhumane, money-bearing machinery.
lynzdalyan
24 April, 09:07
Some of these comments are a bit hysterical but I have to agree the PR sucks. I only knew this was planned through the BBC news site. I’m off, bye bye Last Fm and funnily enough the last few times I have had the radio on the streaming has been really rubbish anyway.
Concerned User
24 April, 09:17
ONE WEEK OF LUNCHES EVERY MONTH!
I understand for US $3 is hardly a cup of coffee but in India $3 is an entire week of lunches. Those who do have internet in their homes scrape for that extra Rs. 500 /- every months.
So you’ve decided to give away your service the world who CAN easily pay money for your service. But to the world who is struggling to put food on their table you are now going to take money from them??? – PLEASE EXPLAIN HOW THIS IS RIGHT!
We (the listeners and international enthusiastic users of Last.FM) would have GLADLY helped and searched TIRELESSLY for other solutions had we known there was a problem. But you have violated our trust by not allowing us to help you think creatively anymore. Is the mind of a corporate executive more powerful than a collective brain?
Hasn’t Gandhi taught us ANYTHING about the power of people collectively…?
Shige Honda
24 April, 09:24
I’m your listener in Japan. I know you guys a are not so evil. I’ve tried to get sbuscriton page over 10 times since yesterday, but respose is alwasy ‘server overload’ message only. What’s happening now?
Is it impossible to subscribe from Japan?
miguel
24 April, 09:52
SPOTIFY ROCKS, LASTFM SUCKS YEAAAAA!
fullmooninu
24 April, 09:54
buying access to an anonymous proxy server in germany, uk or even in the states is a lot cheaper, and if done by a significant amout of people will ruin your main asset: valid statistics.
nice move, cbs
Eoin O'Riordan
24 April, 10:14
OK finally took the plunge moved to Jango and the first couple of hours has been great!
So Adios Last.fm
Deleted my facebook last.fm app, (joined the “I will not pay for last.fm services!” group on facebook – http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=76200302617)
uninstalled the client,
[lol – as a final laugh when I was uninstalling the client it hung… sort of like a final sad whimper…]
downloaded my charts for posterity
deleted my listening history (30913 plays since 13 Jul 2007)
deleted my tags
and deleted account.
And in answer to the “Tightwad”, “Cheapo” comments above, I understand what you’re saying but I don’t think anyone here is trying to avoid “pay royalties to the artists” but their argument was that ads (e.g. google adwords) would generates some income and then the scrobbling, tagging, comments, adding gigs etc. all added value to the site.
I would have thought that the music preferences, loves, skips, likes and dislikes would have music industry marketing gold mine. But obviously, at the moment, the music industry just hunting extra sources of revenue they can get easily rather than being proactive and working out what they can do in this “new” world.
As I said on the other thread, I have bought roughly 20 albums, a t shirt(!) and attended 4 gigs from bands that I first heard (only) on Last.fm. Which must mean that my listening to Last.fm generated the music industry some money… no?
But, if that wasn’t enough, then fair dos, charge us. I would be happy with that but why penalize the rest of the world further?
The fact is that we, the rest of the world, were going to be paying for something but STILL wouldn’t get the same as the people in the other 3 countries were getting when they became subscribers!
Then, when we were paying, we had to use Paypal which people had already expressed a dislike about…
Then, when you paid, there was no discount for 6 months or 12 months (say €30 a year….) a simple simple thing like that would have kept a few more people on side.
It’s like they knew it would be a bad decision and had a challenge to make it the worse one they could possibly make.
As someone says up above…
“The lack of any reply from Richard Jones to these hundreds of comments is yet further example of the shocking lack of communication.”
No one in Last.fm has the courage to even make any sort of comments, they’re just hiding in their bunker watching user numbers drop and hoping it doesn’t drop too much!
I reckon none of the original founders of Last.fm remain. It’s just run by Music Industry lawyers or consultants in suits…. And they’ve just shot themselves in the foot again! It’s actions like this that promote file sharing…
All in all a really shoddy end to what was a great site…
Other Options for other people:-
Your own music, or your friend’s music…!
http://www.finetune.com/ although it failed the eclectic music test
http://www.jango.com – passed eclectic music test and radio station is pretty good. have signed up and happy to delete Last.fm.
http://Open.FM
http://blip.fm
http://libre.fm
http://spotify.com – free but is currently in an invitation-only beta, which means you need to have received an invitation token to access the service …
http://songza.com
http://www.muzu.tv/
pablof786
24 April, 10:18
Richard Jones … la has cagado
te cuento porque .. y no te cobro nada por ello auque visto lo visto …
1. que tal un aviso a los usuarios del cambio de politica..
2. preguntarle a los usuarios si hay alguna sugerencia ante un problemas.. te acuerdas aquello de atención al cliente.. satisfacción ..
conclusión: te has cargado el negocio chaval!!!
P.D. I have intentionally not written in English .. the world is more than a language …
Da-Katana
24 April, 10:19
Everything, what is best comes to an end… At this time i can’t afford any expense – to much problems in my life and at this time i don’t want to pay for my card at bank (price is 2x last.fm payment) just for last.fm.
Hope good old last.fm will be back or sooner or later i can subscibe ;/
martin
24 April, 10:25
really bad decision, users gave you so much listening data and now you turn your back on them
SkyClub
24 April, 10:46
I hope last.fm will be soon free again!
If you want to keep so many users, there must be a way to listen to it completely for free.
Demand service for fee, radio service for free.
Furi
24 April, 11:20
Subscribed and proud!
pyuFF
24 April, 11:21
Good bye Last.fm! Farewell! :_(
spacedog
24 April, 11:46
Guys from Last.fm, put AdSense shit on each page + banners in the client saoftware – and raise big money. Leave the music free of charge!
c-hood
24 April, 11:52
Boycott last.fm
Stop scrobbling
bb_france
24 April, 11:56
bye bye last.fm. hello again deezer.
reno who?
24 April, 12:18
yeah, was funny, but now, goodbye
dissapointed_long_time_user
24 April, 12:35
This is not just a message to Last.fm it’s also a message to the record industry licensing the content to Last.fm who gets the big bucks…
No wonder that services like The Pirate Bay is so popular.. 1TB disks are pretty cheap..
Петян
24 April, 12:38
Зря вы это, пацаны, замутили.
Ждите. К вам приедут. Поговорят с каждым в отдельности.
Avathar
24 April, 12:39
I shall not tolerate this kind of apartheid. Your users should be equal. They’re not, therefore I don’t want to be one of them.
I won’t go as far as deleting my account, I simply won’t use it. And to think that I was a beta tester of the new last.fm.
Have fun with UK, US and Germany (no bad feelings people, it’s not your fault). Hope they give you enough income.
Cheers,
Paolo
24 April, 12:52
Avathar +1
Mirko Fait
24 April, 13:06
I’m sorry but for this decision of last.fm I’ve disabled the full-length preview and the free downloads of almost of my music!
Meta
24 April, 13:08
Autant je peux comprendre le fait que vous devez faire rentrer de l’argent pour payer les serveurs et les ayants-droits, autant je ne comprends absolument pas votre logique de communication. Le mouvement que vous venez de faire est absolument suicidaire. Désolé de le dire de façon si abrupt, mais c’est impressionnant de stupidité!
En vrac :
-le fait que la radio reste gratuite dans trois pays rend la chose très indigeste pour tous les autres utilisateurs.
-3€, ce n’est effectivement pas grand chose pour nous autres européens, mais pour le reste du monde c’est une somme, une sacrée somme. Et en ces temps de crise le passage d’un système gratuit à un système payant est très mal vu.
-à la limite la nouvelle serait sans doute mieux passée si vous aviez décrétés que tout le monde doit payer 1€ ou alors que vous avez besoin de donations pour continuer à exister, comme Wikipédia. L’introduction de publicités ciblées dans les pages web et/ou dans les radios aurait pu être testée avant de passer directement à un système payant.
-votre communication est ridicule et inexistante. Ce n’est vraiment pas professionnel.
En conclusion, les utilisateurs vont migrer vers d’autres sites, qui vont alors à leur tour atteindre une taille suffisante pour leur implosion (voir paragraphe suivant), et ainsi de suite jusqu‘à ce qu’il ne restera qu’un seul et unique site de streaming musical.
Les autres coupables dans cette sordide histoire restent les sociétés de gestion des droits musicaux, qui demandent des sommes faramineuses aux sites de streaming musical dans le but de conserver leur pactole en l‘état. C’est honteux.
Steven
24 April, 13:13
Disappointed. Can’t even listen for free to the music that I legally own.
(Used to be able to listen to ‘My Library’)
Silly people at Last.FM
MisterDaan
24 April, 14:06
Sad :(
Daniel Marinha
24 April, 14:13
a most regretful decision. for its unequal treatment of users, for its strickly economically driven reasoning, and mostly because last.fm will continue to profite from its huge number of worlwide users in two ways: – by ripping in the profits from publicity that the user must put up with, regardless of being a subscriber or not; – and still profitting from their huge database which is a direct result of users scrobbling their music, again, regardless of being or not a subscriber.
It is untolerable that both last.fm and non-paying users are proffiting from this totally unjust state of things.
I, for one, will delete my account. To the ones that chose not to, I recommend that at least, they disable scrobbling.
Franz
24 April, 14:20
A replay to the people who criticizes that complaints:
YOU open your eyes:
The great thing with Last.fm was that it helped me to discover music independently from Major Corporations, thats the potentialities of the web. Now it seems that Majors took control of Last.fm politic.
Probably Majors want to exclude users from other countries (and than the music they listen) to limit, or at least to have more control about the music that users can discover.
Last.fm will be turned in another shitty online commercial radio.
Majors as we know are condamned to fail because, thanks to the web, artists can earn money directly from users. It’s just a matter of time.
As Italian, I’m happy to see that uk-us-gr people are clever enought to leave Last.fm too!
Bye bye Last.fm
juan
24 April, 14:34
I made that all my friend started to use it and now i´m so disappointed. Its sad how in a few minutes last.fm spited to all of the users in the face.
I thought I admired you, but you suck!
AnIrishPerson
24 April, 14:35
The lead up to this change was terribly handled. I happen to look at the blog occasionally but I only saw the previous post on the issue through a chance link. There should have been at least one email sent out and front page notification with plenty of warning.
Payment is going to be an issue for a lot of people. Some people simply cannot afford it. More have difficulty finding a suitable payment method. No credit card makes things a lot more awkward. Others are annoyed with what they see as the unfairness of a few countries getting a superior service for free.
I got into last.fm relatively late but loved the service, even if I did have qualms about a company having my listening data. I don’t listen to last.fm radio often enough to justify shelling out for a subscription, even if I had a usable method of paying it. I likely won’t delete my account in fury but my days of finding artists through the radio are over. This means that I will be looking at last.fm’s competitors for such and thus giving them ad revenue and listening data.
I sincerely hope last.fm starts to get to grips with it’s users complaints, if only to present their own arguments. 500+ comments and no reply is poor form.
doghajon
24 April, 14:51
Your decision is suck. period.
jawshoeah
24 April, 14:58
I live in the US and still pay these guys per month. The service is worth it. It’s cheap. I don’t get what all the fuss is about. there was free music out there before and “after” last.fm, why even stick around to bitch if you are simply after free tunes?
Try:
blip.fm
pandora
anywhere.fm
launchcast
playlist.com
and leave the last.fm area for people who actually like what the site provides for a mere 3 bucks a month.
xyz
24 April, 14:59
shouldn’t we go to the europian union because of discrimination?
youdontcareaboutus
24 April, 15:05
I think you don’t care about our opinions.
Today I found the message in my account page. I’m really sad about your decision. I use last.fm since 2005, I configured all my software to use it, and many software spent a lot of time to improve their last-fm plugin (last example is amarok). Maybe you don’t care about the time they spent, you don’t care about the time spent tagging the music files correctly.
I haven’t decided if deleting the account yet, but I think I’ll do it.
You destroy the hope of a free music in a free world.
Bye
Ktuloo
24 April, 15:09
this has probably been the most stupid descision you’ve ever made!
..I believed it was part of the idea to listen to music ON THE RADIO and I’ve been a member of your side for years now, – and never have I had to pay for anything…
..this is sinking low!
and btw – perhabs you should have informed members about this in advance – by e-mailing or so!!!!
I truly understand why so many people are pissed right now.. I am too!!!
TL
24 April, 15:13
Wow, you all are getting very excited about $3. They’re not making money from ads. So, they can shut down, or they can charge. I’m in the US — and I choose to pay the $3 subscription for the handful of extras I get with that.
They ARE A BUSINESS. No business on the planet is going to give away their products for free if they aren’t making money somehow. It’s not racism, it’s common sense.
Iivo
24 April, 15:18
Finnish national non-commercial FM and TV channels cost ~18 euros month. :)
muzak
24 April, 15:19
Do you really think I’m going to subsidize your UK, USA and Germany users? LOL
iecs
24 April, 16:26
I must say, that most of biographies (wiki pages) are created by users. So are you going to pay to the users who created the pages?
Because I think if last.fm goes that way, we would not like to see our work included in your service…
Waiting for a reply, iecs
itamar
24 April, 16:26
all the good things turn bad in some point.
so there will be another radio…
tk83
24 April, 16:42
I created an indie radio station with alot of the bands that I already have in my itunes indie playlist (needless to say I discovered most of them through Lastfm and the Indie Rock Playlists “long live Criznittle!”). But if you want your free indie fix check it out on Jango.
TK’s Indie Roundup
http://www.jango.com/stations/133585399
Majormidriff
24 April, 16:51
I have unistalled LastFm. Bye Bye from spain.
Australian Resident
24 April, 17:22
LMAO @ everyone’s comments! I agree with them. I hope it hurts Last.FM
GODwarned
24 April, 17:35
Bye Bye from Ukraine.Bye Bye from Ukraine.
Bye Bye from Ukraine.
Bye Bye from Ukraine.
Bye Bye from Ukraine.
Bye Bye from Ukraine.
Bye Bye from Ukraine.
Bye Bye from Ukraine.
Bye Bye from Ukraine.
Bye Bye from Ukraine.
Bye Bye from Ukraine.
Bye Bye from Ukraine.
Bye Bye from Ukraine.
It is not spam.I hope you will change your mind,,
Christopher Warner
24 April, 17:43
I am in the USA (Brooklyn, New York) and have been an avid Last.fm user since maybe 2005-2006 joined and paid for a subscription in 2007 I believe.
Paying for the subscription was because I wanted to show my support and specifically not because I support paying for streaming on the internet. I don’t care where it is. Due to this unfortunate stance I will discontinue my use of Last.fm and support what looks like a free alternative Libre.FM; summarily because I can develop software I will most likely make sure all my favorite music players deprecate Last.FM as well.
This really sucks because a relative of mine in Barbados was psyched they could see what I was listening to and stream.
That said I realize there are cost associated with providing the service. My disagreement is with this abject market BS which has no place. The internet was created exactly for this purpose. So, I stand with the users of this service through-out the world. There are too many other models to generate a revenue stream that involve CREATIVITY.
1. Allow indie artists to run ads for their music.
2. Allow commercial artists to run ads for their music.
3. Allow artists local to their respective countries to run ads for their music.
4. For users that don’t want a subscription place the ads and allow them to vote on the relevance.
5. Host Last.FM concerts. You know, invite top indie artists to a concert you host and make money off of ticket sales.
I could go on and on and on.
In the meantime, I will not be back; I’m pissed my goddamn charts are going to waste but such is life.
Thanks and good luck.
Christopher Warner
nobody
24 April, 17:52
I hope it hurts last.fm. I really do.
ssik ym ssa
24 April, 17:52
Hey, last.fm!
“I won’t pay, I won’t pay ya, no way…”
(Offspring)
Elizabeth
24 April, 18:51
Well, how come my access was cancelled? I mean, this is USA after all! (San Juan, Puerto Rico!)
ElNad
24 April, 19:10
Not sure what I will do with my last.fm account. I loved the service a lot and friends were really impress with Last.fm on MediaPortal on my HTPC.
But now, I don’t know. If everybody would have to pay 1$ per month or 18$ per year, I would have pay without thinking a SECOND, but 3$ for me (Canada) and 0$ to my south neighbor (USA) seems stupid.
Maybe I will join for 6 months to test the service, but I’m not sure. The best thing to do is to try to find a replacement I think. Sad day for music lovers.
Roy
24 April, 19:17
Who likes to work for free?? me no, i understand perfectly the situation of last fm, what i dont understand is so many people complaining about 3€ for a hole month of great music!!! the price of a beer that it will last a few minutes…
Disappointed
24 April, 19:26
http://www.lastfm.it/group/libre.fm
http://libre.fm/
or
http://finetune.com/
http://www.shoutcast.com/
http://open.fm/
http://www.jango.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://blip.fm/
http://songza.com/
greetings from Italy!
President of nothing
24 April, 19:27
My fellow Americans (and all the other rich countries that don’t have to pay to listen to last.fm radio):
It’s easy for us to say, oh it’s just 3 dollars; but for countries not as prosperous as ours, “3 measley dollars a month” doesn’t come as easily. Please keep that in mind.
124c41+
24 April, 19:28
How about a free radio station that only plays artists who’ve uploaded full tracks?
Goddamnit, why is Canada always getting screwed over..?
bartlomiej_p
24 April, 19:33
http://www.samair.ru/proxy/
Markus
24 April, 19:39
byebye lastfm!
Hox
24 April, 19:44
Roy, Last.FM give bad scrobbling service, bad stats, a radio where you listen to avantgarde and every now and then appear some commercial talentless load of jerks like Coldplay.
And for this “service” now they want more money.
Expect the SAME non-functional site after this injection of money.
Scrobbling by listeners – so profile page is updated – is the only thing working, so majority of people will not notice.
This is not a good reason to say stupid things. Seems like someone here never worked in his life, by the comments about “poor LAst.FM”.
Let’s call it CBS first, so to speak. So to get the ARGUMENT.
ExUser
24 April, 19:50
I think it is a good idea if we start posting all the last.fm alternatives into our comments. That way people viewing this thread will know where to go.
I copied this from a previous post..
http://www.lastfm.it/group/libre.fm
http://libre.fm/
or
http://finetune.com/
http://www.shoutcast.com/
http://open.fm/
http://www.jango.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://blip.fm/
http://songza.com/
http://www.samair.ru/proxy/
Anyone know which is best? I guess we will have to wait a couple of months before a clear replacement emerges..
I wouldn’t be looking for an alternative if the fee was distributed between all countries.
meliaris
24 April, 19:54
Why?!
;(
spanish
24 April, 20:00
bye lastfm from spain
count removed
panibozenka (former, with no access from now)
24 April, 21:29
I,m shocked. it’s so far from the first idea of creating last.fm. additional features (an icon, favourites, recommendations) payable – OK, but not the basic service. I thought this was to share musical tastes, promote artists, spread the unknown music all around the world. the world is us, german and uk now. you build the great project on the idea of freedom, participation and new technologies and killed it with hypocrisy. and it’s not about the users’ fee, but about their choice. adieu.
Sudhanshu
24 April, 21:41
Disappointing guys!
TuffCookie21
24 April, 21:44
I am an American currently living in Mexico, but I’m glad because I feel an accordance with the rest of the international community that I normally would not feel. I have this to say, dear old Last.fm:
You were loved by so many (me included) because of the encouraging community you promoted. That’s why so many people feel personally offended and betrayed. It is a testament to your previous awesomeness that we are all so mad.
You will earn money. But you will lose popularity. And you will lose power.
ACCEPTNOSUBSTITUTES
24 April, 21:46
I looked at all the alternatives, and frankly, none of them is better or even as good as last.fm……I think after a while, a lot of folks will realize this and see that it may actually be worth a the money to get the best…..think of it this way, your money will be supporting a good thing!
BLAME CBS BLAME CBS BLAME CBS BLAME CBS BLAME CBS BLAME CBS BLAME CBS
Spanish
24 April, 22:42
What happened with “Listen free and discover music at Last.fm”?
People out from USA, UK and Germany are being discriminated… Is not fair!!!
An indignat spanish!! =)
Richie
24 April, 22:57
Well this is exactly what they want, they get rid of all people who don’t pay and are very happy with the people who decide to stay, because of the money. In those three other countries they have the largest amount of users, so they don’t want to interfere with them or they’ll lose the total community and ads support. Talking about marketing strategy, this is probably the WORST thing EVER done to users. I like the comment of “What about charging male listeners 3.00 and women 3.50?”. You should try that one, maybe women leave your station too, so you only have to worry about us men!
Rudolph
24 April, 23:22
Bye bye.
Realist
24 April, 23:47
What a bunch of whining children throwing theirs toys out of the pram for a measly €3 a month. I mean, that would buy you one cup of coffee! The idiotic “I want everything now, and I want it free” generation. All I hear is “waaaaaa, waaaaaa, waaaaaaa”. Grow up!
Last.fm is not a charity, it’s a business. They have to pay for EVERY stream that’s played. I would bet it costs a lot more to run than Wikipedia that people keep mentioning. If they asked for donations people would (rightly) complain because they’re a business, not a not-for-profit foundation.
US/UK/German users are already subsiding the service through the costs of the goods/services that are advertised. That’s how the ad-funded model works. If some (or most) countries aren’t generating the income, they have to pay. Get used to it.
AnotherRealist
24 April, 23:59
As multiple people have already pointed out, US$3.00 can be a lot of money. Not everyone here is employed in a first world country. I believe someone mentioned a swathe of Brazilian users will likely leave for example.
Fanny Sachs
25 April, 00:02
It sounds really appropriate to charge for this service in countries with lower income. I think EVERYBODY will pay immediately. Such a smart move!!!
Boris
25 April, 00:58
Bye Bye
aeiou
25 April, 01:24
Not even a penny!
Mike
25 April, 01:32
/start sarcasm
I wish Last.fm and their American, British and German friends all the best. Very impressive group you’ve got there. Hopefully your ‘business decision’ won’t be anything but a resounding success.
/end sarcasm
THEBESTTHEBESTTHEBESTTHEBEST
25 April, 02:05
What a bunch of whining children throwing theirs toys out of the pram for a measly €3 a month. I mean, that would buy you one cup of coffee! The idiotic “I want everything now, and I want it free” generation. All I hear is “waaaaaa, waaaaaa, waaaaaaa”. Grow up!
Last.fm is not a charity, it’s a business. They have to pay for EVERY stream that’s played. I would bet it costs a lot more to run than Wikipedia that people keep mentioning. If they asked for donations people would (rightly) complain because they’re a business, not a not-for-profit foundation.
US/UK/German users are already subsiding the service through the costs of the goods/services that are advertised. That’s how the ad-funded model works. If some (or most) countries aren’t generating the income, they have to pay. Get used to it.
x23232423423423423
Stop the BAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWW’s
btw im from Chile
Ana Pereira
25 April, 02:08
I won’t contribute to keep engrossing CBS’ executives wallets. It’s ridiculous to have to pay for listening to the radio, it doesn’t matter if it’s 0,50 or 3$, because it has nothing to do with the money, or getting “free tunes”. Open your freaking eyes. And the ads excuse, well, that’s just lame, but what could we expect from CBS? Maybe if they weren’t involved I wouldn’t mind to pay.
CORPORATE SUCKS BIG TIME!
Gordon
25 April, 02:11
I understand the reasons for having to do this, but just flicking the switch overnight without a moment’s warning? Not doing a whole lot for the “But we really DO care about our users!” argument.
I’ll keep my account for now but without the radio I’m wondering how much use it’ll be, time will tell I guess.
~m
25 April, 02:14
I can’t believe the gaff. Really. Greed I suppose. Or maybe it’s like the first test cut near the wrists to see how much it hurts before the big slash happens. Ultimately it means they are too inept to make a business out of: – selling ads – selling user statistics (see first point) – commissions from iTunes, Amazon et al. (buy it now option) On the bright side this will just give a toe hold to the slew of competitors who are after more market share. Now that the original intentions have been perverted Last.fm will begin the slow slide downward.
Think I’ll get to work on finding or writing a new scrobble-like plugin for iTunes. Let’s review who else is out there: * Anywhere.fm * Batanga * Blip.fm * deezer.com * iLike * imeem * Live365 * Jamendo * MOG * Musicovery * Pandora * Playlist.com * Slacker * SpiralFrog * Spotify * Steereo * We7 * Zune Social
Goddamn
25 April, 03:14
I’ve got an idea.
Let’s remove all our tags from last.fm… Why we need tags if radio is non-free, tags help to form song and band relations in radio
fiona
25 April, 03:48
I guess this was inevitable… its the sad reality of society. But the thing that bothers me, like so many of you have said, is the inequality behind it all. I’m just above the USA in Canada, yet I have to pay? I understand it’s a company, I just thought that last.fm would be different.. about everything. I guess I was wrong… best luck to everyone.
Adonai
25 April, 06:20
Fuck you
menpols
25 April, 06:42
it’s goodbye from him and it’s goodbye from me also :((
won't scrobble
25 April, 06:54
I’m serarching for a good altrenative now. Hope I’ll find it, but anyway i uninstalled my scrobbler. Why should I share my statistics with you if I can’t get streaming for free. Moreover I’d pay 3$ if it was the fee for the whole world. But I won’t give you a dime if US guys listen for free. So year, I agree… Fuck You.
John Lennon
25 April, 07:14
We make lastfm, we the users, and now?
Music was in the air, and now money!
Please, change the name “lastfm” in “lastuser”.
See you…or not.
bahamut00
25 April, 07:39
Rendez-nous last.fm! Comment pouvez-vous imaginer créer un modèle économique viable sur un service qui a fonctionné justement parce qu’il était gratuit! Pourquoi dans l’Europe sans frontières mon voisin allemand est-il favorisé? C’est du sabordage, last.fm mourra! Wikipedia a bien compris que l’appel aux dons était 1000 fois préférable à l’accès payant.
Last.fm ne fait plus de révolution musicale, mais du pognon. ‘faites chier…
—
Give us back Last.fm! How could you imaging create a valid economic model with a service which precisely worked because it was free! Why in a Europe with no borders my German neighbour is prefered? This is scuttling, last.fm will die! Wikipedia well understood that a call for donations is 1000 times better than an access with fees.
Last.fm does not do anymore “music revolution”, it makes money. Fuck…
WebCM
25 April, 07:55
Nothing more to say… Rest In Peace
sticazzi
25 April, 08:10
cbs is a criminal corporate don’t respect international criminal laws about nazism.
if you done money you are party to crime.
Kheldar
25 April, 08:46
Hope you’ll burn in the Hell of economic crisis.
ACCOUNT DELETED FOR EVER!!!!!
scaber nestor
25 April, 08:46
This is unacceptable and I hereby closes down my LastFM page, and I urge everyone to do the same.
Either all should pay subscription fees or none.
I am so fucking tired of this industry, which get special laws written to save their outdated business models, but that would not be able to make a user-friendly concepts as applied to all regardless of where they live if they had a gun to their head.
P-O.
the hook
25 April, 09:10
good bye last.fm. welcome back to good old pirate days
Peter
25 April, 09:15
Last.fm was a very good service. I planned to pay after the announcement, but by friends are not last.fm members anymore. Money kills the communtiy, and web 2.0 is about the community. Well, goodbye and thanks for the last :) 4 years
treanir
25 April, 09:20
And suddenly I couldn’t listen any more…
Well, there’s the end of my love affair with you, Last.fm. It was fun while it lasted, but now I’m kicking you out. You’ll find your clothes on the pavement, together with your record collection and your Hello Kitty toys. I feel this has become a one-sided relationship, with you taking and me giving. And now I see you flirt with other people, from other countries. I can’t have that. Have fun with your Americans, your Brits, your Germans. Their number will prove too little to support your needy habits, but by the time you find that out, it will be too late. And if I see you out on the kerb, I won’t help you.
Goodbye.
thinklastfmsucked
25 April, 09:32
to everybody who think betrayed by lastfm!!!
there is a very simple thing to do:
let’s move our music to another online radio site!
i’ll take these sites from older posts. let’s choose one of ‘em and continue to listen our free music there!
http://libre.fm/
http://finetune.com/
http://www.shoutcast.com/
http://open.fm/
http://www.jango.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://blip.fm/
http://songza.com/
Please continue to post sites like these and people became aware of there is not only last.fm!!!
Spanish user who loved lastfm
25 April, 09:38
You can’t expect a good response if your decisions are based on discrimination.
Users from UK, USA and Germany get a better free service than paid services in the rest of the world. That’s ridiculous.
Ok, ads can cover the cost in this three countries. But this is the solution? Imagine a restaurant that used to offer free deserts in the past and start charging some customers, but not English, Americans and Germans because “they come to our restaurant a lot and cover our costs, but not you. Ok, it’s business, but also discrimination.
Completely dissapointing. You offered a amazing free service and I don’t mind paying for it, but I don’t support discrimination.
Sorry for my English.
Ana
25 April, 09:39
Dear Team,
I would agree to pay, there is no problem with that, but first of all, you should have developed a functional paying system. My Visa Electron card in Romania is not accepted by PayPal at the moment, and I do not posses another card.
I really hope you are working on this and the system will soon get improved. Otherwise, besides the fact that it is not very fair to pay if you live outside the 3 mentioned countries, I will have to switch to another service.
John
25 April, 09:54
WHY?
So pointless.
Голая старушка
25 April, 10:39
Ехала в трамвае голая старушка,
Розовая попка, розовые груди
И невольно улыбались люди !
last.fm платным стало
просто ЕБАНУТЬСЯ !
Голая старушка
25 April, 10:42
Наступает июль, слушай музон,
рябчик жуй
Last.fm‘у придет скоро хуй !
LinXX
25 April, 10:55
What can I say?
Good work .. Do you think I’m going to pay for listening to a radio? Are you serious?
Indeed, what will happen now with all the selfless contributions of users who have to pay? Have you thought through all the users have the database and information?
Bye Last.fm! Hello Rockola.fm “spotify …!
WebCM
25 April, 10:58
There is another way for providing free radio service with ads:
Sign an agreement with a big company in Poland. You may become their partners.
Maybe Google Ads is not enough.
(but i’m talking to the wall inside my room)
NoMoney
25 April, 11:22
I will resume download…
qwerty
25 April, 11:37
only what i caqn say: fuck u! Why not ads in radio? Thank u very much for being asshole.
NoMoneyForTheseFuckingLabel
25 April, 11:38
WWW.deezer.com
Luca
25 April, 11:38
libre.fm
Sakura
25 April, 11:52
Fuck u lastfm.
FREE? HAH! Fucking liars…
How can you have the nuts to say something on your page is for free? Stop lying, face what you are…
NOT DIFFERENT FROM THE ONES YOU “fight” IN THE PAST.
You really really sucks.
Hope you fail soon, that will be a great new =)
SaKuRaAlan Searl
25 April, 12:02
Oh dear. Not a good move guys. I’d been so impressed with the amazing service that was last.fm
I’ve been a real advocate with my friends and family for the service and the community. Now I feel a fool. Of course I should have seen charges coming. Maybe an annual subscription of a few pounds as an entry fee to the community could have been justified if it had been for everyone using the service.
But your big mistake has been to say UK, Germany and the US contine to be free, but everywhere else isn’t. This isn’t going to wash in such an interconnected world where people travel.
Such a shame to destroy something that was so great. I guess you’ll only be in business for another year because of this strategic error. You’re going to hemorrhage users, your advertising base will shrink, the bank will say you’ve made a bad adjustment to your business model, your credit will cost more, bands will go elsewhere etc etc. You’ve started a downward spiral. So sorry.
Azure
25 April, 12:07
ok, i hope you will die soon
hawk
25 April, 12:37
Ok, I really hoped you would understand that this kind of unfairness will make many people quit and eventually the service quality will degrade for everyone (as last.fm will reflect ony the musical taste of US/UK/DE users).
Guess I was being naive hoping you would actually do something to prevent people from feeling “discriminated against”. As I wrote before – I understand you are not the ones to blame for music licensing schemes. But you are the ones to blame for your broken business model – if you think you’ll be ok without users from outside the priviledged 3 countries – fine. In my opinion you should have tried to introduce payment in all countries OR establish better advertising deals with companies in countries other than US/UK/DE. If you failed to do this (or worse, did not even try), feel free to become a local (US/UK/DE) community. This is not even close to “global”, and the rest of the world is not “a few countries”.
I have just deleted my account.
Goodbye from Poland, Europe – where we REALLY mostly can afford the 3EUR fee, but at the same time we are tired of being treated as second class citizens of the world.
DixonD
25 April, 12:37
“USA, UK and Germany”? WTF is this? Those countries is the first sort or what? -1 user more
maggy
25 April, 12:41
I live in France and I think that it is pretty mean to charge me a subscription when a few miles away in Germany it would be free. Needless to say I won’t be subscribing. A pity, on Google it says FREE – well it isn’t, is it?
Tswok
25 April, 13:03
I’m french and listening to Last.fm for 5 years ! By principle, I’m not against paying for discovering good music BUT !
- if I pay there will be no more ads, right ? No ?
- And what about people like me who buy a LOT of records through Last.fm. You get commissions for that, right ! Will we be “rewarded” through a low rate subscription ? No ?
- and what about the artists ? If I pay, will I be sure that the artists I love will be paid ? No ?
I’ll certainly not subscribe until you make posititive answers/proposals on those remarks.
Good luck
Tswok
usersoontobedeleted
25 April, 13:07
What a lack of imagination. I don’t get, why the music industry is so blind (and CBS as well, for that matter). It’s like they haven’t read the book from Steve Knopper.
OK. You need funds in order to operate, I get it, but there are other solutions. You can’t have offices around the world in order to sale adds, well, you have here tons of users from around the world, why don’t you involve your users? I’m sure many of them have the contacts, etc., in order to provide adds from other countries (i.e. not UK/US/GER).
I personally like the idea posted by someone above: Organize Last.fm concerts to raise funds.
suckers
25 April, 13:21
Thanks last.fm for making me find alternatives to your crappy “service”. And there’s a whole lot of them: blip.fm is miles better for finding interesting new music, Spotify is cool if you want to just pick an artist to listen to and libre.fm will be the best option for scrobbling.
So thanks for showing me that there are new and exciting services out there that make all the users feel welcome no matter where they are from.
ipoasvadf
25 April, 13:29
Thank god for spotify. Bye bye Last.fm.
HappyTorso
25 April, 13:42
This is a very big letdown from what I considered an innovative, creative and intelligent group of people.
I fail to understand how could someone who innovated so much do a sudden u turn and speed blindly towards a retrograde concept of internet media broadcasting.
This is not only an anachronism, it is a deliberate harakiri in front of the huge crowd of people that had admired your work up until today. It is in fact so unbelievable that probably most of your regular users haven’t realised it yet.
This cunning plan of yours will in the best case completely stop the growth of your community (which I suspect is what you are looking forward to) and in the worst case be the beginning of a relatively quick decline.
In a user-oriented environment like last.fm you strive to add features and improve the user experience, you do not remove features or degrade them like you just did.
As many users have already pointed out, there is no single reason why anyone should keep on using your paid service when other websites offer the same (and sometimes more) for free. The only real beneficiaries of this operation will in fact be your competitors who at this very moment are probably surprised by the sudden increase in their web stats.
Most importantly over the internet you cannot divide the world in geographical areas with different privileges (unless you’re the head of some country under dictatorship). Firstly because you’ll inevitably end up being called a racist and secondly because it’s just plain stupidity knowing that anyone can quickly work around this puny restriction system.
I am puzzled to say the least
HeartShine
25 April, 14:13
are you JOKING ME? seriously?
you just KILLED lastfm for me, and no doubt many others.. So incredibly unimpressed by this.
S’later lastfm then I guess.
Vanilla-villa
25 April, 14:41
=(
gtony3
25 April, 15:15
That’s to bad
“the best thinghs in life are free”
that’s how the song goes
no warning bad politics
what are you guys going to do with all the money (hope you don’t go bankrupt)
To much music on the net that’s free
nice knowing you
from japan
25 April, 15:21
あえて日本語で書きます。
とても失望しました。
日本語版サイトでまともなアナウンスもなく
利用者にとっては裏切りと思いますが。
また、有料化による大したメリットも感じられず、
月額$3ですか？
payしたくありません。
私は、急速に衰退すると思います。
mark
25 April, 16:41
This is a bad move, or in any case a badly communicated one.
I have been a loyal user of Audioscrobbler/Last.fm for four good years. Since a reset of my profile in 2005 I have scrobbled 20,000 plays from various media players and my Ipod. Providing my valuable listening data to Last.fm felt good because I was reciprocating for the great service provided. Moreover, I made a point of buying albums through Last.fm to reciprocate.
Now there is nothing anymore to reciprocate for. Just because I happen to be living in the wrong place you want to start charging me money. But what bothers me most is your way of communicating. You guys are all about data-mining. Is it really that difficult to look up the many of loyal users that will be affected and send them a friendly note explaining the situation? Instead, you let me listen for 30 more songs and then give me the “Your free trial to Last.fm Radio has ended” finger. This feels bad. And looking at the scores of comments above, it is costing you a lot of users (and hence income).
I’m not sure whether I will subscribe. I will tell you that I have considered it several times in the past years (for the extras). But right now, you don’t give me a good feeling about it. You’ve alienated a large part of your user base. That’s a pretty stupid thing to do for a community-based service. I am boycotting you till I see some sign of you coming back to your senses.
Doriaaan
25 April, 16:48
Seems unfair that the richest countries remain free. Thank you
ex-last.fm lover
25 April, 17:30
WHERE ARE THE IMPROVEMENTS FOR SUBSCRIBERS????
new features, new tools…etc.??
Filip
25 April, 17:39
Co to je sakra za vymysl?? At si strci 3 ecka do prdele!!
Sergi
25 April, 17:46
Go to hell. Bye!
stonedhamlet
25 April, 17:48
Well, finally you did this, but did not make me pay, ‘cause I don’t think this was fair enough. Maybe next time you will decide to make all stuff for a fee. Why not? Come on! Everything must be paid in this cruel capitalist world!
mark
25 April, 17:57
Music and web geekery from East London, for East London.
Glenn
25 April, 18:27
This will go down as one of the greatest blunders in modern internet marketing. You’ve instantaneously lost about half your market. I’m in Canada. It’s total bullshit that you can’t treat us the way you treat your U.S. listeners. I’m gone.
Niño Bomba
25 April, 18:48
Mi opinion al respecto: Acerca de las fronteras virtuales
.. en español.
Ciao Last.fm
ex-last.fm lover
25 April, 18:56
is “paste your taste” the best improvements you can do?
just wanna know… :S
Zed
25 April, 19:08
Subscribed, but you ought some things to your users:
1) More offers to subscribers
2) An advertisement trick to keep community alive
3) Payment via sms
Eclipse
25 April, 19:23
corporate slaves of my ass.
Also the “free for some country” is JUST RETARD and racist, people got even more angry for it, great marketers :\
Perculator
25 April, 20:06
Uninstalling…
Don´t mind paying for good service (I pay for Spotify). But I won´t pay and get a worse version than the free version just cause I don´t live in Britain or the US.
This will prove to be a very bad business decision for you…
digout
25 April, 20:07
I’m sorry to read about payment, but understand what you’ve written in yr blog information part. Will only be able to subscribe if you do manage to introduce payment by sms… sorry guys, I’ll still watch the videos though, and the rest of the stuff u have free. You’ve done improvements since I’ve been visiting and listening.. thanks, and hope you’ll be able to arrange things in the end.
slushai.me
25 April, 20:31
www.slushai.me – not anymore powered by Last.fm
We are working hard to continue our free music online radio.
Any help appreciated!
webmaster[at]slushai.me
js
25 April, 20:51
two comments:
1. i just read my last.fm settings. I ticked the box for “Receive our occasional digest email”. i guess i would have like last.fm to show the common decency to notify me of this change by email rather than having to come across this on a blog i have never read before
2. beyond disagreeing with discriminatory charging, isn’t it rubbing salt into the wounds by only letting people pay in the same currencies as the countries that get the service for free?
Thomas
25 April, 21:12
Dear Last.fm
I am considering to subscribe but I am concerned about the legal status of your service in my country, Denmark. I know nothing about law, but I’m guessing that paying for something “illegal” is worse than getting it for free.
According to Jesper Bay from IFPI Denmark it is currently illegal to use your service as a danish citizen:
http://blogs.jp.dk/baybagscenen/2009/03/31/musikalske-flokdyr/#comments
Can you please enlighten me – or figure out something with him, he mentions that you need to get a deal with “KODA”…
Nome?
25 April, 21:13
Cobrar??? Vão lamber sabão!
Adeus seus perdedores!
beef
25 April, 21:16
WTF? You should put it straight – we don’t want users from other countries. They are not the target for our marketing plans, so thank you for your attention. Next, please!
I’m deleting my account.
It’s not about 3 dollars. Be sure, I can afford it.
(The last one turns off the light, as we say here. Greetings from Poland ;))
Xen
25 April, 21:24
Wow! Somebody’s become hugely unpopular … i feel or you guys. Gotta say I saw it coming… ‘CBS’ was the biggest sign. Next They’ll be making you wear suits!!!
ki-leecher
25 April, 21:25
I will not be putting blames on your decision to make the subscription as necessary. Since I understand how business works and since you
seem to be losing this understanding, I will try to make some reasonable suggestions in this loss-loss situation you are currently in. Please, have time
to read this, maybe it will bring about some positive changes.
When you started last.fm, it was quite a new project in the market, we can say, combining both music and chatting portals. You have created a community
of music lovers who started sharing music and communicating with people around the globe. It was not just a product. It was a style. A way of living.
You made it through to create a new and popular brand name, a name for a new community. I am pretty sure that everyone appreciates that. Or, let us
be precise, appreciated that. By putting a monetary value to that community you have created, you eliminate the very essence of your project. It is no longer
a style. It becomes a business based not on values and vision, but on mere profit.
You had created a musical Facebook. A home where everyone puts his most valuabe things. And those are ideas and such intangible objects as music.
You have given a lot, but now are ruining your creation. The cost may not be that much, 3 dollars per months, but the aura you once had is diminished.
Agree or not, but your key, though implicit, marketing slogan was “Music for free”. Now, you have eliminated a huge part part of your project, leaving
it stand basically as a chat room, with commentaries and journals open for everyone. You have split your musical Facebook into two separate parts
which unity was your key advantage. You became a subject to substitution found everywhere. This includes illegal downloading, tons of radio stations,
cd-based music sharing etc. If you think that extra charges would help to save the business, you are wrong. Your business is based on music lovers
and such people are not concerned about money. They look for deeper values that they once were able to find in your website.
I believed you have checked your popularity ratings and noticed that things are not going that well. You are losing customers whose devotions extends
for 3 or more years. Their tie with product is broken. You have lost their trust that should be regarded as important if you want to be succesfull. Still,
as I said before, I do not want to blame you, but rather to offer suggestions for improvement.
The first thing to do is not to be that strict with your new policy. Why do you want to completely take away that joy that is brought by music? A single song
everyday may change lives. I would suggest putting limits on the number of songs available to be listened every day. Make it a “daily trial” with, let us say,
30 songs available each day. I bet that this would solve the problem and create a win-win situation. You would give an incentive for your customers to stay
instead of deleting the accounts created such a long time ago. This would also reduce the overload of your servers and your maintenance costs. Moreover,
this would encourage people to subscribe more. When you give something to taste and set the price if someone wants to have more, it is way more effective
than take everything away without tasting it. You may say that 30 tracks are enough to get that taste, but that just means that you know nothing about
music. Thirty tracks are not even enough to get the taste of a single band, so you cannot expect the customers to have a life-long loyalty.
You may disregard this fact, but your website is chosen by many because of its availability. Everyone skips sites that require to pay as less as 10 cents for
any small and insignificant or a very valuable thing. People are tired of consumerism and profits generated from that. They are tired of being exploited and
forced to pay for the things they love so much. I am not talking about elimation of monetary systems and prices. I am talking about availability to get
things that make life less miserable. Music is a drug and those who cannot afford it would remain in a constant state of anxiety. The amount
of money to be paid for music is not the case here. The money itself is the case. As well as availability, which is so reduced for many who never use
e-banking systems. Paypal may seem to be working on the global scale, but it is not. Thus, your community of music lovers would shrink within time.
Eventually, the only users would come from Germany, the UK and the USA. If you are willing to make such market segmentation, so please proceed. But
you have another option that was suggested above and that would not only keep thousands of the customers, but expand their circle as well.
The best way to advertise a product is to have a customer advertising it to his close people. And you have millions of customers that add millions of new ones
by recommending such a great and totally free music website. They are the fertilizer that allows your business to expand. The number of those who
are willing to pay for the thing they can actually get elsewhere is so small, that the fertilizer will no longer be affective. Eventually you will have
a small closed community with several hundred thousands of members and the circle would be closed. That means that you will have set earnings and limited
business expansion. And further expansion would require charging a bigger price that would further reduce the circle of the customers. Where to next? To a
luxury good perhaps, which is so unattractive.
Please, do not be ignorant to the suggestion to limit music lovers at least to 30 tracks per day instead of totally cutting them off the thing that plays a huge role
in their lives. This may be a solution that would bring a win-win situation for both parties.
By the way, I would recommend you reading “Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant” by
W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne. I believe that you still can remain a company that applies blue ocean strategy in its business.
Best regards
Guilherme
25 April, 21:34
and today, the real meaning ( and good thing) of last.fm died. :(
Henk Poley
25 April, 21:40
Just got a mail “Your free trial to Last.fm Radio is over. Did you enjoy it?”
Would have been nice to mail me about that beforehand, before the trial started.
Xen
25 April, 21:45
PS. I’m in UK but i’m boycotting too!
4 reasons…
1) The internet is generally a free service, facebook is free, myspace is free, ooohh looky ‘ere Spotify is free!
2) I thought Last.fm represented a revolution in music but its just gone full circle. Not only a service to users but a model savior to the music industry
3) Exclusively charging users from certain territories around the world is JUST . NOT . FAIR . Actually, its totally unreasonable.
4) We are in a recession for Gods sakes!
5) I will not just stand around and let this be the first example of an paid-for internet service …
ezechiel
25 April, 23:07
succhia
lucifersson
25 April, 23:36
LAST FM.
Fuck OFF is your LAST DAY’s SON OF BICTHES
FUCKING INDUSTRY WHORES………….
OPEN SOURCE EVER…… LET THE INFORMATION BE FREE.
we are NOT getting into your dirty HANDS….
We are NOT PAYING YOUR FuCKING PROSTITUTE LIFE…..
You BASTARDS…. WE ARE NOT GOING TO PAY YOUR SHIT…..
STICK YOUR RADIO IN THE US
Jävla Hora
Hej då
alekso
26 April, 01:11
You just have to ruin it……….
Ta Nguyen
26 April, 02:56
“The net/bait has been caste and now they’re reeling in their true greed, profit, selfish, shameful white supremest intention from the very beginning.”
You’ve pull back decade hard cultivating good work of others white down in your toilet hole with one flush.
To all other music lovers..! It time to flush these profit gangsters from our free ocean.
“This fish and millions of other fishes just got away, we hope that they’ll see the light from their dark small corner of this world. Until then, we’ll see them at the bottom the ocean next to Titanic “
It was interesting while it lasted.
FLUSHED
Manuel
26 April, 03:01
PIGS! YOU´RE GONE.
Polarimetric
26 April, 03:25
Hahaha, so much for things not changing as a result of the CBS acquisition!
Feels like just yesterday when you guys were parading around the fact that you had been bought out by a company that actually owned a record label and all of that but everything was going to remain free and the same. When you initially launched the free track service, it was all “FREE! FREE! FREEEEEEEE!”
Now, apparently, it’s “well, it could be free, but blame people for not buying ads, not us.”
Sad
26 April, 04:20
How could you do this to us?
Former international user
26 April, 04:28
I am glad to inform you that I have deleted my account and therefore will never contribute a single advertising cent to you again. And I hope thousands of others will do the same.
All the best in your future endeavours, last.fm.
Dbrown
26 April, 05:53
Last.fm, I had high hopes for you. You started off great, and I loved your radio service. But charging me for being Canadian? I guess its time to switch to exclusively using iLike. It’s been a good ride, but I’m deleting my account.
So long, fuckers.
iXperia
26 April, 06:02
Sell last.fm to Google and only they will be able to support it with their worldwide advertisement service so that the original promise of a free radio service remains free. Although Google’s recent treatment with YouTube doesn’t give me much hope. Anyway goodbye last.fm it was fun while it last.
culture free
26 April, 06:02
OK so bye bye lastfm…
see you when you’ll be free again!
Leonardo
26 April, 06:51
It’s a pitty, I really liked Last.fm… I hope some day you change your mind and keep it as a free service. Until then, farewell!
mateitudor
26 April, 08:55
La revedere.
Paulul
26 April, 09:09
Like all he good things that come “for free” in life, they don’t last at all!
Have a nice life.
phil
26 April, 09:23
‘Just a reminder, your free trial of Last.fm Radio will end after you’ve played 30 tracks.’
Reminder? You never told me that. I’ve played 3000 tracks.
Have you decided its time to get rich?
hagay
26 April, 09:30
there are meny alternative rether than you.
you sold to every one, all the way, that last.fm is free, and suddenly with no advance notice you disconnected millions of people, you’r radio station should die for that, as most of us who’s “died”, after spending a lot of time in last.fm and made body’s, made it as somthing who was part of their life, every one was dedicated to you (on past). but no more
by, by last.fm
you are not worth it.
wakirak
26 April, 10:12
I’ve removed last.fm from my Macbook, PC and Ipod Touch. Using now other alternative streaming music services: spotify, yes.fm…. Bye bye guys, you loose
enrico
26 April, 10:13
I spread the voice out for you, but I felt bad when I got the news.
I think radio is nice because is free.
Sorry, but you are no more a radio, but a pay-per-listen
coxy
26 April, 10:28
LOL @ comments
krlm
26 April, 10:28
I suggest to remove a “Listen free..” sentence from a title bar. It’s not true at all.
fatmak
26 April, 10:29
I am truly disappointed. Sorry I’m not British or American. This just sucks. And I don’t see what you will gain from all this…
WakLu
26 April, 10:54
Gila Duit…
Dominik Nowak (PL)
26 April, 10:56
Ok you make a decision – bad one. Youre become discrimination service – blame on you.
In last I am since 2007 and always watching yours development… know everything goes in wrong way…
Last.fm without discovery music? – this is no last.fm. Sorry but its hard to me to pay 3Eur/pm – for me its too much.
YOU SHOULD also change SUBSCRIPTION price paying in particular country according to GDP.
sticazzi
26 April, 11:30
you loose last, with this action…
revolution?you say revolution for 2 years and now say capitalism…good.goodbay.
podlus
26 April, 11:41
You just don’t get it, do you?
Maybe I’d found some fund to pay you this money, but when I imagine all those people for whom music is discovery to the new world(s) (just like me), people from countries where such a money isn’t some change from pint… I can;t. Maybe I’m too emotionally with this but you hurts my and many peoples dreams.
Goodbye.
drzamich
26 April, 11:47
screw you
:(
26 April, 13:29
Such a shame. I loved last.fm but no way Im paying for a radio. This is pretty fucked up, there are many ways to earn some money – for example, put a donate button somewhere on our profiles and many people would donate for sure. Just let us decide and not discriminate everyone outside the big 3. Unfortunately spotify isnt available in my country so I have to look for another alternative but I believe that as soon as spotify is open for more people it will destroy last.fm. Shame really, because last.fm used to be my most visited web page for ages :(
underbed
26 April, 13:31
well…i can’t understand how a decision like that was taken. i though that the world is heading for a free-information state of being and free access, regardless of race or citizenship. It’s a pity that the whole situation was badly managed and most of us (i’m talking about people outside the 3 priviledged countries) feel discriminated. i’m sorry i didn’t clicked more ads when the service was free.
farewell
fikrin ne?
26 April, 13:51
thanks
armeniosabenca
26 April, 14:33
You know, I would pay… if you would have something new for me to pay for at the same point when you decide to start charging. You just can’t expect people to start paying for the very same thing they have been provided free of charge, just because of your internal incompetence. A simple new feature would have assured you thounsands of subscribers who would start paying for something. Your economic department sucks, your P.R. department sucks. Besides… you really don’t know about your markets: Many europeans can be in Germany in the morning, go to Belgium in the afternoon, and go to The Netherlands in the evening. You’ll lose subscribers even in Germany and the U.K.
Just a reminder: I’m deleting my account.
wil
26 April, 14:34
apestan!
Pat
26 April, 14:45
ok. i have payed for one month, ‘cause lastfm is my last good way to listen music… But, this is not good: i hope u’ll return to the free way, ‘cause 4 a lot of people from not rich countries, 3 euro at month are impossible to pay 4 listen music. U have users from messico, filippine, africa, brasil… they will not pay 4 u beacause some of they really can’t! think about… Last fm = social divide?
Fuck!
26 April, 16:19
‘Just a reminder, your free trial of Last.fm Radio will end after you’ve played 30 tracks.’
Reminder? You never told me that.
Have you decided its time to get rich?
LOOSERSSSSSSSSSSSS
thedemonhunter
26 April, 16:21
Ok, why the heck you had to do this?! Tell me just one good reason and I’ll cut my dick off
Avathar
26 April, 16:22
I changed my mind.
I don’t care anymore. 3$ isn’t THAT much (for me less than 3€) but… it’s not worth it anymore, because how Last.fm’s staff acts is simply sad. They don’t care, why should I? I’ll just be one of these idle users, scrobbling – and that’s it.
Too bad that the magic of this place died.
And everybody remember – it’s not about these 3$/3€ – it’s about the new rules being unfair.
MarcOz
26 April, 16:32
Sorry to hear it…
Hey what about to putting short audio ads every 5 tracks heard. At least those can sell as we can’t avoid them. I wouldn’t mind it. You could set the rules such as max 10 seconds or something like that. You would have one of the biggest captive audiences. And it would work out.
I love the service but am not sure I would want to pay 3 EUR per month for it.
Or maybe 3 EUR for X amount of tracks listened to.
Since I sometimes don’t listen for a month or two.
Good luck!
[:-]
Disappointed
26 April, 16:33
Just a reminder:
StumbleAudio
Spotify
SHOUTcast
Musicovery
Deezer
iLike
Tunerec
Songza
Live365
RadioBeta
Grooveshark
Finemusic
Jamendo (about indie artists)excellent!
musicax.org (listen & download songs)
finetune
jango
Open.FM
libre.fm
greetings from Italy!
yael
26 April, 16:34
So basically, everybody has to pay except those who CAN pay.
Listen, lastfm: most of us users who live in third world countries cannot even pay for the service. Currency exchange is forbidden in my country (Venezuela) and has been for the past 6 years. Even if i wanted to, i cannot subscribe. So now, you are depriving me of a service that was great for me, because there is no way on earth i can pay that fee. Even if i could buy those dollars in the black market, i cannot open a paypal service, nor mail them, nor transfer them through the internet or bank accounts.
Face it: this will be the end of last in third world countries. Shame
abagiatikos
26 April, 16:54
Actually I would suggest you stopped scrobbling for Last.Fm, since you enrich their content. Stop offering, when they ask you to pay to use their most useful services.
There are other sites that you can scrobble. Try supporting Libre.fm which is open source and can actually l;ead to something big and free. It is in a very early stage yet, but it’s up to us to help it become the best, as we did with Last.fm before deserting us.
onewitch
26 April, 17:10
So it seems culture and music can’t be free at last…Today we have to pay to listen what we love, to discover new artists…I’m so sad and so angry I can’t tell ! 3€ is not big, but it just means “pay for that to, pay for everything”…I’m so so so so sad…But I refuse to pay, culture is a right, and should be free. And I think you should do the same, you’re not a cash machine, are you ?
lelisboa
26 April, 17:32
I’m completely disappointed with this cold message in my Last.fm application:“Your free trial has expired. Subscribe to keep listening to non-stop, personalized radio!”.
I understand the requiring of money but no in this fascist way. It’s incredible as you turned into a corporate cash machine.
I will wait one week for changes and if not happens, I will just say goodbye after 69131 scrobbles.
What shame!
TynnaXX
26 April, 18:08
For as long as p2p software is available, people will rather steal music than pay 3 euros for music they don’t have in their PCs.
That’s all there is to it…Leave that propaganda aside…Bringing music to people, letting people enjoy the beautiful and wonderful sounds of the world…just say that you’d rather get money and that’s that.
Goodbye.
yael
26 April, 18:28
Yeah, im DEFINITELY moving to Libre.fm
I dont care if its on an early stage, if i have to ask a friend to help me install it, whatever.
We should all move to libre.
gwiazdora
26 April, 19:50
Bye last.fm
anasghost
26 April, 19:53
This is SOOO ridiculous. You completely ruined the essence of Last.fm, that was listening to new music, discovering new artists, getting to know new stuff for free. I’m outraged.
FUCK OFF.
zoeker
26 April, 20:09
The detailed arguments for the decision still remain unclear to me. There are no ads in the Last.fm client. Does this mean that if a sufficient number of users in USA, UK and Germany switch to the client instead of using the site the service will get paid for in these countries too, or that the client will begin showing ads?
I would not pay for a service that only gives me a random list of tracks that I might like and which I’m unable to pause. I like Pandora better as far as the radio service is concerned and unless you increase the added value in your product, soon, I’ll be gone to some other radio, be it free or paid.
Slovenian
26 April, 20:11
This is the third announcement stating exactly the same thing. No matter how you spin this, users won’t be fooled – there is no dialogue, you haven’t even addressed our concerns about discrimination nor have you issued a sincere apology to “the rest of the world”.
On the other hand, I should thank you. Since your first notice I’ve stopped using your service and realised I don’t actually miss it; I have found many worthy alternatives which actually focus on enjoying the music instead of gathering user stats.
camisouzza
26 April, 20:16
BLIP.FM for free
rainyday
26 April, 20:20
Ahora que ya lo ven todo ganado, quieren darle en la madre a los paises menos afortunados no? es una pena que los malditos capitalistas resurjan del algo que la neta no tenía nada que ver con la música por dios !!
¡¡¡¡¡NUNCA ME SUSCRIBIRÉ A SU PORQUERÍA!!!!!!
BYE BYE LAST FM
moonshine26
26 April, 21:15
So this was all in vain after all, wasn’t it? All the comments, all the negative feedback coming from the disappointed users, all the…
Why do I even bother anymore? Why do we all even bother? Nobody’s gonna even READ all of this, let alone act upon it. 674 wasted comments. Why don’t you close comments to begin with is beyond me.
Way to go ruining something so beautiful, last.fm. You’re worthy of praise, really, you rarely see a more ill-handled marketing move. You rarely see such a dysfunctional PR. I mean… do you even HAVE such a thing?
It’s almost like you WANT to alienate your users. Well, that’s the only thing you seem to do well lately anyway. Good luck with it further.
I’ll choke myself laughing the day users from US/UK/DE will have to pay as well, and I’m sure that day ain’t so far away. You can never have too much money, right? How much till accessing your charts will also be charged? Hell, you could also charge a fee for downloading the client. Plus for any subsequent updates. Might as well go all the way once you started, right?
rioju
26 April, 21:15
Whatever happened to basic human values? – “sorry folks we’re no making money, we have to charge to pay the bills – any suggestions?” As a “third world” listener, I’m amazed at the arbitrariness!!!
In the long run the losers are YOU – not us listeners who have dozens of other options!!
fijam
26 April, 22:56
So on say, grooveshark, I can listen for full tracks for free but I have to pay for radio on last.fm? Seriously guys, something went terribly wrong along the road, starting with the unfortunate “web 2.0-ish” redesign.
carcass78
26 April, 22:57
this is the worse thing tha could happen in a social network as lastFM, this mean that there’s citizens of different classes, and then there’s not a real democracy in whole world. Unfortunately LastFM directors prefered to get many credits than many listeners and people that really appreciate this service.
Unfortunately money is more important than peoples choices – It could not be true, you had to be absolutely and only shamed!!!
Thomas
26 April, 23:07
Dear Last.fm
Okay, whatever – I’m also moving away so don’t bother answering my previous question.
bye.
Deema
26 April, 23:25
“Listen Free and Discover Music at Last.fm” – Last.fm
Too bad, it is the LAST time I am litening to Last.fm.
I hope your decision will ruin you.
Good luck, and good bye.
HAHA Pay? You wish!!
27 April, 00:09
Guys, seriously? First of all even if you don’t want to pay for Last.FM you can still listen to it.
Have you ever heard about proxies, VPN and stuff? I’m not from UK, GERMANY nor USA and still listen! lol fuck those bastards! fuck those who only think about money!!
Use google to find how you can use last.fm without paying. ;)
There will be a lot of sites teaching how to do it.
Jess
27 April, 01:02
It’s really not worth the money. It’s a really bad radio to begin with, why on earth would I pay for it?
I have ways to listen without paying even though I am not from one of the 3 countries but it isn’t even worth my time anymore. I’ve given up on this site and am having a great time looking around the internet trying to find a new service, discovering new places and comparing them.
Sure I’ll miss scrobbling, but I’ve stopped for a month now and after a couple of weeks, you don’t miss it as much as you’d think. After all, I still have my itunes to tell me what songs I listen to the most.
What I would be interested in seeing is how many people have deleted their accounts.
pissed_user no. 98776666654440000007
27 April, 01:28
this announcement sucks BADLY.
bu11dog
27 April, 02:01
Hello Jango, goodbye last.fm – thanks for the fun while it lasted
leaving
27 April, 02:03
I have no problem with you charging for the subscription; $3 is a reasonable fee.
I do have a problem with you charging only certain listeners and not others.
I also have a problem with the lack of notice. Apparently this was announced on a blog somewhere? Well, I only found that there was a blog at all by reading this, and it appears that most other people were similarly uninformed. Obviously you didn’t get the message across.
In short, I’m leaving. Not because you are charging fees, but because you don’t respect your listeners enough to give them advance notice or treat them all the same. All this means I can’t trust you, so I wouldn’t feel safe giving you my money. Although given the number of mistakes in tags and titles, it wouldn’t be worth paying for either.
Kudos on the PR nightmare, last.fm. As we say in Canada, good bye, eh!
Mario
27 April, 03:01
I signed few days ago and now this !!!
Oh yeah, not everybody will have to pay.
Again, $3 for everybody is ok.
So, thanks this week and a great goodbye.
I recommend blip.fm !!!
Monica
27 April, 03:02
I´m from Brasil…and I´m crying out loud!!!!
FIM da LAST.FM
27 April, 05:29
Mercenarios, vou deletar minha conta.
Adeus seus burros!!! Burros!!!!! idiotas, mercenarios!!
Canada1
27 April, 05:34
So; USA, UK, and Germany are able to use the services for free.
HEY ASSHOLES! WHAT ABOUT FUCKING CANADA!?
You shiteaters disgust me, at least you can now use the money to get a better Dental Plan.
Clair-Obscure
27 April, 06:22
As soon the radio tells me that I need to subscribe, I uninstall it and I’ll never be here again.
Listen to your real users, you’ll lose them all…
Jaylucid
27 April, 06:28
wow. To think of the thousands of songs I scrobbled so you could shut me out. I am a Canadian musician and believed in your model. All to indicitive of the indusrty in general. Shame on you.
bass
27 April, 06:56
People has to stop deluding themselves and stop calling Last.fm a community. It is not. It’s a corporation. And everybody knows that corporations have profit as number one on their list of goals. Any customer complaint will be ignored if it clashes with the possibility of making a profit. So, the only solution for you is to vote with your wallets, because it seems that money is the only language corporations understand.
Rafuru
27 April, 07:17
Thanks 4 all Last.fm =)
I don’t have any credit card, so i can’t pay the service..
BTW i was very happy with the radio, congrats for this great service!! ;)
Clair-Obscure
27 April, 07:18
They are blocking my posts on last-fm because i’m telling to all my groups and to everybody to come here and to stand against this Rape !
mark
27 April, 07:20
The more I think about it, the more unwilling I feel to subscribe. This has been a stupid move and one that has dealt an irreparable blow to the community. Good luck with the damage control. I’m off to check out the alternatives, and to find a way to get my scrobbles out of here.
What a way to boost your competition!
c-hood
27 April, 07:30
Deleted
knilaus
27 April, 08:20
@3inT: Spotify is not available in Scandinavia.
@Mark: “Perhaps, instead of pissing in your whiney cup and pouring it out on your shoes, you could offer suggestions? Alternative ideas? Help solve the problem instead of bitching like crybabies who don’t get their way.”
Use Google Ads – they already support all the world’s geographies. How difficult does it get?
rob in da hood
27 April, 08:25
not cool dudes. i purchased countless albums after discovering artist on last, now this honeymoon is over, and countless artists will go hungry. goodbye last. goodbye.
DarkSlave
27 April, 08:48
I got more than three years using last.fm and i have scrobbled more than 44000 songs Now i just cant believe that I’m being discriminated, last.fm should take care of his oldest users at least!!
What a shame!!
Ab@lone
27 April, 08:55
Hi, here is my position, as musician, and Netlabel manager. I think you should consider it, as we are numerous on LastFm.
We added around 15 albums & LPs on LastFm of the artists we promote, that makes something around 80 tracks.
All tracks are full preview, and free download, as it’s Creative Commons licensed music. We use “non commercial” CC licenses, so we just can’t leave our tracks on a platform that makes user pay for listen.
Then we have no choice than remove all the tracks we put on LastFm and close our label account.
I won’t use my user account anymore, because after having contributed so much to LastFm (free tracks are well appreciated by your users !) I’m asked to pay 3 € per month, without any distinctive consideration. I don’t ask a favour, but you should at least have considered this : We contribute largely to LastFm, we don’t collect royalties because we’re involved into CC music.
So sad so far, I was liking LastFm a lot and discovered numerous bands on it (that was a good point for the commercial labels, cause I bought lots of CDs and Vinyls this way).
But I’m sure that soon something free and even better will show up to replace the good idea LastFm was at the beginning ^^
cheers
Say Something too
27 April, 09:09
Richard Jones has lost his typing skills?
Or he’s to busy keeping up with the deleted accounts? :p
odisseus
27 April, 09:25
This suck.
seal69
27 April, 09:31
Bye bye last.fm – not good enough. Back to TBP I guess. Can anyone please post links to other sites that do let you listen legally for free?
coconut
27 April, 09:51
once i loved lastfm.
i have no credit cards. capitalism is a fuckin shit =\
Free music exists elsewhere
27 April, 09:53
Why not try free music ?
There is a huge archive about free music, but only creative commons & lal licensed music, woth a listen :
www.dogmazic.net
There are lots of nice podcasts such as
www.starfrosch.ch
www.de-bug.de/pod/
(much in electronic/dub/minimal, but also some pop & post folk)
And of course, lots of very interesting netlabels providing music that is free to download and copy, and it’s 100% legal !
My personnal selection : – www.jahtari.org (roots/reggae/lofi) – www.lescristauxliquident.org (dub/electronica) – www.aquietbump.com (dub/minimal/ambient)
etc…
endisz
27 April, 09:56
from http://www.last.fm/about:
“Wake up! There are still people who can’t get at the music they want the way they want to. So, back to work…”
deerstop
27 April, 10:05
Yeah, right, because people in USA and UK are much better than we are.
Hate you.
bogdanflo
27 April, 10:16
delete account
remove from favorites
bye
MRickardUK
27 April, 10:26
I’m actually in the UK and listen to last.fm a lot at work. My company’s server however is based in Dublin so it appears I am no a UK user. Now I am being asked to subscribe. Is there a way around this?
Many thanks
JC
27 April, 10:39
Been using Last.fm for the most part of 3 years, it’s always been good to me, until now.
Goodbye.
Travis
27 April, 11:32
I run an online business as well and a couple of years back we introduced a similar subscription type model to our users. Naturally as soon as anyone has to pay for something on the web, there is a sharp knee-jerk reaction to go elsewhere and find a new alternative, even if the product/service is an excellent one (like yours).
I must say that this morning when I noticed that my music had stopped and I opened the Last FM app on my mac that there was a popup box saying that I had to subscribe I was extremely “surprised”. Prior to this message I had not seen one notification about this pending change (I use the service everyday too). I think the way that you have brought this subscription model in (you could have shown a similar popup in the app a few weeks ago to warn people about this change) has been handled quite badly.
The fact that I had to visit the last.fm website and find the link to your ‘blog’ (where I thought there would be some news about this) is pretty poor. As I can see above, it seems you have pissed off some pretty loyal users… so maybe next time you will plan out your communication strategy a little better…
necroleak
27 April, 11:33
Paying for radio – Dumbest idea ever !!!
Last.FM what were you thinking ?Paying for commercial artists – ok, that I can somehow understand ! But WHY the heck should I pay for listening to artists that posted their music on this site for FREE ? After all, they don’t get any money from my $3 per month !
Last.fm did something very very stupid here !
Southpaw
27 April, 11:33
Well, I don’t mind.
I’m a scrobbler, not a radio listener.
;)
27 April, 11:35
I don’t have much of a comment about the post itself, as I live in the US, but about 99% of the users commenting here don’t seem to have much of a brain. Lrn2think.
RestOfTheWorld
27 April, 12:55
My dear american friend above.
1. Lose weight.
On behalf of the rest of the world, thank you.2. Try to build a car that goes around corners.
Jack
27 April, 13:00
It really annoys me that most of the people here assume that music is free. Sure, you can get if for free in lots of places, and sometimes artists give away their music for free. But for that, you should be THANKFUL.
Yeah, it has been a lot of fun when last.fm radio was for free, but hey, the artist’s copyrights will have to be paid somehow (and they should be paid for giving you listening pleasure). And if the ads can’t pay for it in your country: tough break. But don’t go ranting about it here. And hey, it’s only 3 euros a month, if you can’t afford that, stop listening to music all day and get a job.
And for all the free-leeching cheap-asses out there: it’s about time you started paying for your music.
cherno_cba
27 April, 13:26
Moving to Jango….
Alex_Amarok
27 April, 13:36
I’ve been accepted in Spotify. They don’t discriminate yet, only the beta invitation thing. It’s been such a good time Last.fm, you only get from me scrobbling (as long as it remains free). No more wikis, tags, pictures of events, or anything else. I subscribe the opinion of abagiatikos. Very disappointed user.
Hope you make you mind that this isn’t the way.
P.D.: This isn’t whining, I only said my opinion and a hope.
Diego Felipe Cortazar
27 April, 14:02
La verdad esto nos sorprendio a todos los oyentes de LASTFM, porque despues de tanto tiempo de escuchar musica gratis y sin interrupciones, ahora quieren cobrar por un servicio web gratuito.
La noticia se ha difundido por la red y fue decision unilateral del staff de LASTFM.
Mas sin embargo de esto, voy a hacer una huelga pasiva para que ellos se den cuanta que la mayoria de los oyentes son el publico al que precisamente le estan cobrando.
No voy a volver, ni a intentar entrar a last, para que se den cuenta que hicieron mal y que los fondos web se consiguen de diferente forma.
Asi que te invito a todos para que les informes a todos de esto y que hagamos una huelga pasiva, ademas, si alguno encuentra donde quejarse directamente con los de LAST, lo hagan hasta saciarlos.
DIOS te bendiga.
Att: Diego Cortázar
Edu
27 April, 14:43
Hey! Why US, England and Germany dont pay?!
I live in Brazil and cmon… 3 euros?! Jesus!!!!!! For me its like to pay 10 bucks man! US, England and Germany can much more and more easy…
Now, I will make a intenacional card, pay taxes, and pay 3 euros… thats ridiculous…
I have a blog and there a put a library radio, and that shit doenst work anymore.
If a subscribe on last.fm that radio will work for everyone? ¬¬
bizio
27 April, 15:16
WHY??? LAST.FM FREE FOR ALL!!!
Narfss
27 April, 15:36
Good bye, last.fm. Other places don’t need steal my money.
Other user erased and friends are coming.
bittolo
27 April, 15:55
So, you really decided not to listen to your users, at all
Antoine
27 April, 16:15
Arf …
Bogdan
27 April, 16:26
You will not gonna keep this very long time… wanna bet?
Nervous
27 April, 16:33
Living outside of US, UK and germany it took me less than 10 minutes to find a workaround.
Seriously you will destroy your own creation with this.
mel
27 April, 17:26
I’m very surprised, and I don’t quite understand this
I do understand that music is not for free but:
why can USA, UK and Germany get it free? Either all or nobody!
And also I’d like to see some statistics of how many more music has been buyed by discovering music over last fm. I buyed much more than before!
And in our country I have to pay twice, for receiving AND connecting radio and internet, so why should I pay again???
Well, goodbye
BIGCRL
27 April, 17:27
sabem o q vos digo p o_C A R A L H O.
Kim Moller-Elshoj
27 April, 17:57
Very very disappointing! If you can’t make money on adds in any other countries than US, UK and Germany, then there’s something wrong with your business model – because others can!
Bordeaux03
27 April, 18:01
I really really like last.fm but there is still something that is bugging me.
Richard and a couple of others got £140,000,000 or 157,000,000 euros or $204,000,0000 when CBS bought the site.
CBS themselves are worth $14,000,000,000.
Yet it us the average members of the public, some who are students, some who don’t have jobs, some who just can’t afford to pay something they can get elsewhere for free.
Who reckons this is fair?
Listener, 3 years whith last.fm
27 April, 18:05
Free internet radios here:
http://aupeo.com/
http://www.jango.com/
alex
27 April, 18:19
see you NEVER!!
suleiman
27 April, 18:37
it was fun while it lasted!
..fuck you..and heres to me!
Scoffer from the States
27 April, 18:54
LOL@ all you crying babies….“wah wah, mommy took away our free toys and free rent and is making us get out of the house and get a job! wah wah!!!” “We’re going to look for somewhere where we can FREELOAD forever and only worry about OUR SELF-CENTERED SELFISH SPOILED SELVES!” Leave then! I’m not at all affiliated with CBS or last.fm and I wish they didn’t do this (or change the last site design for that matter), but crying like little BABIES TO GET ATTENTION FROM MOMMY won’t work fellas….be ADULTS about it and SHUT THE F UP BEFORE CBS STEPS IN THIS BLOG AND REGULATES THAT ASS.
Marduk Thor
27 April, 18:57
Sorry, but for me this is the end of Last.fm, I’m happy because I know that internet is a “the next king” web, then if Last isn´t free other will be. Good bye.
dalei
27 April, 19:04
I’m German but live half of the time in Russia – will I get the 30 days anew every time I re-enter Russia from Germany? Will I still be able to listen for free when in Germany? Or should I change my location back to Germany? Please advice, ‘cause paying is not an option for me. In my opinion you just committed suicide in all those Eastern European countries – at a moment when you just were about to become popular.
Best regards
dalei
T
27 April, 19:06
www.jango.com
rightabovethestates
27 April, 19:11
dear Scoffer from the States,
I’m pretty sure that you are FROM THE STATES, so you don’t really understand how the rest of us feel. but thanks a lot for that lovely comment, really. the rest of the world is in a completely different boat than you special us citizens are, as usual.
Lib_rouge
27 April, 19:37
This is completly unfair, I mean why now and not before? It doesn’t work for users when you first say it’s free and then after no you’ve got to pay if you’re not from usa, uk or germany… the rest of world, you can go fuck yourself but let us your credit card before so we can feed our three favorite countries!
You want us to take this as if it was a normal? YOU ARE CRAZY!
And I can’t believe that you cannot put ad with radio for ALL the other countries. I mean if you take a look, for examples, to online radios in Canada, you will they’ve got ad on the same page! YOU LIE, bastard, just open your eyes and you will see there’s solution to your money problem others then made us pay for something we deserve because, after all, if we weren’t there, last.fm wouldn’t exist.
Remember that.
rox
27 April, 19:39
hi, i’m from argentina, I love last.fm, I thing is a wonderfull service! ,but the subscriptions is not for my country! is a lot of money for my family economy
delusionbeta
27 April, 20:09
And so the counter trolls begin.
Why would you buy The Slip from iTunes when the band’s official site is giving it away for nothing?
Same principal here: why pay last.fm when you can get your music fix from, say, Deezer, Spotify, Blip.fm, We7 et al?
The big problem is that last.fm is discriminating, which annoys all right-minded people. Hence, this comments list. Add in some broken promises on top, and you’ve got Stupidly Bad Business.
Parrio
27 April, 20:18
Use www.playlist.com
There’re thousands of alternatives. Thanks Lastfm for this 3 marvellous years.
mitaplouata
27 April, 20:19
am using last.fm to listen and to upload my music. I think I will delete everything, including my tags. Was nice but it should be same for everyone: free or paid.
johny
27 April, 20:26
you never gonna look 1 cent from my pocket
Miguel
27 April, 20:31
I don’t understand the reason for different treatments for different countries. A TV slot for publicity can only be sold to a company if the slot has a big enough audience in the country it’s being broadcasted, but a website works with a global audience – there are no country divisions, specially since the products which are advertised are normally available in every country!
suckers
27 April, 21:12
LOL@ Scoffers idiotic narrow minded conservative right wing American view of the world.
Scoffer from the States
27 April, 21:32
I suddenly feel like I was out of line with my posting above. I was letting off some OLD-FASHIONED American steam and TRYING to be funny @ the same time. I apologize to all who were negatively affected by my Regulation speech. Hopefully Last.fm/CBS can take care of this MESS that they have put themselves in. I am proud to be an American, but I feel for all the other countries who have to pay, and those who CAN’T because of higher priorities and country laws. CBS, oh CBS. You didn’t see this through the dollar signs in your eyes, DIDJA? Too many music companies are being run by BUSINESSMEN WHO LOVE THE MONEY MORE THAN THE MUSIC. And to the person who said Last.fm would go the way of Napster I ask: “What’s a NAPSTER?” Nuff said.
Alistair Erskine
27 April, 22:21
Given that i never use the streaming radio section of this website, i really dont give a shit.
I was planning on doing the old subscription thing, but now that I see its just for streaming stuff, i wont.
That said, they arent charging much at all, and everyone carrying on like last.fm has just raped their grandmother, deleting accounts and what not, well… you guys are taking this wayyyyyyyy too personally.
my charts are still there, and the reccomendations will still be dope.
kay
27 April, 22:52
i will never ever pay for your service, radio (especially over internet) should remain free!
and what a pitty i’m living 20 km from the german border… i always thought internet brings people together!
btw, thanks for not informing me (in the registration process) about having to subscribe after a free trial period!
em
27 April, 22:57
Well, i guess that’s how you pay us for helping heading your site to this point,
You are only valuable because of us..
Thanks anyway for everything until now…
You are only great because of us..
You are only valuable because of us..
You are only valuable because of us..
You are only valuable because of us..
You are only valuable because of us..
You are only valuable because of us..
You are only valuable because of us..
You are only valuable because of us..
You are only valuable because of us..
You are only valuable because of us..
You are only valuable because of us..
You are only valuable because of us..
You are only valuable because of us..
You are only valuable because of us..
jose j
27 April, 22:57
So goodbye from spain!! Ale
Last.fm, pawn of the jews.
27 April, 23:08
This is complete ripe bullshit. This just gives more incentive to download music illegally instead of listening to it streamed.
Thanks Last.fm.
Sadness
27 April, 23:35
Wow… really, wow…
Goodbye last.fm
I regret referring friends to you.
****
May Raptor Jesus have mercy on your greedy souls
****
Corporate Troll
28 April, 00:06
http://img.4chan.org/b/src/1240876824745.jpg
sad
28 April, 01:16
So, goodbye from Argentina. Big mistake.
finn
28 April, 01:48
the whole point of the internet is that it is international and can be accessed from anywhere in the World. This goes against the spirit of the internet.
Dann
28 April, 05:18
Forget the users…mistake!.
Goodbye Last fm.
213123
28 April, 05:40
hey last.fm “the social music revolution” . Last.fm is not social anymore , you should call it “the money maker revolution”
One way
28 April, 07:09
Proxy tool at http://www.giveawayoftheday.com/ today :D
1111
28 April, 08:44
No more free last.fm?
Music from Rapidshare is still for free :>
Abscondo
28 April, 08:46
Thanks for letting me know to stop using and recommending your service in Slovakia then.
B Adams
28 April, 09:04
Please read this too – http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/technology/start-ups/27global.html?_r=1&hpw
it’s a problem for all sites. I work for a small news site with users spread across the world like last.fm. Google ads do not cover costs (very low payout) and there are not enough advertisers out there to support a billion web-sites, thousands of radio stations, hundreds of TV stations and a few hundred thousand newspapers. At the same time music is the most expensive content on the web – last.fm like all music sites have to pay for every track streamed on top of agreements with the majors. MySpace has had to pay $millions and give part of the company away to the majors.(CNBC: Three months ago, Holt, 40, took charge of the recently revamped MySpace Music, a joint venture with the major recording labels). If the ad monies aren’t there the business would die eventually. This is the reason Pandora left the EU. Don’t be under any illusion that the site you turn to now for your free music will not be in the same boat in 3/5 years time. The music industry is a dinosaur – we should support last.fm for not selling out but trying to keep going against the odds.
Giorgio
28 April, 09:10
Last.fm you let down your users and this means you’re going out of business very soon.
Remember, you’re nothing without us.
Goodbye
Miles
28 April, 09:12
@ Travis – thanks for comments.
Serj
28 April, 11:06
Пидоры , бляди ….
It is not fair , you bastards
Peter
28 April, 11:09
Goodbye from Slovenia!
May you rest in peace.
noschlager
28 April, 12:40
I was also a loyal subscriber. Now I won’t use this site ever again.
Gaffel i Auget
28 April, 13:15
Far vell fra Norge
I understand your decision but that does not mean I support it. I have enjoyed using your service a long time, but just recently used your radio. It was a great way of discovering artists, but alas, now its over for me. 3 euros/dollars is not much, but i dont want to pay for music i can only listen to online on a computer.
Im half way through your trial now.
This is the grave rites…
swy
28 April, 13:37
Completely looses it GLOBAL appeal, fanbase, contributions – which was on of the the things that sets it apart from current record shops, music industry in general.
Where awards “for best act in the world” usually translates to respective countries music industries only looking at a couple of countries max for their music sources.
“A SMALL WORLD”..
… maybe back to “walled separate individual worlds” in this case.
progress?
MrRoberts3
28 April, 14:02
Last.fm’s value mainly stems from being “social web/web 2.0” application. Without the community, it has no value at all. Users are not willing to pay for social web applications. Simply. So if such an application is dependent upon customers paying, then it is just to stand back and watch it going down.
DjBoa
28 April, 15:53
the last and the least…….!
R.I.P. from Portugal!
your
28 April, 15:58
DUMB MOTHERFUCKERS8!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Koos
28 April, 16:38
Lost fm bye bye..
Goodbye from Quebec Canada
28 April, 17:05
I’m very disappointed with last.fm and feel rather foolish for having suggested it to so many friends and family. I’m also surprised that last.fm couldn’t find a way to make any money in Canada. What is it about Germany UK and USA that makes them so much more profitable than the rest of the world. This is particularly bad for independent musicians who have just lost a valuable friend and ally.
cameraboi
28 April, 17:40
okay, so you’ve done it. i reject your service and recommend all my friends to assist.
Radtacular1
28 April, 17:50
I used to love last fm. I recommended it to people. Then you made me sign up. Now youre making me pay. I have lost my love for last fm.
Why is it that in 3 countries it’s free? If you are going to make it free for some then it should be for all. Or make everyone pay.
pzl
28 April, 17:53
I don’t think it’s fair! It’s kinda discrimination! I really enjoyed last.fm and I’m really really sorry that it turned into a commercial service.
ann
28 April, 17:55
Why did you do this to me?! ;(
Donbasilio
28 April, 18:10
I subscribed two or three times for a month, in the past.
I think that with EVERYBODY paying, a fee of no more than 10 eur per year, I would happily stayed.
But this way is outrageously STUPID and counterproductive. Look: I just deleted my account (it was “donbasilio”).
Oh, I forgot to say that I was a fan and I recommended the radio to lots of people, before. You… whatever. 3 euros per month to listen to a radio. You must be crazy.
AMIRIGHT
28 April, 18:29
What would really be interesting is if these comments are basically 200 people posting multiple times. 200 out of what, millions of last.fm users? okay at least a few hundred thousand….it’s not the end of the world guys, this is a bad state of the economy, didn’t you watch the news? This was to be expected……
JF
28 April, 19:13
usage of last.fm will be dropping fast…
Just an idea, include all countries where it’s feasible to include adds and promotions and the service will pay for itself. I see many countries like Canada that are not is the «free zone» and could added.
More revenues from advertising will pay for other countries where it’s not permitted.
Just my two cents…
Chester
28 April, 19:21
I’m so sad. I’ve been here for short period of time. It was great. My favourite music, so many interesting people… It was so exciting and new for me. But one day everything has changed. Now you suck. Where shall I listen to musik? Ha? Could you tell me? Ssijcie. :((
And I agree:
You are only valuable because of us…
Because of US.
Unfair. Unfair. Unfair.
GO TO! :#
Murasaki
28 April, 19:26
Even if 3€ a month is not an abusive price, I don’t think is fair to charge users in some countries and not in others…Charge everyone or give the service for free.
I’d rather buy singles on the iTunes store than pay for internet radio which some people are listening to without paying anything.
VZsolt
28 April, 19:39
Hey, while you’re at alienating everyone, could you at least give us Mac users a script to get rid of the Last.FM client fully?
Silver
28 April, 19:51
это дискриминация, просто ахуеть…
susperia-electrica
28 April, 20:20
Ha! I’m an artist and one of my listeners lives outside the UK. She can’t get paypal as it does not exist in her country and she has no credit card, so as a good fellow I paid for her subscription. Big question is this..why did I have to pay £3.00 for her subscription?
spadoinkle
28 April, 20:26
too bad. you’ll loose most users.
abagiatikos
28 April, 20:47
As I said before, STOP ENRICHING LAST.FM’S CONTENT BY SCROBBLING IN HERE. Use LIBRE.FM, which is in its early stage and needs our support in order to become something better…support open source.
We are the power…we can change things…we can lead the way. Without us, Last.fm is an empty entity.
If they don’t respect us, there’s no need to make them stronger with our presence and scrobbling!
akagitano
28 April, 20:58
Ok. You use my info to create your content. No more scrobbling. Bye Bye Last.fm
hararis
28 April, 21:28
Wondering why do I keep on offering you my scrobbling data for free…
Timppa
28 April, 21:54
I am from Finland, an EU country. And EU is a one market. Maybe I would pay if you had an SMS option and charged EVERYONE. But no. This is completely unfair. There’s a shitload of users outside those three countries. And we’re not too happy. I will not stand this. This is the end of my scrobbling. See you in Hell.
Goodbye Last.FM
28 April, 22:01
It’s all about mon€y…
I’ll have to say g’bye to Last.FM.
Nona
28 April, 23:26
:’(
I’m down to the last song i’ll ever listen to on last.fm
goodbye
EMN
29 April, 01:30
Great!!! Another great idea that goes to the drain because of money … Too bad…
Now we’ll see the death of a great site…
CherriRed
29 April, 05:34
I can not believe the quality of finetune.com and you know is free for all users around the world. Good luck.
r.i.p.
29 April, 05:44
jah!!!
hasta nunca señores, borrado el software y borrada la cuenta, Last.fm R. I. P.
disapointed
29 April, 05:57
The solution :
get off last and join :
http://libre.fm/
anjoy
29 April, 06:14
I hate the PAYPAL system !!!
Now I receice spam every day to force me to suscribe and I don’t understand if I hace to do or not ;-///
But I love last fm !
Rafael Castro
29 April, 06:37
Alvin Toffler would say you are wrong in this case. 2009 is not time to charge services like “online radios”.
James
29 April, 08:00
No problem with paying at all, you have to make money, but do have a problem with three countries getting a free ride – that’s just plain rude.
oneweb
29 April, 10:06
I agree that the lack of communication was a shocker. My fire.fm player stopped working last week. I had to go to last.fm to play and I didn’t see anything mentioning a forthcoming subscription on the site during that time. If it was there, it wasn’t made noticeable enough for the severity of the situation.
Guys, at the end of the day last.fm provide a fantastic service. This shenanigans is all down to the record label scum most of whom have, 10 years after Napster, STILL failed to do anything to take advantage of the internet as a sales platform. Why pay a high price for a downloadable album when the actual CD costs just a bit more – which includes printing, packaging, distribution, storage and other tangible costs.
Last.fm could have pulled a Pandora and BLOCKED everyone outside the UK/US/DE. The record labels have put last.fm in this situation, as they’re the ones who decided to apply different licensing models to those countries.
oneweb
29 April, 10:15
…oh and I’m not in either of the 3 free countries!
seg7
29 April, 10:46
Not for the price, but for bad PR, no heads up & country discrimination.
If i pay u 3e today, u want 5 tomorrow.
Oh and i know how to use proxies but it’s not worth it anymore.
Bzzzzzzt…
bekker
29 April, 10:55
kapitalistiese vokops
Frenchbruce
29 April, 12:15
Don’t quite understand why you couldn’t make it possible in other countries… probably haven’t tried hard enough!
It is not illegal in Australia to run a website sponsored by Ads, and not that difficult too.
I just don’t get it! Sounds to me that this was just another Corporate decision that in the end aims at targeting a new audience, the ones who will stupidly pay! But I’m probably wrong and you had good reasons for this!
Good bye… it was nice making a bit of that trip with you guys… until now! Time to go separate ways again!
Sniff, sniff!
Kamilla
29 April, 12:18
Is anyone going to buy this anyway ? oO
Paradoks
29 April, 12:30
From now on it’s us vs you instead of us along with you
gulgi
29 April, 13:15
Such a SMART move when Spotify is already starting to steal listeners from you.
I was thinking about subscribing, but not now. Thanks for saving me 10 bucks.
PeopleCanFly
29 April, 14:38
What a DISCRIMINATION!…`Money,money,money root of all evil.`
civ4ec
29 April, 15:04
Que tarea de imbeciles, esto es una maldita forma de discriminacion como puede ser posible que solo en 3 paises sea gratis, bueno ya no mas lastfm…
Anonymous
29 April, 15:19
Pure Evil! Down with Last.fm!
Listener, 3 years whith last.fm
29 April, 15:23
I read that in a debate on another internet radio, it’s www.playlist.com, there is free but registration required, just below the opera did not want to go, had to get through firefox. Quite a good system – to select the artist, to prepare your own playlist and play. Pretty good way. Thanks for the tip in the discussion here!
Brian Dunn
29 April, 16:35
My Tracks are free to stream you should have a free radio for artists like me who could care less about the 6 bucks a quarter last.fm pays us.
Previous Canadian User
29 April, 17:01
Finally found some info on this via wikipedia. There was no info in the index page talking about 30 tracks, nothing in the pop-up or email when I used these up. Even the subscription page has no info. I used to subscribe when I could afford it to try and help out because I loved the service. It’s pretty much all I use(d!) to listen to music. Unfortunately with me unable to work and my spouse unemployed for the last several months, I guess I’m done with last.fm. Too bad. :(
dissappeared already
29 April, 17:12
the all idea is free streeming radio why you change this????
maccoutinho
29 April, 17:43
Goodbye last.fm, it was good while it lasted!
terergegr
29 April, 18:14
lastfm, you’ve just let me down
Henning Horn
29 April, 18:49
Through Last.fm I have discovered a lot new tracks and bands, that I wouldn’t have heard of in any other way, thank you for that… No no, wait… How was this possible? Because of us, your users, because of our endless scrobbles. You’ve taken away the possibility for us to discover new music. We’ve never asked you to pay for our listening habbits, we provided them for you, for free, given that you would give us the possibility to discover music.
I strongly believe that I speak on behalf of all of your users, or at least those of us who lives outside the privileged countries (USA, UK and Germany), when I say that this new way of Last.fm is completely unfair. We provide you with our scrobbles, for free. Therefore you should provide your streams for free, as you used to do. We didn’t sign up just to give away our listening habbits away, or at least I didn’t. I signed up because of the personalized radiostations.
You value our scrobbles, and we value your streams. We provide our scrobbles for free, you charge us for your streams. The is no longer any balance between you and your users.
nobody
29 April, 18:53
Agree with the previous post.
FU
29 April, 19:03
At least try to make a new kind of service and charge them rather than turning readily available free service to paid.
Thanks for being such a fucking asshole RICHtard Jones. Oh wait, I’ve just uninstalled last.fm from my pc.
natalie
29 April, 19:08
Hello.I would like to say that last.fm should be free for all users in any country.I’ts not fair what you did.There is also another problem.In Poland,there are many people who like listening to last.fm,but they didn’t have enough money to subscribe.I know this people and i’m one of them.So i beg you,change this decision!Please!I beg you very much!
roccaways
29 April, 19:13
Well, had considered hanging around to see what would happen with this but but glad I didn’t as the end result was the same and would have just broken my heart again. I have moved on, I hope you can too.
Yours truly,
The last.fm user formerly known as Roccaways.
Sebastián Chávez Peña
29 April, 19:22
Henning Horn said: “Through Last.fm I have discovered a lot new tracks and bands, that I wouldn’t have heard of in any other way, thank you for that… No no, wait… How was this possible? Because of us, your users, because of our endless scrobbles. You’ve taken away the possibility for us to discover new music. We’ve never asked you to pay for our listening habbits, we provided them for you, for free, given that you would give us the possibility to discover music.
I strongly believe that I speak on behalf of all of your users, or at least those of us who lives outside the privileged countries (USA, UK and Germany), when I say that this new way of Last.fm is completely unfair. We provide you with our scrobbles, for free. Therefore you should provide your streams for free, as you used to do. We didn’t sign up just to give away our listening habbits away, or at least I didn’t. I signed up because of the personalized radiostations.
You value our scrobbles, and we value your streams. We provide our scrobbles for free, you charge us for your streams. The is no longer any balance between you and your users”.
And I agree, hell yeah!!
Greetings from Chile.
ccca
29 April, 19:31
Every time I go to the Last.fm main page. The header says listen free and discover new music … so how is this still listen free???
Mauro
29 April, 19:59
ByeBye Last.fm!
One more disappointed person
29 April, 20:16
Oh! My! God!
This is the worst nightmare ever! Who killed Last.fm?! Who to blame about it? The idiots who are babbleing all the time about copy rights and stuff? It really wasn’t piracy! That’s because if you weren’t a subscriber you really couldn’t totally decide what songs and artists you will hear.
Last.fm was the best thing for a long long time, not anymore.
Best things in life are FREE!
So be happy if you lived in US, UK or Germany :(
Che Guemara
29 April, 20:24
We’re not going to pay for this, are we?
Let’s destroy this evil web site from hell!
I hate you all anyway!
UniversalLove
29 April, 20:36
Just great.
The radio now plays same tracks over and over again when you enter some rare or obscure tag, instead of saying “no more content for this tag” or something like that, as was the case before, – that’s for making your 30 tracks expire sooner.
Do you Last.fm guys also pick up cigarette butts off the ground to save some extra bucks? 8-)
GAMIESTE
29 April, 20:42
Fuck you from Greece!!!!
Assholes!!!
I don’t give a dime to you RE MALAKES
F U C K Y O U A T L A S T!!!!!!
Inez
29 April, 21:11
This is just ridiclious!
Why did you do this !?
It isn’t the old Last FM anymore!
last.fm will die
29 April, 22:29
Get the fuck out of my internets!
Alternatives:
http://www.deezer.com/
http://blip.fm/
the king is dead, long live the king
30 April, 01:53
Goodbye lastfm. I’ll come back in a couple of years to see how withered and pitiful you have become. Time to move onto the next big thing.
GOD
30 April, 02:59
ihatemylifenow
Alex
30 April, 03:15
Last.fm isn’t more a Social Music Network… it’s just buzz… and they don’t care about users outside some countries.
fuck last fm
30 April, 04:21
So it’s all about money after all.
FUCK YOU !!!
seriously if the subscriber thing would have been for all the countries then I would not have been that pissed off, but why this DISCRIMINATION !!!!
AGAIN FUCK YOU ……..
good by last fm
another x-member
30 April, 04:39
As a canadian listener i was really disappointed with lastfm’s decision to become “free for some, $$ for everyone else” Its not the cost its the principle. an approach like“everyone or no-one pays” would have been much better suited to who you as a company claim to be. I’ve been a subscriber and a member for 5 years. I loved lastfm and if you had chosen a better way to share the cost among everyone, i’d be renewing my subscription. as it stands Im canceling my account after this note.
I don’t want to be a part of anything that pretends to be something they’re not..
wierd how all this all happened pretty quick after the buyout huh..
hottisx
30 April, 06:46
another x-member, I agree. I haven’t been a subscriber, but it’s amazing how these changes are being made, no matter what the reasons are. We are but numbers here so let’s forget the music revolution and transform into the music industry’s slaves again.
Ok, let’s pretend Last FM still has some power over it’s own decisions. So, it shouldn’t be this way because the general problem big labels state isn’t true. People are buying music. How are we, the customers, responsible for Last FM’s shifting maintenance costs or ad revenue problems? I say, we aren’t, we’re doing our best buying and promoting, so remove the big label artists you can’t afford if the labels seek for profit.
This ‘free’ world built in Last FM shouldn’t be destroyed by anything but itself. Now you’re using the data all the listeners have scrobbled and written during these past years and it’s starting to feel like people have to pay just to read their own journals (or listen to their own music).
So, for the big labels, how about supporting the artists (we, the users, were promoting them on Last FM for FREE) and ACCEPTING the fact that online listeners also buy most of the physical records, go to concerts more often and are really interested in music? But NO. As long as you can’t get what is yours in every possible field of business you will fight against moral, facts and everything ‘free’.
Sigh I have an artist account on Last FM and now this corp is making money out of my FREE music. This, among many bigger things, of course, is fucked up. But hey, what can one expect in a world that underlines the importance of worshipping green paper.
SelphieFairy
30 April, 07:23
what the heck!! why am i being told my “trial has expired??” i live in the U.S.!!! uggggh seriously???????
yrusac
30 April, 10:03
Unbelievable
BYE BYE LAST.FM - HELLO BLIP.FM
30 April, 10:28
I am from the US, but since I am living in Korea I got the trial notice too. Does this mean when I move back the US it will be free? Or am I screwed for life?
Doesn’t matter I guess, there are other services and I’ll find one that doesn’t treat its users like this.
Last.fm you lost the community that was here, you some of the staff go. They were great. Now you are getting rid of some of your users. You are doing it to yourself.
If the old Last.fm returns, I will too. Bye for now, and probably bye forever unless you get your act together.
dacian
30 April, 11:55
3 euros/month is very cheap, but I don’t think I’ll be subscribing, out of principle. For years I’ve scrobbled over 50.000 tracks. I installed the plugin and I helped last.fm grow. For free. This matters – this is what made last.fm what it is. We, the comunity, have been building top lists this way, ranking music, creating libraries, tagging, writing wikis. Indie artists have been uploading their music for free.
The first thing I did when I found out about this subscription was uninstalling the plugin. If I can’t listen to your radio at work for free, I won’t scrobble my tracks from home for free. Couldn’t you have sold the scrobbled information as top lists or trends to some corporations who use this kind of stuff? Surely, there must be another way of doing things with the comunity in mind and keeping user loyalty. It feels like this move is made to maximize immediate profits while alienating a big part of the users.
And why the quiet announcement on the blog that very few read and not in the scrobbler or front page, like the “you have 30 more tracks, sucka” announcement?
Lastly, i find that setting geographical boundaries on the internet for this kind of services is downright stupid. Germany and UK are “allowed” in but countries like France, Austria, Ireland aren’t? The EU should be treated as one, but that doesn’t matter anyway, because payment should be for all or none, or on donation basis.
Bottom line: if you only want the US, half of England and Germany, then that’s what you’ll have. I hope at least this gets a bit of weight off your servers.
uiohuio
30 April, 13:09
bye it was nice.
but i can’t live with your decision.
and i don’t accept that i have to pay when others don’t have.
this is Bulls—t
Daniel
30 April, 13:30
Que gran tristeza tener que dejar el servicio de last.fm, era muy bueno hasta que empezaron con la idea de cobrar.
Creoq ue estoy de aceurdo con la gran mayoría de usuarios, y pueden seguir cobrando pero verán como pierden de visitas y uso del software.
Se despide, un usuarios triste.
Mark, Basel
30 April, 13:48
So since moving to Switzerland I cannot get Radio 5 commentary or spotify and last.fm. So much for the freedom of the internet…
try this
30 April, 14:03
www.aupeo.com
Henk
30 April, 14:49
Die, cunts.
Lswic
30 April, 16:58
add thousand ads, but disable 30 songs limit.Really, you’re broke or what?You’ll lose much more people and get no money, is this what you want?
Black
30 April, 17:41
Last.FM – Internet radio and music community website, founded in 2002, merged with Audioscrobbler in 2005.In late 2006, the site won Best Community Music Site at the BT Digital Music Awards. In January 2007 it was nominated for Best Website in the NME Awards.
CBS buy Last.FM in May 2007. 2008, the page layout gets a face-lift – not to everybodys likeing. 2009 – Last.FM alienates the very people who have helped build and support the site by choosing to charge only some of it’s community a subscription fee.
2010? – January, the subscription fee is raised to help cover the fall in advertising income. May, the UK and Germany are told they have to pay a subscription fee due to an increase in {insert excuse here}. December 2010, Last.FM is surpassed by newer, more user friendly social/community music websites.
Jan 2011. Last.FM is going under – will anyone want to save it? Or will they still remember the bitter tase in their mouths?
OsimAko
30 April, 18:04
Hahahaha
No.
pzl
30 April, 18:06
Yeah, everything is better when it’s free! About last.fm – I also discovered new music (like most users) and I met new people. But why don’t you just add more ads (as Lswic said) instead of making us subscribe? You’ll lose more money if the site is free only for the USA, UK and Germany! I’m not the only user that says this – read the previous comments. Most of the users (including me) will not use the site anymore and soon it’s going to disappear. Seems like it was too good to be true…
Kosti
30 April, 18:14
Thank you for spoiling a great radio idea with your greediness. Good bye!
mdm
30 April, 19:17
“Remember Napster?! That’s the idea… :)”
hehehe
Good bye lastfm
AMIRIGHT
30 April, 19:20
Well, at least Last.fm is filtering out the people that hate them, and keeping the people that love them….LOL get over it. if you wanna leave, just leave :) GL in finding something better for free :)
The Arab that pisses on you
30 April, 19:42
Those Amerikkkans are spoiled rich. They never knew war or invasion or torture – while they visited the same on untold millions of people.
So they are oblivious to you – and have no problem thumbing their noses at the world.
Well, in about 20 years time, the world will blockade Amerikkka as the largest anarchist prison colony on the planet.
When this happens, except a lot of cries about social justice and equality from last.fm ‘s blog :)
TK
30 April, 19:47
Jango
podlus
30 April, 20:25
One more thing, what’s that blog for?
Wikipedia: “the word blog has taken on an even looser meaning — that of any bit of media wherein the subject expresses his opinion or simply talks about something.”
There is no talk hear, to talk you need minimum two individuals.
ilya-42
30 April, 20:44
Umm guys i didn’t get it. If you don’t want to pay why don’t you use some American anonymous proxy servers and login/create accounts posing as germans, american or brits? If you think that’s too hard then pay – 3 euros, that’s not too much.
pietertothemuze
30 April, 22:01
What you are saying now, last.fm, is: “We have an advertising problem in the countries outside of USA, UK and Germany, so we are going to make the customers of these countries pay to resolve that problem.” But can’t you see that you’re creating a major new problem in cutting short your own product, which is about getting access to a diverse library of music? What kind of customer will be interested in a US UK Germany internet radio that he has to pay for? I’m sorry but I smell mono-culture. If you are happy with that, suits me fine, but I’ll be gone by then. If my radio will play merely the music that is easy accessible in US UK Germany, then the whole matching of musical taste and libraries is of no use at all, because I just won’t be able to identify me with a radio that’s, well, local, isn’t it?
JE SUIS DESOLEE
30 April, 22:05
Loved the radio. Found quite a couple of great bands I didn’t know and developed an interest for more “indie” music.
But I will not that price for a radio.
So off I go. Along with EVERYONE. Laters!
JE SUIS DESOLEE
30 April, 22:08
Also, Richard you suck and your beard is gay.
Easy 2 Hide Behind a Computer
30 April, 22:28
You people are EASILY SWAYED. One change and youre at last.fm’s throat. just days ago you were loving last.fm. now a drastic change? something’s not right here. Voice your opinion, but at least be nice! Who knows, in the future they may return to being free in your country.
Are any of you people married? If your spouse made a mistake (like, asking you to pay the rent because he/she can’t afford to after being laid off and whatever), would you call her names and tear her down? Like I said, be nice about it…don’t show hatred; what, would you rather last.fm just shut down the whole site? Come on, young people.
Eric
30 April, 22:56
I don’t mind having to pay a small amount of $3 for a great service.
What I am a bit worried about, however, is that since last.fm has been a paid service, I have not had any new listeners to the music I uploaded. Before that, I got a couple of new ones every day.
I suspect that the new system is – possibly unwittingly and unintentionally – barring ‘small’ artists from getting played. If this is a structural flaw, I think you will be experiencing ever harder times to get unknown bands to upload their music. That would be a pity.
Do you think something could be done to remedy this? Or am I just experiencing an accidental gap in my number of listeners?
cheers!
pietertothemuze
30 April, 23:01
Dear Easy 2 Hide Behind a Computer, I am critisizing Last.fm’s decision because I think it will do no good to Last.fm and their listeners. See 30 April, 22:01. So I have reason to critisize, I do it with arguments, I am not unreasonable. I don’t agree with the loads of aggressive reactions, and I don’t hide behind my computer, I sit in front of it. I am not young people neither, come on.
eh?
30 April, 23:07
Eric, you are totally right. I used to love last.fm because of this possibility – to find new music, new artists who are worth buying their albums. Music I cannot hear in the radio, music that is FREE. And now I cannot hear them anymore.
Freely steamable music should be available through the last.fm radio to non-subscribers. At least last.fm is REALLY thinking about its users, and not only CBS and the Big Money.
your mom
30 April, 23:34
Haha, im guessing you didn’t realize that your out of country listeners could just use a free proxy and go on your website for free, huh?
pietertothemuze
30 April, 23:46
Dear mom, I read that the proxy thing/ change IP thing doesn’t work (any more) and even if it did, I wouldn’t even try because I’m glad to pay for a good service, but not for a bad one: then I’m gone. But mummy dear, can we discuss this at a cozier place, eh, what ‘ya think? Mmmmmmm …
Eric
30 April, 23:46
What might also cause the problem is that about two weeks ago,last.fm all of a sudden uninvitedly associated my work with artists that do I not even remotely connect to. When I started my artist account, I had to fill in other artists’ names to give listeners some idea. I didn’t fill them in for nothing, but because I truly play in their style.
Many of the bands last.fm made compared my work to were other unknown artists. With all due respect, but listeners will not use these bands as triggers to start a new radio round, because they don’t know them. That makes me even harder to – accidentally – pop up in radio plays of a certain musical style. That would be a lot easier if I could remain associated with the well-known artists I filled in myself.
Last.fm is now a waste hole
1 May, 00:27
CBS paid $280m for Last.fm. I guess they ran out of the cash. They need 93333333.333333333333333333333333 paying users to replenish their bank accounts.
Wow, that “3” is a common theme.
DJ
1 May, 01:19
Within a few minutes of hearing this decision on the 24th of march I deleted my account because even though paying for a good service is acceptable I cannot support the old fashioned concept of dividing people along territorial lines.
If people support this ideology it could lead to other sites around the web like facebook and twitter introducing similar double standards.
This decision contradicts the original vision of last.FM as well as the original intention of the world wide web in general.
The only bright side is there are a myriad of alternatives which when the time comes for them to introduce charges, hopefully they will do so in a more classy and less discriminatory manner.
Another last.fm artist
1 May, 02:46
Hey Eric, just make sure you have some searchable tags associated with your songs….one of my artist pages, like yours hasn’t had any new listeners since two days after the change (Friday), but another of my managed artist pages is currently getting about 1 new listener a day w/o advertising, which is pretty good i think…
WARNING WARNING
1 May, 02:53
A word to the wise: Be careful! An other problem may arise that will make this one seem very very small.
Michel
1 May, 03:00
Obviamente, no estoy de acuerdo en que haya que pagar, si no dan alguna opcion, como tener publicidad radial o grafica, en menos de tres meses abandono el sitio.
Mee
1 May, 04:21
Haha, I laughed when I read that “services such as […] scrobbling are still for free” Haha. TYVM? I feel so much better now. I’ll buy a suscription for me and mah friends, now. </sarcasm>
http://listen.grooveshark.com/ http://listen.grooveshark.com/ http://listen.grooveshark.com/ http://listen.grooveshark.com/ http://listen.grooveshark.com/ http://listen.grooveshark.com/
1 May, 04:34
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
http://listen.grooveshark.com/
brackenberry
1 May, 05:19
Nothing lasts.
wysiwygjt
1 May, 08:34
Shame.
wtf
1 May, 09:11
Fuck last.fm. Seriously.
lemme
1 May, 10:12
If I can’t listen to your radio for free, I won’t scrobble my tracks for free
-.-
1 May, 10:49
You obviously lied to us, you wrote you won’t make any changes until the payment through sms is fixed.
I am extremely disappointed with your service. I used to love it but now it seems you changed your principles. Last.fm is not about community anymore. You are building everything on lies and oblique statements.
And what’s the point of using your site if there is no radio available? I am not going to scrobble my data for free then.
Also considering how many comments are already posted here, no response from your side just shows how you are treating your users who helped to build the service for so many years, and that’s just unpardonable.
Eric
1 May, 11:24
My songs are extensively tagged. Their being tagged is NOT the problem…
VlooMan
1 May, 11:37
Last.fm uninstalled, user deleted.. Had a great time with you guys.. Wish you all the best and lots of money :) Great project anyway..
xen
1 May, 13:10
@Easy 2 Hide Behind a Computer
I ask you, what is there to stop other free web-services doing the same thing?
This protest is about not having to pay for a FREE web service that was prided itself on being free…and dividing the worlds users and be proportionaly unfair with it.(As if CBS hasnt got enough money already! – BTW I know this because I work for them).
Next they’ll be charging rates per territory to fill the gaps in their lack of Ad Revenue.
There is always one smart ass isnt there?
koltaig
1 May, 13:36
I was willing to pay if everyone would be charged, but not as some second-rate user. What, I should pay so that those who live in the richer part of the world could listen to it free?!
I hope you lose my stats & charts if I delete my account.
Ben
1 May, 13:59
Uhh…. no. Bye!
elmo13th
1 May, 14:53
This is like pulling the electrical plug from a radio. Shame on you. I’m really annoyed by this.
Phazey
1 May, 15:19
So… now I have to pay a ‘subscribtion fee’ to allow americans, brits and germans to listen for free?
And you think that’s fair??
I’d rather throw my money out the window and bang my head against the wall rhythmicly.
Goodbye, last.fm. Too bad we part on such bad terms… but i can’t get over you being such a slut (for americans, brits and germans, that is) and now all of the sudden a whore to me.
ame-mila
1 May, 15:33
I’m from Serbia, I can’t become a subscriber even if I want to, no PayPal here. :(
abagiatikos
1 May, 16:30
I have said it before and I’ll say it again…Last.fm is a fiasco. They made us believe on principles and ideals about free radio and such, in order to get our info, and when they accomplished their goal they asked us to pay for the service that we managed to provide through our countless scrobbling. This is outrageous and has nothing to do with the actual amount of money they ask for.
And “Easy 2 Hide Behind a Computer”, if your wife cheats on you with the football team, try sending her flower instead of cursing and leaving her behind. That’s what we do…screw Last.fm. I have moved over to Libre.fm myself, refusing to support a site that charges me , when I already offer for free.
patreterno
1 May, 16:48
verguenza
duckroller
1 May, 17:35
Goodbye last.fm it was great while it lasted.
Hello deezer.com
Todd_CANADA
1 May, 18:53
I have no issue with you guys paying the bills – but US advertizing generates a lot of purchases here in CANADA for the same companies.
Too bad our IPs get blocked, but not our dollars.
Hope the new model works out for you, last.fm was a great part of the (global) internet community.
Natha1ie
1 May, 18:54
Well, that’s really like a knife in the back of this site and its users
I’m sure a lot of people will leave because of this “innovation”
so there’ll be no profit
el_matt
1 May, 19:01
Just wanted to drop in to let you know that I won’t be using last.fm anymore. I have used the service for years, but I will not be supporting it anymore.
The price in itself is not bad, and I would consider it if not for the fact that you are charging people outside of certain countries. This is supposed to be the WORLD WIDE WEB.
Barb
1 May, 19:32
Bullshit.
lastfmlistener
1 May, 20:10
shit happens
Theodora
1 May, 20:48
Can someone explain to me how Libre.fm works, I understand that it is still beta version but it is a full mystery. Thanks!
However, I still like Last.fm, I guess those guys did not succeed in preventing consequences caused by the economical crisis.On the other side, I will not be able to be as much active as before,but I rely on last.fm that sooner or later they will make up their mind.
Cheers,
second class user
1 May, 20:58
probably the guys at deezer.com opened champagnes when you made the changes.
It has many disadvantages, but at least it’s for free, and still a good alternative. Now I am occasionally clicking their ads to keep that site free :)
lastFMrocks
1 May, 22:42
Hey! maybe if we get to 1000 posts the last.fm guys will look at all the slander and hateful messages toward them and change the paying policy so we can all be happy and love them again rolls eyes
Last user...
2 May, 00:35
Harakiri…LastFM…
ex-user
2 May, 00:45
Even recordings that are in the public domain like Librivox audio books, and old song recordings from the 1910s and 1920s are not available for full play – only 30 second previews. It’s ridiculous.
Last.fm had a very nice UI, excellent copy editing, not to mention the scrobbling engine, but the discrimination is insulting.
Clearly typical fare from the old zionist dinosaurs of CBS, rather than the brains that actually created last.fm
Next time you might have considered selling to a decent media company not run by the Irgun and Stern Gang.
Last user...
2 May, 00:52
www.grooveshark.com Highly Recommended!
whatashame
2 May, 03:10
I’m soooo desappointed…
Lastfm was really an example of democratic use and discovery platform. Now everything has changed. what a disappointment.
I don’t think I will subscribe. That would be crazy!
ex user
2 May, 03:14
..no comment
crazy canuck
2 May, 04:10
Bye Bye Bye,
In internet terms you guys are so LAST century. Wish you luck, you’ll need it!
Anthony
2 May, 06:10
I’ve used you guys for ages…see ya.
Big mistake guys. What you gain in short term revenue you’ll lose in us all leaving. Good luck, there’s plenty of other options around now.
FUCK YOU GREED.FM
2 May, 07:49
fuck you richard jones
Already Left
2 May, 07:52
Ciao Last.fm
Going for libre.fm
you guys are stupid
2 May, 10:53
So paying fore last fm? no way there are ohter free radio stations. so i conna delete last fm permently
dany
2 May, 11:27
fuck you richard jones fuck you last.fm
ex-subscriber waving goodbye
2 May, 11:58
Hi guys. I’ve successfully got rid of last.fm from my life and I’m totally happy on jamendo.com and other ad/donation-based internet radio stations – try SomaFM, for example. At least they are honest and sincere. :)
At last.fm, they can’t do any “serious business”, constantly failing to warn or notice about any big change. And they didn’t keep their words/told a lie (re: alternative ways of payment).
Last.fm is not worth your money any longer.
Konstantinos
2 May, 11:58
OK. Now make the last.fm iphone application international. :)
Just Another Sad Day For Radio Making Place For Greed and Money
2 May, 13:12
Bad Bad move, ahh well fun while it lasted. Good thing there are TONS of FREE radio stations left elsewhere.. Guess GREED and MONEY won this time around. Time to delete everything and stop passing by here.. Its been good.. and Last.FM owners good luck you WILL need it.
felipe8a
2 May, 13:42
I hate CBS every morning!
shutupmom
2 May, 14:15
Well, I’m glad Single Explosion by Matthew Good is the first song of my last 30.
Ah well.
piergiorgio - italy
2 May, 15:04
i really don’t understand your suicide choice.
In this moment i deactivate the scrobbling options.
No free radio, no free scrobbling…
bye bye
diana
2 May, 15:33
erasing my account. hope you lose a lot of users from today.
searching for free (gratis/libre) alternatives.
“Se o Last.fm só é o que é porque o usuário teve a boa vontade de baixar um scrobbler e deixá-lo varrendo tudo o que ele ouve, agora nós vamos ter que pagar por isso?”
[“Last.fm is what it is because users have been kind enough to download a software and let it scrobble everything they listen to – and now we will have to pay for that?” Like someone said above, it’s really a bad taste joke when you say scrobbling is still free. Of course it is – in fact, you should pay users for that.]
anyway, account erased now.
AirborneDragon
2 May, 16:18
Just kidding me…
Rotfl
Bye Last.fm! Btw…, you are the last!
To listen to free online radio try:
http://www.deezer.com/
Music Lover
2 May, 17:21
I don’t understand why everyone is complaining so much, the fee is 3 dollars a month, i don’t know what you can get out there for 3 dollars, but around here that could not even buy you a sandwich. and why would they charge users in the UK, USA and Germany if they can still make money via ads? They tried to keep the service free as long as they could and are still try to keep it free, so don’t blame them for the Music Giants being greedy, the licensing fees are the cause of all of this.
Alan Ralph
2 May, 19:01
For what it’s worth, as someone who has used Last.fm for many years, and who has found and purchased a lot of music through the site as a result… I’m bemused by the reaction this announcement has caused. Last.fm is, to me at least, so much more that just another streaming music website – it is probably THE best reference I know of for information about artists and their music, and where to get hold of it online. The people above who’ve deleted their accounts and moved to other places have missed a trick, in my opinion.
DR
2 May, 19:53
A sad day for people that likes to legally hear music. I uppose lots of people that used to hear music gere will now go to less legal sites, or ilegally download their music… sad day for artists too, I guess.
I can completely understand the economical reasons behind the decision, but I’m also of the opinion that some other alternative than a monthly subscription should have been put into place (voluntary donations, for example). I know it’s not that much money, but still.
eric
2 May, 20:07
I saw what happened to fab-channel in the Netherlands as a result of their idealist and highly appreciable attempt to try to survive on add-supported material. They were haunted dead by companies getting them to pay copyrights for what they offered.
You guessed, they went broke not so long ago, also partly due to the crisis. That is an eternal shame, which should not happen to last.fm.
You can’t keep a channel alive on ideals and promises. I am afraid that history generally has been very unkind to sites trying to survive on ads alone. A little bit of research into the field will quickly show this (FYI, as a researcher, I did this). I am sorry to say so, I had rather seen it otherwise.
You can’t ask CBS to suffer losses on last.fm simply to keep up an ideal. No self respecting company will do this.
No, I don’t work for last.fm, If you may think this for rowing up against the flood of people attacking them. I am a user just like most of you. But I am a little withdrawn by so many of you pissing off the channel, apparently without knowing very much about the forcefield they are in. Thinking that everything on the internet should be free is terribly naive.
But as for last.fm’s service:
NONE of all these new would-be free sites I have seen so far, and which are forewarded by some of you allow new bands to let themselves be heard among famous bands. Last.fm does this. THAT is also why I am a subscriber. I think it is wonderful if any of my songs all of a sudden pops up among the world’s greats.
Last.fm lookalikes may set up a site that allows new bands to upload their music, but who will search for them without any such context of great lookalike greats? Who will promote them among the shitload of other bands that upload? After all, nobody knows them (yet). Only people who already knew them beforehand will look for them and play them. The few that allow you to promote yourself make you pay for it. Such sites are basically empty vessels in which aspiring bands upload their hours of work to be found by nobody but mr Chance.
If anyone can find me a newcomer who caters for this, I’d be a very eager to hear about it.
I sincerely hope that last.fm will allow new bands to pop up among the world’s greats, the way they have done so far, so that they can be heard. I m very worried that the new system they uphold now is eating this strength away. At least, that is what I have experienced so far after the change.
I will stay a member for all the other services last.fm offers, but I will lose my interest as a new band if I don’t see any improvement shortly. Last.fm will become a passive radio-station to me then. It will be no more than switching on any favourite radio station.
Last.fm, You’re still great, but some of your senses seem to have gone numb. That should be cured…
Isaac702
2 May, 21:27
I find it ironic that one of the last 30 songs I will be listening to on this service was Jonathan Coulton’s “I’m your moon”.
In some ways it does sum up this situation quiet nicely.
Last.fm as it was has been dead ever since CBS bought it in 2007. I don’t see any problem with it being monopolized in some way however the way is being done is alienating it userbase.
As something that began as a community project it is sad that this has happened.
Multinational companies should not have control these sort of projects. It was their kind of backwards thinking that spawned them in the first place.
Antiquated business plans wont work anymore. As said above there are to many other options available to the consumer. In some ways I hope they figure this out before it destroys them.
Thursiya
3 May, 01:26
I find it hard to believe that ad-supported free radio music works in the US but not in Canada. I think a lot of people would like to see the figures behind these decisions as this whole event seems very badly organized and executed. At best your company has had to make some changes due to legal or financial reasons. Due to the poor method of delivery, many users seem to be under the impression that this is just a good old case of discrimination. This little bit of information is insufficient to explain these actions. I understand that your site will cease to be relevant outside of your free countries now, but I find this hard to believe outside of pure discrimination without proper explanation.
nicky
3 May, 05:24
well thats disapppointing
oh well I guess nothing good ever really stays anyways
thanks for the music, it was fun while it lasted
pce out last.fm
<3
moko
3 May, 08:57
commercial loosers
stef
3 May, 09:45
this sucks big time! especially the feeling of being discriminated against! gee I guess we’ll all just have to start masking our ip addresses now….
ohwell.
3 May, 09:57
Well, I see no point in all the immature comments. Why are you behaving like spoilt kids. I:m from central Europe myself and this caught me off hand but I haven’t bennscrobbling for a few moths anyway. I will still use last.fm as a reference tool, although I;m not really ure how on earth I might be able to discoiver new music after this. 3 dollars a month can change a lot in home budget. There are better things to spend money on, I’m afraid.
Also, there is a good point raised-what about he small bands? This change will limit them from getting any new listeners.
I guess there is still jamendo for that though. I guess I should use that one to the fullest until it also needs to introduce changes such as these. I think eventually it will need to happen everywhere. Money is a must to coninue providing services, nothing comes from nothing and ad revenue is nit always the mot profitable. It happened to veoh, it stayed open for only 25 countries, the rest of the world was barred and the decision was based on ad revenue. They did to keep service open for everyone. Would you rather last.fm became paid for in its entirety by countries like veoh?
Good luck last.fm. I;m sure you will still get a lot of support and hopefully you will continue to develop. I will move to jamendo for my discovery purposes, though.
becerro
3 May, 10:36
It’s not about money, It isn’t even about discrimination. It’s about how the owners of the site have treated the users. It’s a case of abuse. Maybe the owners own the site, but the users are the ones who build it every day, writing artists bios, scrobbling what they hear an sharing information among a lot of things. They simply took a decision, announced it the way they wanted (using the blog, a part of the website rarely visited by anyone)and in spite of all the negative comments, the simply didn’t hear and showed no respect for a huge part of the community. That’s why I deleted my account. I don’t want to be part of a site where the owners show so little respect for the users, who have only received silence and disregard. Shame on you Last FM, you’ve finally spoiled it all.
Prette
3 May, 12:43
Just be one more to say. If this was your wish, you got it. For sure the last.fm will be canceled from my bookmark. Bye. Free radio or NO radio.
Roberi
3 May, 12:53
Why people out of UK, USA and Germany have to pay? I love Lthink you have killed LASTFM, now lastfm is only a bussines……astfm and I told about it to all my friends… I said it was perfect… but noy I
Roberi
3 May, 12:56
Why people out of UK, USA and Germany have to pay? I love Lastfm and I told about it to all my friends… I said it was perfect… but now I think you have killed LASTFM, now lastfm is only a bussines……
mjrh2
3 May, 14:24
Your practice of charging the rest of the world, while the richest countries in the world can listen for free is simply too capitalist for me.
Why not make them pay and let the rest of the world listen for free?
I hope you will come up with a way of
making adverts pay for the rest of the world too so last.fm becomes free for everybody again.
But like this, you´ll probably will loose 70% of your customers and without the community, you´ll probably be just annother unimportened paysite.
Tatiana Ribeiro Alves
3 May, 14:48
Hi, I’m from brazil
I will not listen a radio that I need to pay.
You people can get money with advertisen or something else.
Tom
3 May, 15:07
I’m afraid you are about to lose me, too. Thanks for all the fish.
Bjorn Stromberg
3 May, 16:30
I uninstalled last.fm when you made the announcement and I’m never going back. We helped you build your service and you stabbed us in the back. Shame on you.
djurban
3 May, 17:06
it’s not about having to pay.
it’s about you guys going the easy way, hope you’ll soon remind yourselves that well, any idea of buisness is to serve your clients, that what you revenue on. if your clients don’t want to pay for subscriptions, you need to figure out a different idea. or just get to work with ads, like you did in usa/uk/de.
you’ve got two months dudes, i’m a patient guy.
Andrew
3 May, 19:02
Just signed up for subscription. I love Last.fm and music and have NO problem paying for quality. Maybe this will weed out users so that only real music fans are left.
Iliya
3 May, 19:22
Marketers should be fired.
The only way to subscribe is to use credit card. lol
Nobody use PayPal except those counties who shouldn’t pay;)
culture free
3 May, 19:33
everybody on:
deezer.com!!!!!
Yaaeehhhhh!!!
Say Something too
3 May, 19:38
@Andrew: I’d rather spend my money on music I like than hope lastfm will play me something decent for my money. I will never pay money for the privilege of hearing stuff once that I will have to pay for again if I happen to like it. Anyone who thinks he’s getting a good deal in that situation needs to think again
Dliz
3 May, 20:05
Ethically, I can’t agree with your unfair business, so I can’t continue to use your services (based on OUR data btw).
Account deleted. Good luck.
>> Sorry for my bad english, but that’s not a big deal I guess: you have too communication problems…
Tyfus
3 May, 20:46
Fuck you, you fucking whores, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you. I put weeks of work in your fucking site and now I get cut off without any warning. Fuck you. I hope you choke on the piles of money you’ll undoubdetly will make. Seriously: die, you fucking whores.
yo
4 May, 02:07
Don´t bother. You may create several fake users in mailinator and listen to last fm for free till you die!
fuck them for not caring about the fact that everything in internet is about sharing…
the link is MAILINATOR.COM
Me,myself&I
4 May, 02:15
Wow Sucky.
Hey btw, Canada is just on top of the United States. Would have been nice to be remembered. 3$? Fuck that and goodbye.
Derp
4 May, 04:04
lol, well there goes my last.fm account.
Oh well, it was okay while it lasted.
I hope you guys can keep enough members from the USA and UK to stay active! Good luck with that!
Occy
4 May, 10:35
Not cool, so not cool …
MacMahon
4 May, 10:41
“everything else is free” – <i>we</i> give <i>you</i> permission to scrobble us, <i>we</i> enter the biographies, events etcetera … all that <i>you</i> did for us, was providing the platform and that little radio-ma-thingy – and now <i>you</i> want <i>us</i> to pay for it? hell no!
Ruben
4 May, 11:00
I’m from Spain and I won’t pay a fucking euro.
What about the money you earn with the ads? isn’t it enough?
Other free sites will appear, so don’t worry.
“no se pueden poner puertas al campo”
(doors can’t be put into the field)
Babs
4 May, 11:13
@Say Something too – well, subscribe and you will be (spending money on music you like) because as a subscriber, you get to listen to your personal tag radios. Make as many as you like, as massive as you like and listen as often as you like. You’ve obviously not bothered to learn how to use the site beyond clicking on a global tag radio and tootling off.
@Andrew – absolutely agree. We’re sorting the wheat from the chaff. ;)
http://www.last.fm/user/Babs_05/journal/2009/05/01/2oxo8l_last.fm_leads_the_way…_again
hehe, my Captcha words are: stooped think
Ala Bala Portocala
4 May, 12:41
Bye, Last.fm. You’ll be in Techcrunch’s Dead Pool anytime soon. I’ll be waiting.
X
4 May, 13:09
Huge bummer…
And now I need to find another way to discover new music.
Anyone any suggestions?
LCL netlabel
4 May, 13:52
Hi everybody,
I’m in charge of LCL (Les Cristaux Liquident) netlabel.
As, I think, a lot of other netlabel managers did or will do in the next days, we removed all our tracks from LastFM.
Our music is Creative Commons license, so it’s free to download and share, then : – we can’t have some people pay (and some not to) listen to it while it’s free elsewhere. That would be unfair. – we can’t let people pay to listen the artists we release, knowing that these artists won’t get any money.
So because I contributed to LastFM life, I use this blog (I think you owe me this one ;) to announce our departure and give some links to people who might want to follow us, and get our next (and past) releases without paying >
You can get in touch with LCL via any of the following means : http://www.twitter.com/lcl_netlabel http://lescristauxliquident.blogspot.com http://www.lescristauxliquident.org
If you’re looking to another place to discover music, blip.fm is interesting ;)
Best regards
Les Cristaux Liquident
SkylineAtNight
4 May, 13:55
People are idiots if they really think the information you can find is “free” information. The internet is far from “free”
Mentalbug
4 May, 14:11
Bummer indeed.
And geez, I can’t even count the number of people I pestered about how great LastFM is.. Well, was. Now I just feel like I stupid spam-bot trying to sell something to them.
The account is already deleted, too bad.
L
4 May, 14:29
I apologize if I’ve missed this, but I’ve been looking in several places and haven’t been able to find it.
What happens to the iPhone/iPod Touch app? I travel a lot, and it was nice having radio wherever I went. Is it exempt from these restrictions?
L
4 May, 14:38
Answering my own question here:
I didn’t realize the Last.fm app is no longer available in the Canadian iTunes store, and according to the website, is now only available in the UK, US, or Germany.
This happens even if a user in another country buys a subscription to be able to use the radio? I’ve been trying to remain objective about the changes, but this is getting ridiculous.
CyberSource
4 May, 14:57
I want to puke. Where the toilettes?
Last.fm you sucks hard!
Say Something too
4 May, 17:23
@Babs
I’ve heard my radio & I’ve seen my recommendations, frankly half of the songs/artists I get from my socalled personalized radio suck, so no, I’m not going to spend money on that. It was the same with Pandora while it was still available outside the us, enter any artist I like and I’ll skip half the songs I hear and end up having to listen to the rest because I’m not allowed to skip anymore.
ryk phlash
4 May, 17:43
funny… how else would last.fm pay the people who make music..who invest in making music?
wake up people….. the free ride is over
pay up or shut up
:/
4 May, 19:23
I will continue to use last.fm but I’ve already deleted all my tags + wiki entries. No way I’m subscribing! Shame this had to happen. Or maybe it didn’t have to?!
eric
4 May, 19:49
I am thinking hard to remove my tracks from last.fm too. I have not had any new listeners since the change. My fear is that I am not getting any because of it. Getting new listeners was all the fun, I don’t care shit for royalties, and I haven’t even ticked the box to get any.
What else did you do apart from making last.fm a paid channel to cause this sudden decline? Is it that unsigned artists only show up after number 30?
If there is no improvement soon, you are going to lose this paying subscriber too. I am willing to pay to listen, but I am slowly losing faith that I am not being discriminated against as an unsigned artist.
eh?
4 May, 20:05
It’s a shame having artists providing free tracks leaving last.fm. I cannot imagine there was no solution to have the non-paying users radio only playing free tracks. Come on guys, it’s about 5 minutes coding. It’s clear, you did not want to do it. But why? Now you are basically unfavoring artists providing their music for free! Wake up, guys!
natalie
4 May, 20:50
I will have to say this again.I’m speaking for many users in Poland:not everyone has enough money to subscribe.I hope it will bother you.And also,cause’ of this decision you will lose piece of your listeners.If the radio were free,you would’ve more of them.Why you haven’t change this decision?Change it!Make Last.fm free!Please!Please!Please!Please!I will search for oder personalized radio station,but if you don’t change your mind,i will write again until you do.Change this decision!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Babs
4 May, 21:17
@ Say Something too ?? songs YOU tag for your own personal tag radios suck?
So you don’t like your own taste? Why tag them if you don’t like them?
(you misunderstood me somewhere, didn’t you?) ;-)
hehe Captcha word “bogeyed” someone reading too fast, maybe? mmm?
Say Something, too
4 May, 21:51
@Babs I don’t tag songs, if I like what I hear enough to buy it, I do, so I’ll listen to those from my own library. For me listening to the radio is a way to discover something new, not stuff I already know – what’s the use of that? Random play in winamp does the same :p
I’ve tried the radios based on bands I like which is sort of a specialised version of the recommendations on the homepage I guess and I gave the style based radio a try.
Anyway, I can see the similarities between some of the stuff I got from the band radios, but that doesn’t mean I like all I hear; as usual the bands everyone seems to have to like come up everywhere because they’re linked to everything else. Aside from that, all these programs seem to think that if you like album x by artist y, you’ll also love album v & w by the same artist, which may be true for acdc but not necessarily for anyone else ;)
(giraffes Velasquez for me now :p)
Babs
4 May, 22:27
So you want to discover music – but you don’t like the discovery process? There’s not much pleasing you, is there?
Your criticism really doesn’t hold much water. Sure there are global tag radios that don’t hold much for me and I find myself skipping to get to the gems, and there are others where I’m tagging virtually every one. That’s how it works and it’s true for anything that involves browsing and choosing.
I don’t see the programs the same way you do. I see them as I see Similar Artist Radios – ie, people who listen to this also listen to… . It means I don’t take the choices of a machine personally.
I tag songs. I couldn’t possibly buy every single track I love, my name’s not Elton John. ;-) This does mean I now have tag radios I absolutely adore, that brighten my day, every day, and I’ve never minded paying for (even though I’m not Elton John). None of this stressy ‘ugh get this track away, begone’ business for me. It’s just ‘aaaaaah’ all the way.
Babs
4 May, 22:31
PS “Random play in winamp does the same” – this isn’t do-able for me. My taste is too diverse and also, I want different tempos and styles for my many myriad moods. I do all my organising and sorting in Last.fm. Nice and easy, all in one place, with more to be found. Job’s a good’un.
Say Something, too
4 May, 23:07
I can see the use of tagging that way – I couldn’t do it myself, too distracting from work, just like the skipping of tracks ;) No more radio will do my work some good ;)
My tastes are diverse too, but I’m picky at the same time, a lot of artists will never get past the 1 album mark – usually the first :p – in my library. That also means I get a lot of skipped tracks from artists that are actually in my own artist list.
Hearing something new was good, getting stuff I already knew and disliked wasn’t :)
(Oddly enough I usually either listen to an artist that jumps at me from the list, search for a specific track or album or just hit the random button – I don’t think I’ve ever selected a genre before doing that last bit; maybe I’m strange ;))
platinum2289
5 May, 02:17
No Subscription from me, damn rassists!
Babs
5 May, 02:50
I see what you mean. Not loving everything by our favourite artists is true for a lot of us.
But is a radio ever going to be absolutely perfect? Unless you’ve built it track by track yourself, and you’re happy to revisit favourites, it’s not going to. In a way, it’s probably easier to just put on commercial radio in the background because at least then, the option of skipping/banning has been removed. But then you have to endure chatty DJs, adverts, news, traffic…
The way I see it, there’s no avoiding paying at some point. I pay my BBC license and I hardly listen to their radios at all, and if I do, it’s Radio 4 or World Service (love the Shipping Forecast. heh) When I started subscribing, it was to listen to my personal tag radios. It doesn’t matter to me that I’ve paid to listen to a new track once and then again when I buy it. What matters to me is my radios, that I built bit by bit over the last few years, especially ‘music to fall asleep to’. Anything on top of that is a bonus.
http://www.last.fm/user/Babs_05/library/tags?tag=music+to+fall+asleep+to
bo
5 May, 04:22
altos garcas estos gringos, eh. siempre la misma. y así hasta q internet sea sólo de los que tienen el dinero para pagar páginas como esta.
y bue, q se metan la radio en el orto. mientras exista taringa está todo bien.
AnonymousLOL
5 May, 07:43
LOL HAVE FUN GETTING PROXXIED YOU GREEDY SONS OF A BITCHES
stop this shit as soon as possible
5 May, 09:45
I don’t mind the subscription thing, after all I can use a tool like FoxyProxy and use an IP-address from UK, US or Germany and still hear everything. But I DO mind that music will only come from those countries, cause the rest of the world isn’t going to put their music on last.fm anymore. Why would they???
stop this shit as soon as possible
5 May, 09:46
I have to post again! This really sucks!!!
marcog
5 May, 10:38
Well it seems to me you have really a communication problem here.
It’s out of doubt that Last.fm fortune was built also with the great contribution of many users. Now if many users are not happy (to say the least) you got a BIG problem.
I understand that you have to pay royalties to music companies and this was going to become untenable, but the discrimination between countries and wrong communication skills are harming you a lot.
Hope you are not gonna die, but it will be tough indeed.
voyager
5 May, 10:58
No thanks – I will unsubscribe and find somewhere else to listen to music
fun while it lasted but im out of here
Silvia
5 May, 12:29
I can’t believe you made it!
Last.fm widget uninstalled, it’s useless now. I’m not paying to listen to the radio.
There are valid alternatives, thankfully.
What a letdown.
ddgdf
5 May, 13:15
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Zerahl
5 May, 13:18
Dear La$t.fm,
I feel cheated. Not because I have to pay for a service that others don’t but because I only found this post by googling “last.fm trial account”. This was a cold move that I hope is your downfall. It’s as if the sweet seductress just revealed its transvestite nature and copulated with its user base’s unwilling anus.
Lest we forgive, let us forget.
Bye
5 May, 13:18
Well, bye then.
ttettette
5 May, 16:57
Try search last.fm in google, see what you got?
Results 1 – 10 of about 239,000,000 for last.fm. (0.22 seconds)
1. What’s This? Last.fm – Listen to FREE music with internet radio and the largest … The world’s largest online music catalogue, with FREE music streaming, videos, photos, lyrics, charts, artist biographies, concerts and internet radio.Search Results
yayaya….ironic, isn’t it?
Bottomline, please do not ask 5% users to pay for 90%.
Jeff
5 May, 17:44
Well done Last.fm
thanks to your disgruntled users you will lose my advertising/purchasing revenue to grooveshark.com and finetune.com
former paid subscriber
5 May, 18:39
My Recycle Bin likes your .app
Bye racists
LivingiNaPERfecTworLD?
5 May, 19:29
If you don’t like last.fm anymore, here’s some great alternatives!
FIND SOMEWHERE ELSE TO LISTEN TO MUSIC AND STOP BI+CHING ABOUT IT. IF YOU DON’T THINK LAST.FM IS WORTH THE MONEY, DON’T PAY, FIND SOMETHING BETTER FOR FREE. IF YOU CAN’T PAY, SORRY; FIND SOMETHING ELSE. REALLY IT’S NOT THAT BIG OF A DEAL (anymore), SO STOP MAKING IT A BIG DEAL.
Yak
5 May, 19:51
Is anybody at Last.Fm actually reading this?? I don’t see any answerer from you to user complains…men you are really running your reputation fast..fasttt…FAST…
fafd
5 May, 20:35
Last fm used to be a cool way to discover new music. Guess that’s dead now.
fuck last.fm
5 May, 22:04
you guys suck. i hate last.fm now.
way to ruin it for all of us.
dick.
paul
5 May, 22:45
well i am now down to my last play.
thank you, last.fm, it was fun. It is now time to move back to limewire, i guess…
(by the way, alienating your smaller markets is a superb marketting move .. really, bravo!!)
Adrián García Badaracco
5 May, 23:27
By Last F.M…
Used to listen 24/7, now I won’t even LOOK at your stupid service again.
I was just writing a post about you on my blog, saying what a good way to discover music it is, don’t worry, I’ll finish the post… With FUCK YOU!
Tyfus
6 May, 02:06
Seriously, why are there no reactions from last.fm to the critisisms leveled at you? Nothing to say? (captcha: dullards soon…)
Ruiner
6 May, 06:42
Will this mean that we can wave goodbye the hope to see the iPhone App being released in other countries?
Elocin0591
6 May, 07:01
Money, always money !!
Bye bye Last.fm and good luck to
Steeve Estatof on your radio station !
Thanks all members for the list about
other free radios…
gonza_101
6 May, 07:55
Well… bye bye Last.fm… It was a pleasure. I spend too much nice moments listening you, and sharing music and finally sharing a little piece of my live with you and your subscribers. It was nice to know you. But you have become a whore, and I cannot pay for music/love. I won’t.
Bye and I desire you a good life, and happinness.
For me… AMAROK is the Future.
From Chile with a little bit of grief.
i
6 May, 09:03
FFS these comments are a drag to read. 1) THIS HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED BEFOREHAND, 2) THERE ARE PERFECTLY GOOD REASONS FOR IT and you would understand them if you had half a brain and understanding about eBusiness, 3) NO, THERE WON’T BE A FREE MUSIC COMMUNITY TO REPLACE THIS, not ever, they will just run into some problem with their economy. And then you will all whine again.
Argh.
Amazon
6 May, 11:26
It has been announced in this blog, which not everyone happens to read. This eBusiness is a pretty common thing nowadays, but there sure were/are some opportunities not to change the way last.fm used to be.
It was free for all: now only Germany, US, UK can enjoy it (however it is surely a discrimination). It was a nice marketplace for newcomers who doesn’t have plenty of bucks to spend on promotion. It was a radiostation without DJs, limitations and borders. Now what? This favoritistical policy and no sign of tryin’ to communicate: completely agree with the first comment and no answers at these.
Puto dinero
Another ByeBye
6 May, 12:25
Bye, bye!!
Philipp
6 May, 12:34
@lastfm
Why is it possible, that I can (as a subscriber) with an english IP-adress hear ALL (!!!) my songs on my playlist in full length?
But with my normal one not. Please explain.
Thank you
Shenna
6 May, 12:56
RIP
wtf
6 May, 12:57
@i
FUCK THAT, charge all or charge nobody.
FUCK THIS!
jazzmax57
6 May, 13:18
I will agree with this: charge all or charge nobody !
me
6 May, 13:24
idiots
nick
6 May, 14:16
Do the last.fm staff really read all this?
I’m not sure.
I release all my music for free to anyone who cares to listen.
Why should last.fm take money from listeners to hear my music.
Come on last.fm start communicating with the people of the world!!
utran
6 May, 14:58
If we are going into moneyland, you better gimme back also in cash the time and effort I´ve put in constructing your fucking musics database. If it were a colective owrk, now it is’t anymore.
Stick this great idea, now destroied with the new added feature paypall, where the sun doesn’t shine.
i
6 May, 15:25
Oh yeah, pretty easy to say “there are ways” and not give any. Yeah, it WAS easy to run it for free, but maybe it CAN’T BE anymore. More users: more need for bandwidth, CPU, disk space. More artists: more royalties paid, more money needed to acquire rights. With the rate it is going now, not even Spotify can stay free forever. One day you ppl might realize that a service as big as this just can’t make it with just a heart of gold. Until that, you just bitch and bitch.
But whatever. Pay if you wish (I decided to, to show my appreciation) or don’t. But after all these years at least you should have some damn respect for everything these guys have done – for free. Anyone insulting them does not even deserve lastfm.
a
6 May, 16:41
i, shut the fuck up!
juanchodelospalotes
6 May, 17:08
Que hermoso ancho de banda al pedo que les va a quedar…
US/UK manejado por 10 big, aguante resto del mundo.
Otra gran idea fucked-up by the monsters of capitalism.
Siempre aparecera algo nuevo…
i
6 May, 17:23
So, no reasonable arguments, I see. Another flawless victory against stupidity.
look
6 May, 18:32
Ok! Bye bye!
abagiatikos
6 May, 21:13
yeah, i, shut the fuck up. If you want arguments, go back and read 1000 comments. If they told us right from the beginning that their intention was to acquire our scrobbles in order to sell them back to us, I would have never offered anything to these guys (neither would have asked anything in return). As it stands, we feel cheated from this remarkable fiasco.
They betrayed us, by falsely claiming (and still do) that Last.fm is a free radio, while they were gathering our data in order to make profit.
David K Davey
7 May, 01:14
What about Australia? Surely, as big as it is, you should be able to run it here without charging?
Australians contribute a lot to your database, only for you to turn around and charge US for the very database that we helped build.
Thanks for the slap in the face.
James
7 May, 02:21
I understand, but I’m really disappointed. It really sucks missing out just because you don’t happen to live in the US or UK.
Last.FM was my primary method of discovering new music which I would then go and buy.
Die hard
7 May, 02:38
This was probably not the best move by Last.FM, but can appreciate the dilemma of trying to fund such a project. I think they should have tried to hire a high-profile sales team to market this site to top-paying advertisers to fund the site first.
As an artist, the concept was good but it definitely needed to be better. They never really had any way for new artists to get exposure. They really should be taking a look at what Jango Radio is doing and try to follow their lead, or else Last.FM will be called Last.FM but for another reason instead. But I will still keep my music posted here in the random chance of gaining one new fan with the remaining listeners here.
Something that they need to understand is that only 5% will actually take the time to complain. So that means 95% do not say anything or do nothing. They just go away. So over a 1000 complaints means that 19000 are probably going to go away. Only time will tell how many crumbs were left behind after the cookie crumbled.
Arnus.
7 May, 04:38
So we just need to convince lastfm.exe that it is on a computer in Germany…
Pretty Pissed off, last.fm, no warning about this, no explanation for it.
Snik4er
7 May, 09:12
Make ot with SMS, please. More users havent credit cards!!!
Leo
7 May, 13:19
CHOCOLATE RAIN. SOME STAY DRY AND OTHERS FEEL THE PAIN.
That’s all I have to say.
franz_FM
7 May, 16:03
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last.fm#Similar_services
maja
7 May, 16:47
adios amigos. it’s sunny here, too.
Jean-Robert Bisaillon
7 May, 17:11
Why isn’t possible to run an add supported stream in other territories? Please get us on board!
Raul
7 May, 17:42
Goodbye last.fm… it’s been great until now.
And here, in Brazil, dollar it’s a double of price… sorry, if i pay 6 real month i buy a CD/DVD.
-1 user. forever. and I liked this site. :(
Kent Dylan
7 May, 19:47
So really what you are saying is that the 3 countries who least need it in the whole wide world, are going to get something for free again! I think that it is funny how countries that need things for free are being targeted once again, I think LastFM have sold their souls, well done, clap clap clap.
It’s funny how every time you thought you found something good you soon realize it’s just another bull-shit organization trying to suck the life out of the underdog.
Wonderful news thanks!
Kent & Reigndear
patfranca
7 May, 19:50
To pay for a service to which I contributed?
I must say that I was surprised with the message of last.fm informing me that I would have to pay now. To continue to use the radio I have … to pay?
I agree that the sites need money to be developed and to survive but last.fm is a very peculiar case where the requirement of a signature is simply baseless. Last.fm exists very thanks to its users. If it were not for the users of last.fm it would never be possible for last.fm to dispose the absolutely incredible amount of songs that it does. If It was not the voluntarism of its users, last.fm would not be able to bring up to date the profiles of the musicians on-line. If It was not the good will of the listeners, last.fm simply would not exist as it is.
After bringing up to date the profile of musicians, having contributed, with scroobbling my own CDs in my own PC, to increase the amount and the quality of music in last.fm, I find nonsense the requirement of a paid signature.
Last.fm Invades our computer with its slogans, vitiates us until we became addicts, abuses our voluntarism and good will and later charges us for the service? Seriously?! I feel myself explored. I oppose!
Spaces that had been born gratuitous, developed by the users, would have to remain gratuitous. It is as if now they wanted to charge signature to access the Wikipedia. It is not right.
If someone finds my claim unfaire, please clarify me.
Kent Dylan
7 May, 19:53
Everything here is copyrighted by Last.fm and the author of the respective article. Beware, our lawyers are stiff-lipped limeys without any sense of humour. And we have an office watch-moose!
ACTUALLY AFTER POSTING MY COMMENT I NOTICED THIS, I THINK IT EXPLAINS A LOT, LAWYERS ACROSS THE GLOBE SHOULD EXPIRE!
Millegarden
7 May, 20:06
I don’t find any good with this site if you will take charge for everything. With services like spotify you won’t need this. It is a very good service to see what you have been listening to and what you might like, but it is to expensive for just that.
Thank you and goodbye (for now, I am ready to come back for a free service)
Dinsdale Piranha
7 May, 23:17
Funny, there was no email and no message about this in my inbox, my player just stopped working the other night.
No thanks, jerks. That’s actually pretty expensive for listening to music at my computer. If I was going to pay for anything I’d pay for satellite radio, then I can listen to it anywhere.
*Cough*proxy
Ayecone
7 May, 23:47
This is what your whole site is based on!
Or was.. until now.
Damn, you’ll regret it.
Luis Puente
8 May, 06:03
I adhere to what’s been said above. This really sucks! I hope you reconsider…
teopanos
8 May, 07:23
I simply cannot understand why i have to pay to listen to the same music that people in US, UK and Germany listen for free. Charge all your users or don’t charge anyone. Or at least explain why we from other countries have to pay. Anyway… Bye bye Last fm from Greece…
luxx
8 May, 10:00
Why should I pay for something I can get for free elsewhere?
Bye-Bye last.fm
RJ's Mom
8 May, 12:26
I’ll list my concerns with this move:
-No decent prior notice, I first found out on another blog.
-I percieve the way the ’30 tracks remaining’ messages are written and presented to be rather aggressively geared towards getting to our money.
-They’re not even saying sorry, maybe they don’t care?
-I’m not comfortable supporting a service for people who get it for free.
I believe that there is a money issue, but the strategy seems a little harsh.
Lennart
8 May, 12:58
well bye last.fm!
uninstalling as im writing this! :P
Former User
8 May, 13:33
Adios Last.fm, it was fun while it lasted. Too bad you had to turn greedy.
jh
8 May, 14:06
see u
miranda
8 May, 20:13
Change tis decision.It’s not fair that users outside the United States,Germany and Great Britain should pay for the radio.Last.fm should be free for users in all countries.
Someone who wants to know
8 May, 21:00
A little question: how is it now that you charged the whole world apart from 3 lucky countries?
Is it any better?
I dare say that more than half your users felt betrayed and left. Is 42 euros per years from the survivors better than the increasing number of users you had and the way you were spreading?
I’d really much appreciate to know.
In case you didn’t notice, you were making a difference. You wasted it.
I’m not paying your failure 3 euros each month.
just was audience
8 May, 23:29
I’m not from one of those three countries. Now I should use proxy server to lisen to music. Do you think allowing three counties free of charge while others have to pay is fair? Anyway there are other free options on the net to listen to music. Thanks anyway
Level-Z-EU-Citizen
8 May, 23:59
So, I have to pay just because I’m Italian? Nonsense.
Let me suggest you to charge, for I.E, only people taller than 175 cm or only red haired women. If this is your business strategy to come out from the worlwide financial crisis… GOOD LUCK!
So, by now I have to pay in order to allow British, American and German people to listen music for free. Yeah. Seems fair, for sure.
This is a failure, thanks to this last.fm won’t survive a year. Not even in the 3G countries.
Tomek
9 May, 01:01
CBS go to hell, bring back the free Last.fm!!!!
APF
9 May, 02:13
This has really hit me like a bucket of cold water, never in my wildest dreams I thought this could happen; but it has. I’m Peruvian and I have really enjoyed Last Fm, it was great from the first day I discovered it, almost to good to be true. Now, because of my nationality, me and others are been excluded from this service. It is very hard for many of us (not citizens of industrialized countries)to pay 3 bucks for a service. Ironic how Americans, British, and Germans, will not have to pay a dime for the service. In the prior mentioned countries 3 dollars are nothing for most people, but in poor countries 3 dollars can make a big difference, not to mention that finding a proper way to pay for a subscription is very hard. So I guess the following countries will not be listening to Last Fm any more, unless they pay or find a proper way to pay for a subscription:
Afghanistan
Albania
Algeria
Andorra
Angola
Antigua & Deps
Argentina
Armenia
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Benin
Bhutan
Bolivia
Bosnia Herzegovina
Botswana
Brazil
Brunei
Bulgaria
Burkina
Burundi
Cambodia
Cameroon
Canada
Cape Verde
Central African Rep
Chad
Chile
China
Colombia
Comoros
Congo
Congo {Democratic Rep}
Costa Rica
Croatia
Cuba
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Djibouti
Dominica
Dominican Republic
East Timor
Ecuador
Egypt
El Salvador
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Estonia
Ethiopia
Fiji
Finland
France
Gabon
Gambia
Georgia
Ghana
Greece
Grenada
Guatemala
Guinea
Guinea-Bissau
Guyana
Haiti
Honduras
Hungary
Iceland
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Ireland {Republic}
Israel
Italy
Ivory Coast
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Kenya
Kiribati
Korea North
Korea South
Kosovo
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
Latvia
Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Macedonia
Madagascar
Malawi
Malaysia
Maldives
Mali
Malta
Marshall Islands
Mauritania
Mauritius
Mexico
Micronesia
Moldova
Monaco
Mongolia
Montenegro
Morocco
Mozambique
Myanmar, {Burma}
Namibia
Nauru
Nepal
Netherlands
New Zealand
Nicaragua
Niger
Nigeria
Norway
Oman
Pakistan
Palau
Panama
Papua New Guinea
Paraguay
Peru
Philippines
Poland
Portugal
Qatar
Romania
Russian Federation
Rwanda
St Kitts & Nevis
St Lucia
Saint Vincent & the Grenadines
Samoa
San Marino
Sao Tome & Principe
Saudi Arabia
Senegal
Serbia
Seychelles
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Slovakia
Slovenia
Solomon Islands
Somalia
South Africa
Spain
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Suriname
Swaziland
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Thailand
Togo
Tonga
Trinidad & Tobago
Tunisia
Turkey
Turkmenistan
Tuvalu
Uganda
Ukraine
United Arab Emirates
Uruguay
Uzbekistan
Vanuatu
Vatican City
Venezuela
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe
Only three will get it for free, who happen to be three of the wealthiest in the world:
USA
Germany
UK (Ireland / Scotland?)
I thought music was an important part of culture (I still do), music and art contribute to integrate a disintegrating world. Well I guess most of us in the shitty parts of the world will be part of this musical apartheid.
You know, only God have us freedom and a free world to live in. Don’t expect greedy humans to act in such ways, the world is no longer a free world, people are no longer free. People starve to death every day and no body gives a f***. You want free Internet radio, move to a privileged country like the US, UK or Germany etc, where they can throw away tons of food ; and get FREE Last Fm.only because they are rich and ignore the rest of the world, except of course when it comes to them getting richer…
Cheers from Peru.
APF
9 May, 05:39
If you, lastfm founders, were going to sell out to those greedy bastards from CBS; at least after selling out – and as part of the deal you made with them- you should of included a clause stating that if significant changes were made to lastfm that affected the spirit in which lastfm was created (free music community for all citizens of the world, not three country alliance), they would have to change the name from lastfm to something else. That way you would not be view as traitors by quite a few million people around the world. There are other alternatives, but YOU look (and are) traitors to a noble cause that YOU originated. Now you are just another spot in the sea of shit along with the big music corporations. Believe it or not we actually bought music because we were able to access new artists and genders through lastfm. You know that amongst the world crisis, Latin American audiences are currently attending important music events and concerts; we should not be ignored only because we are poor. We can also save some money and attend concerts, even though life can be tough down here. So you fuckers at CBS and others of it’s kind, are actually acting in detriment of your own artists.
Rick
9 May, 12:10
A Darwin award winning move if ever there was one. I’m looking forward to helping build libre.fm.
Now… LET’S TEAR THIS PLACE APART!!!
Scannan
9 May, 13:47
that’s a pity. I’ve been listening for a couple of years – about 1hr in the background per day. I never chose tags or music I bought – just enlarged my world a bit and sometimes I’d buy something. The prob with paying is thater there is no ‘taste’ in this model of broadcasting; its automated and ‘cold’ associations which can work but doesn’t always. Taht’s why its not worth paying for – it is random, sometimes repetitve, not always the best the artist can offer and without any sense of context. It was worth using but not subscribing to. So, I’m off to listen to radio stations like BBC3, Lyric FM (Ireland) or Radio FiP (France)
maciek
9 May, 15:16
well, fuck you then
Marlene
9 May, 17:24
I’ve been a loyal fan for years, but your quick e-mail just now healed me. I’m leaving.
Bye.
Tom
9 May, 17:55
First off it’s sad and shocking me that with one move you lost a credibility and a trust you gained for long time. In my country (Poland) I pay 3$ each month for tv packet with Discovery, Discovery Science, Discovery World, National Geographic, Animal Planet and Planete. If I would have to pay 3$ for last.fm I would ask myself for what?? Last.fm is nothing special – it’s only internet radio and you don’t produce programs. Sorry Mr. Richard but last.fm is not worth to be paying for it the more so as jango is entirely free and offering the radio with equally quality. So that all caused me to cancel my account.
nicoleliota
9 May, 21:42
My radio doesn,t work at all, I couldn´t hear any song after the change. If the trial version is failing, how can i be secure to make a subscription?
Vizigor
9 May, 22:19
delete your last.fm account
this site is done
boo
10 May, 15:24
Living in Ireland, right beside the UK, this isn’t very nice at all. As if we didn’t get enough ads on tv from over in the UK. I’m sure it would be feasible to use an advertisement system for the radio in more european countries and possibly in other countries outside Europe. But I guess it isn’t a good option for Last.fm. But how much revenue will you get if people just decide to stop using your service anyway?
Justinski
10 May, 22:12
Ok goodbye! Moving to another site,
it was good while it lasted.
Marian Stanescu
11 May, 01:48
Just an excerpt from a longer post on my personal site:
It is about money. TANSTAAFL, it’s true, but let’s look at this from another angle.
I have never charged them for allowing them to “scrobble” my music. In particular, this meant access to my own data files, stored on my HD, using my paid for bandwidth; using this information to build their business and enhance their service; and ultimately, building and growing the community.
I have also never charged them for my contribution to their artist info sections, for correctly tagging tracks, or for announcing local musical events. Aside from the time and energy spent, any of those actions involved research and my good will in sharing information with the world.
I would say that all together, my contribution to the growth of LastFM’s business is easily worth more than $3 per month and that, in the light of their recent behavior, maybe it is they who owe me money.
And oh, by the way, I’m really tired of the Starbucks coffee cliché. It might be news for some of the people out there, but I am not being paid in cappuccinos, and this is not the only item on my monthly payment list. Figure that!
hottisx
11 May, 09:57
“I would say that all together, my contribution to the growth of LastFM’s business is easily worth more than $3 per month and that, in the light of their recent behavior, maybe it is they who owe me money.”
Marian, I agree. Or at least, the users who added content to this community for years (including FREE music and so on) should be the ones not to be billed.
If free radio doesn’t encourage people to buy more records, see new gigs and spread new music, then how will a monthly subscription ever give NEW audiences a chance to find fantastic things in music? I mean, if the music industry keeps billing for every single scrobble in advance, we can never live in a win-win situation. And that’s exactly the music industry’s point. It is founded only to create well selling products and to sustain profit-based action, not to interact with people or to see new opportunities in the changing world.
Sadly, this is how “the real world” works. If music industry or monetary system were humaine, or if people were raising their children to fight for humaine values instead of “success” and “glory” in “the real world”, the need for shiny dollars and mindless restrictions would be zero.
This isn’t going to happen though. We are too blind to see our own effect towards our environment and too gullible to think that everything is “fair, justified and in order” and we won’t be healed until every power- or profit-seeking institution is dead.
All in all, this is simply another lethal strike in the heart of the slowly dying world of consumerism and financial capitalism. Woohoo, we should be proud of our stupidity now, shouldn’t we?
VirtualFlavius
11 May, 10:15
CBS executives may never read this, but just in case – YOUR TIME IS UP. Your company is a dinosaur who’s just made his last move on earth. I hope you never get another job in a media company.
Your inability to run a proper worldwide business is the cause for this move. You know it. We know it. Good bye.
marius
11 May, 10:36
How about spending some of the money you earn by rising the fee to the musicians who make all this possible by uploading their stuff?
how about supporting your supporters?
even though this is new to you, you might consider it.
olley
11 May, 11:06
not nice….
havent read nothing about it, but makes no sense paying in some countries and not in others. And 3euros/month…is too much!!!
this is going to blow up in your face
indignada
11 May, 11:44
good bye lastfm
could somebody recomend us a good alternative to lastfm? please!
thanks!
Gabriel
11 May, 14:21
Account removed… bye bye ^^
Listener, 3 years whith last.fm
11 May, 15:05
at www.srotovisko.sk is very good czech / slowak internet radio. Free, of course :-) no registration needed…
User since 2006
12 May, 02:49
Cometieron un error. ¿Cuanta gente se ha suscrito? yo creo que ni la cuarta parte de lo que estimaban. Gran error
matthk
12 May, 09:02
I’ve been a member since something like 2003.
(I joined when I lived in Edinburgh).
Now, all of a sudden – and it WAS all of a sudden because I’ve not received an e-mail from last.fm in years – you chuck us off?
Thanks a bunch.
PS: the ‘viable advertising model” line is bullshit. In Australia, people spend millions on US & UK websites such as Amazon.
PPS: I can listen to BBC 6 Music for free online (from ANY country) and thousands of other stations to boot. Why would I pay THREE QUID per month to listen to ANYTHING?
Ten or so quid per year – maybe.
VERY disappointed.
matthk – member since YOU BEGAN!
Nikola
12 May, 11:02
This is the beginning of the end for Last.fm.
There are plenty of free alternatives out there, and not many users will be willing to pay for this.
And yes, you could continue without it… Like sponsors… banner or two more wouldn’t interrupt much…
Donation could also be much better option, probably best and you would surely gain more money with donation, rather then this…
Sorry to say, but it was good until it was free, now it’s just one in the crowd… so I will not pay and use last.fm anymore.
So long…
Peace
Full Bastard Inside
12 May, 11:36
I wish you go bankrupt and hope ya spend all the money u earn for meds, hospital and doctors.
Elie
12 May, 11:52
Feh
Disapointed french user
12 May, 14:13
Time to go back to deezer.com because it’s free. I am sad because lastfm was very good…
me
12 May, 16:43
bye last-fm…
no one will pay for this…
Dan
12 May, 17:01
I imagine that more than half of the people complaining don’t even use the radio and therefore this change won’t affect them in the slightest, but they’ll complain just for the sake of it.
Hanna
12 May, 17:48
And here’s another user you lost today! This is really ridiculous. A year back I didn’t even need a profile to listen to music! There should be other ways to make money (advertisements etc.) but in this way you’ll loose thousands of users!
Casper
12 May, 19:08
I guess you lost me too…unless I can get it working with a proxy server from germany.
LastFM was the greatest thing on the net for a long time…I told everyone about it…but now I feel sorry for promoting you to my friends.
Good bye LostFM, you’re loosers !
Erik Stattin
12 May, 19:11
I’ll be back when everything is better.
Tswok
13 May, 09:55
The disillusion of the crowd
I’m not against subscribing att all… and to be honest I’ll certainly subscribe because I love the service. But i’ll deeply try to find something similar elsewhere (even if I have to pay… that’s not the problem).
The problem is somewhere else. It’s about silly things… about humanity, about communication, about care and consideration.
It’s about the way you guys at LastFM managed the turning point of becoming a subscription based service.
Here we are in a Web2-crowdsourcing-networked service. A big amount of work are done by you, an enormous amount of work are done by the crowd : tagging, writing, announcing, commenting and don’t forget about evangilizing and…buying.
We are co-organizers (with LastFM) of the service. We are co-empowering the service, making it better and better.
That’s what is the “crowd-economy”.
So when you change the term of the service. When you ask for money, you don’t have to forget the crowd. You have to understand the amount of desillusion you create.
We stupidly thought we were part of the story. We stupidly thought we could wait for some consideration.
It’s nothing more than something like “Sorry guys, we know that you, users, are working hard to make the service better and better, we thank you for accepting to scrobble your music again and again letting us discover music we didn’t know, thanks for making us earning money when you buy records through our service… ! But you know what ? We didn’t succeed rising ads enough to make the service profitable in other countries than USA, Germany and UK. And you know what, you’re plenty of people using LastFM outside these counries… and it cost us a lot. So, we don’t have other solution to get in a subsciption based model. We think it’s a temporary situation. Thanks again”.
That could have been the way you annouced the turn.
And before that, in the back office, you could have checked if anybody in the world could subscribe. And if not, apologize.
Finaly, you could have announced the turn clearly (before it happens), not in an obscure blog pop that nobody saw.
You could have.
But I think it’s still time to have some words about it.
And if you want to forget the crowd, let’s speak about brand. It’s still time to restore the brand’s image !
Best regards
Tswok
Anders
13 May, 14:37
Have a radio feature with subscription for Major label artists since they worry so much about royalties, and then have a separate radio feature for independent artists and labels who don’t ask for royalties, who understand the value of getting their music out there in order to generate other revenues. I am one of those artist myself and I say: PUT UP MY MUSIC FOR FREE ON A FREE RADIO!
And besides, as a listener I’m not interested in the mass produced mind numbing music from the major labels. I wanna listen to a radio with independent artists and labels only.
Joe
13 May, 14:50
This is a move to help major labels maintain control of the market. They are scared shitless by the fact that no one needs them anymore, that artist have a direct link to the consumers; and that many offer their music for FREE. All the shit that’s going down right now regarding copyright and restriction of the internet is closely connected to them cling on to an outdated model, refusing to loose their monopoly.
Fluffy4ears
13 May, 18:25
I’d wish you well, but I don’t.
anand
13 May, 18:52
ok guys last.fm had necome a part of my life, but alas things change. perhaps you guys dont understand what 3$/month means in the poorer countries…..but nevermind you cant stop me from listening to music.
and tell your CBS ..
PIRACY TOTALLY ROCKS !!!
your major brands are gonna go up in thin air ….. really bad so are you :x
Anastasia
13 May, 19:17
As it was said before, it was nice while it lasted. Bye.
jojokyra
13 May, 19:53
Go to hell and take all that money with you losers!
aQ
13 May, 21:47
ENCOURAGE MUSIC PIRACY NOW ! ENCOURAGE MUSIC PIRACY NOW ! ENCOURAGE MUSIC PIRACY NOW ! ENCOURAGE MUSIC PIRACY NOW ! ENCOURAGE MUSIC PIRACY NOW ! ENCOURAGE MUSIC PIRACY NOW ! ENCOURAGE MUSIC PIRACY NOW ! ENCOURAGE MUSIC PIRACY NOW ! ENCOURAGE MUSIC PIRACY NOW ! ENCOURAGE MUSIC PIRACY NOW ! ENCOURAGE MUSIC PIRACY NOW ! ENCOURAGE MUSIC PIRACY NOW ! ENCOURAGE MUSIC PIRACY NOW ! ENCOURAGE MUSIC PIRACY NOW ! ENCOURAGE MUSIC PIRACY NOW ! ENCOURAGE MUSIC PIRACY NOW ! ENCOURAGE MUSIC PIRACY NOW ! ENCOURAGE MUSIC PIRACY NOW !
MOTHER FUCKING LAST.FM IS DOING THAT NOW … SEE YOU IN HELL SHIT…
REMOVED THE FUCKING PIECE OF SOFTWARE FROM MY COMPUTER AND IPHONE .
Daniel
14 May, 00:04
i’m not going to pay to listen to online radio, and nobody else is going to either
Ben
14 May, 06:58
well goodbye then…
not inside your sharing circle
14 May, 16:43
Too bad you ( last fm ) found your way into all the nice free / open source linux audio players that all have last fm buttons and features and then you pull the plug.
desman360
15 May, 00:49
Is Last FM a strictly anglo-saxon web site ?
Must I accept this discrimation ?
Do you believe you’re the only site were I can listen music ?
I have promoted your site around me and know what do you think I will do ?
Good luck with your old and new users, I stay a few days to look if you change your decision but I think I’ll let you.
Like we said in Bretagne : “Plutôt la mort que la souillure”.
Badabada
15 May, 08:48
Fuck you, Last.fm! You lost many users. I will not fucking pay. I am going to other web radios.
You are racist discriminating pigs.
Timpoldo
15 May, 09:24
Goodbye lastfm people!
Jack Broun
15 May, 10:32
You’re only think about money, not your users :(
ar490
15 May, 15:29
Make it $1 per month and I will think about it :)
PayPal sucks in Eastern Europe. Think about WebMoney
8==========D
15 May, 18:11
Fuck you greed.fm
Hope you die soon
another message that will be ignored
15 May, 20:01
And still no comments on behalf of last.fm. Total ignorance. No apoligies. Nada. Blip.fm is going through the same crap now and while I still hate the whole situation, look how classy their response was. http://blog.blip.fm/2009/05/14/navigating-the-storm/
You have to give them credit for that.
Maybe you should read it Richard. You might actually learn something.
anand
15 May, 21:49
i was just browsing web, and found up what stories and follow character those at last.fm have, they were commecnting on i-tunes:
we don’t just do it for an e-commerce end, we connect users to their musical soulmates and give concert recommendations, too.
(http://www.wired.com/listening_post/2008/09/steve-jobs-anno/)
haha.. what a fcukin joke, tell you what piracy rulz coz of you suckers
901
16 May, 01:30
Of course not, they won’t answer. They don’t give a shit about people who supported them since the begining.
Fuck America and fuck imperialism.
Horton
16 May, 07:20
For me, the main problem is, that it’s on a subscribtion basis. I don’t like subscriptions of any kind…I don’t want to pay every month/year. All lot of small subscriptions (cellphone, tv, internet etc..) sum up, and in the end I’ll lose my freedom to earn as much/less as I want.
Make it a one time fee (50Dollars or so)…like when you’re buying an application or similar.
Of cours you should try to sell Updates (Videos, other new features). But, let the user decide if he/she needs this new features and want’s to buy an update.
In my opinion it might be your main problem, as everyone, instead of focusing on your main concept (thats customized internet radio) you try to go into different markets (videos etc…) I’m sure that this “new” feature costs you hell a lot of money…cause the bandwidth of video, compared to simple radio might be a problem.
I guess, i’m speaking for a lot of us: I don’t need last fm to be more than just customized internet radio. I don’t want videos, especialy not, if this stops last fm from beeing a free service.
Pierre Roussin
16 May, 09:22
So no last.fm for Ipod but a subscription fee for the radio??? I live in Belgium.
dogn0se
16 May, 10:52
bye bye last.fm
I think now you’re really the last!
Alex
16 May, 12:35
good bye
Acid Words
16 May, 14:08
S of a B them all from LastFM
Really was the Last F*** help to user
Uri Obusikov
16 May, 14:27
ПЫЩПЫЩ олололо
эй,а в России есть альтернатива ластфм?
from Russia with love!
=**
YGSA
16 May, 16:49
You guys suck ass!
Ramiro
17 May, 00:26
its a shame last is going his lose popularity and l listeners i wouldn’t mind if last fm with ads but payint for it never
Brazil
Sao Paulo
Griptor
17 May, 02:08
I don’t think I need to voice my opinion as people seem to have a unanimous, collective thought on this, but…
yeah…it’s simple, really: goodbye last.fm, hello finetune.com
evoROD
17 May, 05:34
Que lastima, al final el consumidor final termina siendo utilizado vilmente, maldito mundo capitalista que solo ve como se harta de los que tenemos menos posibilidades, para un monton de gente 3 euros no es nada, pero hey aunque no lo crean fuera de sus mundos de cristal hay lugares donde eso es mucho tomando en cuenta que es mensual.
—————————————————————
It’s a pity that we, the costumers, are just used by the market, damm capitalism, for a lot of people 3 euros may be nothing, but even if you don’t believe it, outside of your fancy world there are places where that’s a lot considering that it is a monthly payment, we better spend it on something more useful.
t00nfish
17 May, 07:49
Hi, I’m from germany, but since this morning my subscription was canceled and there is NO SUBSCRIPTION BUTTON in my panel! I’ve already sent a support request here:
http://www.last.fm/forum/21713/_/534193
Please send me a personal message for what to do now! I want my discription button back!
luan
17 May, 08:45
bah. what a shame.
NOTE:
17 May, 12:47
Ummm, do you guys know that this is not allowed by the EU law? (Intel got a 1 bilion fine for nto sticking to the rules…)
Julia in Puerto Rico
17 May, 19:22
Expecting users to pay for what has been free so far is a BAD idea, as I’m sure you’ll find out when most of your users switch to other free services.
Quite apart from that, I live in Puerto Rico, which is US territory, yet I get the “subscribe or radio is off for you after 30 tracks” spiel—WTF?
Hakim
17 May, 22:08
It’s not the fee that bothers me. It’s the fact that Last.fm discriminate its users based on country. I will not pay any fee unless this is changed.
From my point of view users outside of UK/US/DE helps last.fm tremendously in building the knowledge base for the recommender system. Last.fm collects their listening habits to make its recommender system accurate and now they are treated as second class users.
The new system will at the very least slow the growth of non UK/US/DE users, if it doesn’t make existing users move to other services. This means that the balance of future collected data will shift towards UK/US/DE users, making last.fm services even more unattractive to non UK/US/DE users.
Betrayed in The Netherlands
18 May, 14:08
A deafening silence emits from my speakers, as well as from Last.fm headquarters. Why don’t you answer some legitimate questions posed on this blog. For instance: Why a free subsription for members in three countries and eliminate the rest of the world?
This is how drug pushers work: first get people hooked on this great free stuff, then rake them over the coals for money or make them quit cold turkey. Your price is too high.
As a legitimate junky I beg you: If you have to insist on being paid: have a full service paid membership and a free limited version for those of us who can’t or won’t pay. I for one am not a very frequent listener, but loyal and dedicated since October 2005. I have expanded my musical horizon and supported many artists in making several great purchases thanks to the free radio service of Last.fm. I have also supported you in scrobbling and tagging all those songs. You would be nowhere without your listeners doing all that work.
I feel betrayed and cheated out of my intellectual property: my library. Now I can no longer add to it. Over many years I have put a lot of effort into building up my library to be just as I like it. In doing that, I have made several like minded friends on the site. You have no right to infringe on that.
Your action must have been a carefully calculated one. It is extremely painful to realize that you don’t care about people, but only money. One less illusion for me, one less friend for you.
Betrayed in The Netherlands
metal-4life
18 May, 15:56
I totally agree with Betrayed in The Netherlands
Hugo
18 May, 15:57
To hell with this!!!
How about having record companies paying for publicity to their artists?
30 track free trial? Like the other guy said: “but it used to be free!”
I’m sorry, but I can’t agree with this. I would have gladly accepted an add-based service, hell I might have even considered the subscription, but not like this.
I feel like a junkie who got hooked on a free drug when the dealer comes and says: no more free rides! Well, guess what, there are free rides (ok, add-based)!
I’m going to remove my account. So long and thanks for all the fish.
I live in Canada
18 May, 22:53
This sucks!
I’m not going to use Last.fm anymore.
BRING THE FREE STUFF BACK. :|
It’s not fair for the people, including me.
Damn you. Bye, suckers.
eric
19 May, 01:48
Raising the $3 fee is not so important to me. I am quite displeased, however, that I have had no listeners to my songs after the service was turned into a paid one. I am feeling robbed of an audience. If I don’t get any new ones, like I used to, I will quit my subscription too.
I don’t like to believe that you are purposely culling independent artists who offer their music for free, such as I do. What would you lose if occasional free songs are played among those who ARE paid for? It won’t hurt you a dime, it gives smaller artists a bit of exposure, and it pleases a great deal of your audience.
Unfortunately, I am starting to believe that you are trying to wrench independents out. If that is what you want, so be it.
I allow myself 4 weeks of patience, after that I am out.
Deafboy
19 May, 14:23
Deleteing my account… NOW :D.
You have killed the basic idea of Last.fm
You suck!
Cloudish
19 May, 14:27
Leaving, also with my band. This is no last.fm any more.
You just found a new way to suck…
LastFM SUX
19 May, 15:53
YOU SUCK! I’m not paying for that kind of service …. Yoooou are soooo greed … I’m agree with the user who said “GreedFM” ‘cause it’s sooo right! You suck more than ever… with the new sucky style.. and now paying for the stupid radio which is supposed to be ALL FREE… FUCK YOU
Last.FMAmistad
19 May, 16:06
In English: DISCRIMINATION
En Español: Discriminación
En Alemán: Diskriminierung
En Árabe: التمييز
En Chino Tradicional: 歧視
En Coreano: 차별
En Croata: Diskriminacija
En Esloveno: Diskriminacije
En Francés: Discrimination
En Griego: διακρίσεων
En Hebreo: אפליה
En Hindi: भेदभाव
En Holandés: Discriminatie
En Indonesio: Diskriminasi
En Italiano: Discriminazione
En Japonés: 差別
En Portugués: Discriminação
En Ruso: дискриминация
En Serbio: дискриминација
En Sueco: Diskriminering
En Tailandés: การเลือกที่รักมักที่ชัง
En Turco: Ayrımcılık
En Ucraniano: дискримінація
En Vietnamita: Phân biệt đối xử
lwolf75
19 May, 17:06
|
0|00
joão
19 May, 17:16
you know… it was a great idea…
used to be… now what? nobody at least very small number of people will be conected…
i’m kind of piss off with this, you use our data. WAKE UP!!!!
do you really think that lastfm will still longer? i don’t think so…
in some time someone will come with a similar and free like this one…
flacuchka
19 May, 17:30
that is so unfair… you know… many of us live in a third world country WE DONT pay shit just for paying it, we can affort the luxury of giving 3 euros a month to another greedy bastard. go to hell.
bart88
19 May, 21:36
removed account :]
sara
19 May, 23:51
FUCK YOU!!!
LASTFM IS A SHIT NOW, it’s no use to anybody anymore; So I am going to remove my music and my account and y will make a campaign against latsfm around the world, “except UK, USA and GERMANY, of course” , JAJAJA last fm you suck!!!!!!!!
F
20 May, 13:30
what is this shit all about? if it is that easy for you to send all this people throughout the world out of the website!?
I hope this encourages a new similar (but truly social) platform to grow and develop. Anyone knows of some?
J
20 May, 13:36
Was soll dieser Scheiss?!
Kriause
20 May, 13:42
People,
Lets move forward…
Check out some alternatives to Last.fm:
http://alternativeto.net/desktop/lastfm/
Canadian without Radio
20 May, 21:14
If anyone thinks about it, Last.fm was smart on this by not advertising the switch.
If they had properly announced this, it might have made US/UK/DE users upset that they’re losing their international friends.
Instead, they’re oblivious, and notice nothing.
And realistically, I’m sure us international folks make a measly 5-9% of the total users.
And seeing as how I have no credit cards or paypal, I will not be subscribing.
Thanks for the good times.
Maybe I’ll drive 30 minutes south, cross the border and listen in sometime.
Picard
20 May, 21:53
To Last HQ.
Do you read comments??? You don’t??? You should, because many, many people around the world are very angry what you do.
The last fm “WAS” the best side with music and now it is on the last place. Many people are right, why this three countries don’t have paid for music??? Explain me (kharselim@o2.pl) if they don’t have to paid so I also don’t want to pay.
You should think about what you do, we don’t want many, just listen music for free and that’s all. If you want to earn create a special accounts. Want to be one of most best side, listen your users.
For the users, there can be mistaken, i’m still learning english. If they don’t wake up we find another side, cu.
FoClouds
20 May, 22:43
As for functionality, the new radio works beautifully as far as I’ve experienced. The one complaint I have is the fact that it automatically pauses after so much time. Why? If the radio is working well, I should be able to select my three artists or tags and just let it play. Given the recent direction Last.fm has been going, I am wondering if this is because if I’m just letting the radio play I’m not seeing ads?
Which brings me to my next point – implementation. I do not think it is fair, and some users even suggest that it is not legal, to not offer limited free service to all. Being an independent musician, I cannot help but wonder if CBS, and by extension Last.fm, is interested in us anymore. I suppose it is easier to make money dealing with bigger names, however, that is not the reason that most of us joined Last.fm. We’re here to discover new music, to broaden our horizons. Please let us continue that.
Crestfallen Canadian
20 May, 22:45
There’s not much to say that hasn’t already been said, but the fact that it’s only feasible to do an ad-supported free service in 3 countries is downright stupid. I won’t be deleting my account over this as I wasn’t a frequent radio user, but when I grew tired of my music, I found the radio a great resource for finding something new. I, however, will look elsewhere for this type of service as $3/mo for something I’d use once every 3-4 months just isn’t something I’m willing to do, as I’m sure a lot of other people feel the same way.
http://alternativeto.net/desktop/lastfm/
Andrew Zimmerman
21 May, 17:20
lol
US will always prevail at being part of the group of people who are in awesomeness.
:D
Osc.
22 May, 02:39
I still can’t figure out why anyone should pay for RADIO. RADIO is FREE. FREE RADIO. FREE RADIO. FREE. I’m not removing my account because they will change their mind soon enough. OR ELSE!!!!
Rigo
22 May, 03:21
c’mon people! What did you expect? Same thing happen with Pandora… they just can’t continue giving this free service… everything in this world is about money… There’s nothing to surprise of… Instead, i’m looking new alternatives, like GrooveShark (http://listen.grooveshark.com/)
Alqw
22 May, 15:27
u SUCK fUckerS
I’l kill lastfm
Valde_
22 May, 16:09
I discover that only today! Isn’t possible…
Last.fm did you realize that what are you doing is completely illegal??? Your entreprise is in England, a member of EU, I cannot discriminate between European citizen in this way…
bye bye
Nikki
22 May, 16:32
I wouldn’t mind paying if only some countries weren’t
alwaysjumping over the fence. Discrimination won’t bring you new users, might aswell close this site.feyr
22 May, 16:48
well i suppose this will ruin alot of last.fm users overseas. a bit of a dissapointing revelation though matters not to me, i rarely use the radio but i thought ad’s might be able to pay for it alas it appears not.
alina
22 May, 16:54
you suck guys…
can’t help but totally disappoint in your service :(
why do citizens of usa, uk or germany have more rights than others?
next silly thing that can happen to internet is making youtube available to subscribers…
Crystal
22 May, 21:46
Seriously?! Are you SERIOUS? Last.fm was the best there is, now it’s just like the rest, even lower than the others.
Bring the damn service to Canada already.
Blah!
23 May, 06:48
I never use the radio, but wow. I didn’t know they charged until now D:
Oh well, it’s funny all the hate comments.
club penguin
23 May, 06:51
I hope u’ll return to the free way, ‘cause 4 a lot of people from not rich countries, 3 euro at month are impossible to pay 4 listen music.
club penguin
23 May, 06:53
I have been listening to lastfm since 2005. It was because of you guys that I really got into indie bands and found some great music. But I’ll be moving on now and trying to find another upstart company, that was just like yours a few years ago, and get my daily tune fix there.
WTF
23 May, 07:11
Yeah.. Ok. Obvious discrimination here. Why in the bloody fucking hell Germany isn’t paying? They’re from Europe too and all neighbor countries have to pay? Fuck you.
As someone above said. Charge everyone or charge no one. Fucking idiots.
V for Vendetta
23 May, 07:14
“Beware, our lawyers are stiff-lipped limeys without any sense of humour” and also without any competence in European law.
With this decision you’re challenging the same administration that sanctioned Microsoft for almost 1 billion of Euros…
It’s almost logic that you must pay for listening the radio: you’re saving money for paying a probably high sanction.
Duh
23 May, 07:29
Apparently, we’re all better off without:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/22/deny-this-lastfm/
CBS leaks Last.fm data to the RIAA. Yes, Techcrunch again, but this time with proof.
Disappointed
23 May, 20:49
In a matter of one month you single-handedly managed to alienate a significant portion of your faithful listeners (who, I might add, have brought countless others to your website through word of mouth).
Now you’ve decided to “capitalize” on your success and start charging for your service? What an unbelievably stupid mistake on your part. I hope you made enough money through your advertisements because judging by the comments left here, your business won’t be around for much longer.
I’ve since removed my Last.FM account and have encouraged my friends to do the same.
-Former Last.fm’er
:/
23 May, 20:58
That’s … really stupid.
No other words for it, just really stupid.
And only those 3 countries? Why those exact countries? And especially, why, out of all countries in Europe, not to say the world, Germany?
Discrimination.
who knows
23 May, 22:09
Realy simple,
Last.FM never was a benevolent society!
They use your mediaplayer list and others to get any of your songtitles, to make much money selling that data.
Seems only UK US and DE are profitable enough for them, so they don’t mind drop their other customers.
So wake up guys Last.FM is a …<<censored>>… company like all the other music mafia.
You wanna fight? yawn ahm sure, take the open source software form Last.FM an make competition!
Jack Broun
24 May, 05:44
I still can’t figure out why anyone should pay for RADIO
+1000
mirko
24 May, 15:12
..anyway each man should make something to survive but you could base your work on advertising rather than ask your user for money. 3 euro aren’t a big expense but the problem it’s your way of made business: no one can ask money for a service that was free until yesterday.
You waited until your community has grown and when people are loyalized you did your business: another capitalist! Let me say:“you made a big work until now but now there isn’t difference between you and other”. In these period, in which nothing is free and all is made illegal for increase social control, experience as free music is important to spread the concept of free as life style at last in informatic. I suppose you use at last one linux distribution… did you pay some money to they creators?…. Until yesterday your “company” was a great example of free against “pay for all” concept of our century…what a pity…
Don’t warry in a few months you’ll be alone
don’t care my english I’m italian :)
O15
24 May, 20:15
There are so much wonderful music that are not available on Last.fm. I have been a subscriber on various accounts with different names before, and other than the odd band out half the music I have on vynil or gets played on radio everyday anyway.
I really don’t see the point in paying 3 euros for listening to what else can be free.
I guess someone is making money somewhere. I mean Last.fm has been around for five years already and only after CBS coups you, you need money. Strange.
Too bad it will take five more years for a new last.fm to jump up elsewhere.
Good Luck
24 May, 23:09
Tired of this…?
Some alternatives – Deezer, finetune, Musicovery, AccuRadio, Grooveshark, Songza
YULI BARROS
24 May, 23:44
I FUCKING HATE YOU ALL, MOTHERFUCKERS!
Bardo
25 May, 00:32
“They don’t give a shit about people who supported them since the beginning.”
quoted for truth.
ameri-kkk-an
25 May, 01:24
“lol
US will always prevail at being part of the group of people who are in awesomeness.
:D”
How about a 747 raid right to your house?
Will you feel awesome and special after?
Capitalist pig.
:(
25 May, 02:37
^ Wow.. Harsh lol.
Yeah, um.. I agree with whoever said that they don’t give a shit about people that supported them since they started I mean. Who the hell pay for listening to radio anyway.
3, 2, 1, ....
25 May, 06:59
You’re violating the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive of the European Commission (http://www.isitfair.eu/unfair_en.html). Your new business policy clearly violate some of the 31 unfair activities listed on the EU Commission’s Black List. For example you’re activities is now based on “Falsely creating the impression of free offers”, and that is an unfair activity following the EU black list…
a
25 May, 14:05
Richard I FUCK YOU MOTHER!!!
Agustín
25 May, 15:22
una gran pena…
como siempre , beneficios gratis para quienes pueden pagar…!
lamento mucho pero he de abandoarlos, en el 3er mundo (Uruguay) no es una cifra menor.
doornroozje
25 May, 17:37
Lost.fm, that is…
source
25 May, 19:03
Hey, it’s a disgrace!… it’s a disgrace… It’s a fucking disgrace!
Didier Drogba – about last.fm’s demise
Per
26 May, 00:53
What a farce! You are greedy cunts, why should I pay to keep listeners in the 3 richest countries in the world listening for free?????
Wake Up dumbasses!
Hoochie-Coochie-Man
26 May, 09:34
Hey! 3 pounds equals 3 dollars or euros (probably) but her in Poland we still have PLN -polskie cholerne złote. And for eg. 3$ is not 3 PLN but… 9 PLN. So please arrange for us different payment. Now i’m going to take last.fm break.
4.75 = 4.16 = 3 ????
26 May, 11:18
3 € = 4.16 $
3 € = 2.63 £
3 $ = 2.16 €
3 $ = 1.90 £
3 £ = 3.42 €
3 £ = 4.75 $
(today currency on www.xe.com)
Come on! at least chose only one clear price for the subscription!
That’s sounds really like a joke! Check the progression of libre.fm: your days are counted…
R.I.P Last fm
26 May, 11:43
I hope you get the EU commission at your door.
R.I.P Last.fm
RiqqRussell (ex-member)
26 May, 13:58
thanx for all the alternative sites listed in this blog (by your (former) members)!
good bye, last.fm
speeck
26 May, 14:04
уУУууу мещане сраные!
Bjorn
26 May, 20:29
Hope all you Last.hq-people realize that this is stupid and will degrade both quality and diversity of your site. I get that you have to abide the law and pay bills. But it’s not worth paying for it. Goodbye.
from canada
26 May, 21:12
fuck all you greedy bastards. goodbye.
wist
27 May, 10:10
I’m really disappointed.
I had considered last.fm the BEST music & networking site on the web— because people from all over the world share their music and access new music.I would’ve thought a limit-per-month method would’ve been better. Like 30 songs per month free. The hardcore radio users would then consider a subscription under fairer terms.
I am afraid that the most valuable people will leave last.fm and last.fm will no longer be a culturally rich place to explore new music. Just another monoculture.If people can’t afford to pay for the radio feature and then they stop scrobbling as a result (what is the point if you can’t listen to recommendations radio?), and independent artists also leave out of disgust, what will become of this unique service?
very very sad! This is truly a heartbreaking moment.
I myself have stoppped scrobbling because I no longer believe that last.fm can reflect the musical tastes of the whole world.
sigh.
Mark
27 May, 11:28
Step 1: Run C:\Program Files\Last.fm\unins000.exe
Step 2: Google: Last.fm alternatives
Step 3: ?
Step 4: PROFIT!
Mike
27 May, 11:53
Yay! Last.ƒm is now on my list. Just above Microsoft and just bellow Apple. €ongratu₤ation$!
Giovanni Fabbris
27 May, 13:37
last.fm is an example of what will be if something does not change in our society, in our world, where the only value is money!
I’m very sad: erase last.fm !
J
27 May, 13:46
So I don’t use last.fm much, just when I want to listen to something completely different. I used it today for the first time in months. A while later a box pops up and says, hey you need to subscribe. My brain almost exploded.
Last.fm, your pricing is f-ing retarded, I must pay 3£ a month for something I might use a few times a year?
If I could buy track credits that would be far more useful and I might pay for that.
FIND A BETTER SUBSCRIPTION PLAN, I DO NOT LISTEN TO MUSIC ALL DAY!!! Until then its jango dot com for me.
fuck you
27 May, 18:17
<img src=“http://www.biffbang.de/_myspace/fuck-you-guys.jpg”>
Marleyaagaard
28 May, 08:28
What a shame, ill not send Fwords to the crew of last.fm, just a really big feeling of shame that something as great as this is dropping down the drain as so many other fantastic unique a so wonderful enjoyable things here. Taken over by people who doesnt know how to take the internet to the next level and trust their users. Why not look forward to new solutions than always looking back, we need your money, GIVE US!!
Its such a shame, this was really a great place for getting inspiration and then go amazon or the local record shop and get the record of some genre related artist of f.ex Marc Ribot. Something that had some kind of magic. A Magic gateway to new music. Now SO SO many people will miss their chance for this, just because a sort of symbolic amount of money… including myself, its such a wrong signal, some has to pay some has not…. its either all or none!!!
a sad day for artist and musiclovers all around the globe which this place connected to one strong unity….
Mike
28 May, 12:03
Plant some google ads on the non subscribers pages and i’m sure you wel get some money per user, maybe even more.
Heather
28 May, 19:44
My free trial has apparently just ended, and I am now being asked to pay because I live in Canada. I have to say that I am extremely disappointed right now. I’ve been a Last Fm listener for two years now, and I’ve loved the access I had to wonderful music. Nearly all of my current favourite artists were discovered through this site. I feel more than a little betrayed to discover that I am now being deprived of this simply because I don’t live in the US. I hope you take to heart the fact that so many of your former listeners are so disappointed in your change of policy. After my loyalty to your site (I’ve hardly listened to any other online radios since), I am more than a little upset right now. I will NOT pay for your radio. I don’t download music, and I have an impressive record collection, so I wouldn’t exactly classify myself as a freeloader, but as an unemployed student starving through a recession, I can’t shell out money for a service that was advertised to me as free.
Thank you for the music you introduced me to in the past. I will now take my business to another website, one that isn’t going to suddenly cut me off because of where I live.
Nate
28 May, 20:51
SO basically …unless you live in one of the 3 countries that Last FM has deemed important to them to offer free service you will have to PAY.
3 countries , wow.
Everyone else PAY UP.
Oh well dont let it get to you guys ..dont forget !!! LASTFM got to be who they are BECAUSE OF ITS USERS, so just delete your accounts and MOVE ON !! Hurt them where it COUNTS !!
I DID. Just deleted my account and moved on to Jango.
Bye LastFM (CBS) whoever ……I agree with the others who say they (LastFm) won’t survive past 1 YEAR!.
We will see.
Long live the Free Open world that the Internet was founded on and All its Users like US !!
Peace .
BYEEEE…
Nate.
Canada .
abs
29 May, 04:34
there’s a reason why lastfm have been topping the charts for the longest time, it was because its free! well i don’t think your going to be topping anything now…you didn’t think this thoroughly now did you? too bad…it was good while it lasted. such a waste…
answer please
29 May, 09:22
I’s really scandalous: 1173 comments and not even a short reply….
bye bye
buckelboy
29 May, 17:50
by the time you realize what mistake that was, most users will be gone …
tg
29 May, 19:10
I have purchased 10 CD’s within 6 weeks of listening to Last.FM, all of which I learned of exclusively through Last.FM. Now…. nothing! Many of these comments reflect how I feel about your move …… Not good!
dani
30 May, 16:09
I’m really disappointed.
its so bad…
r.i.p lastfm
Kate
30 May, 16:58
so deflated. hadn’t listened to last.fm for a while. played 3 tracks tonight and then got the bad news that i had to subscribe because i live in australia. don’t use credit cards, so that’s the end for me!
fuck u anyway
30 May, 23:37
i have three questions
1)why only UK, USA and German?
2)i dun have a credit card (well, i do, but im not supposed to use it for lastfm and stuff like that) and i dun have paypal and anyth like that.what the heck im supposed to do then?
3)ok,only two questions.just…to early 2 say “fuck u”, oh..i could have paid by sms, but i cant.here i am with my money,and u cant take it?omg.how will u pay 4 ur bills?oops
cristiano figueiró
31 May, 01:00
i must say that ALL DATABASE that you’re selling now has been made by the users…..so we have been used by you for all this time? we have been working for free for you, taging and uploading our songs for you to charge for our work?
for a south american like me it’s just the continuation of our history…
the artists will receive some fee for this charge?
by the way: put all this money in your fat anglo-saxon ass motherfucker
Ziad
31 May, 06:24
We are the ones to be paid considering the datamining you have slaved us for.
Thank you! It was fun while it last*fm*ed
Now I’m loving SPOTIFY even more.
spotify.com
Murrzeak
31 May, 10:19
Huh, as I can see there are lots of people dissatisfied with the idea of pay-for-the-radio.. Glad I’m not the only one. Always loved last.fm for being so for-the-people social music network, but I’ve had to foreseen they were up to something. Guess after loosing an enormous amount of users they will start thinking..
emilia333
31 May, 11:35
Another free service gone…
probably it needs me 10min on Google to find something similar for free.
bye,bye LastFM!
music lover in Aus.
31 May, 14:40
Hi lastfm… i’ll be back when you guys find a way to get the advertisers on board and offer a free service again. i know it’s hard to keep everyone happy – good luck :)
bibaarde
31 May, 16:59
A nice lady came to my life, I loved her from the very first moment…
I took her home with me,we shared our preferences, likes and dislikes. She gave me exactly what I wanted.
Now, without warning, she demands payment for her services. That´s called prostitution.
No, thanks. Good by. Maybe I misunderstood, but i feel cheated.
Felipe
Adriana
31 May, 19:27
I’ll say it again because apparently, lastfm just isn’t listening: CREATE MORE PAYMENT OPTIONS!!!!!!!!!
I understand the reason for this changes, but even if free radio just isn’t profitable in my country then at least, in exchange for all the music data that I’ve given you, and all the photos that I’ve uploaded, and all the Artist’s wikis that I’ve writen, you should give me the option to pay for a subscription.
Really, you already lied to us once saying that this change wouldn’t have been made until you had more payment options, and now this.
zoro253
31 May, 19:42
Ridiculous …surely you stand to make more money if you charged within these (listen for free countries) contries than anywhere else. Who ever came up with this gem of an idea just set yor business back by 10yrs .
Even if you had started a £1.00 charge in the free countries you could have made 3x the revenue you make now off so called ads .The negative publicity alone will loose you potential ad revenue couple with fall in repeat subscriptions , you are rounding the drain .You should have stuck to what you do…sorry did best .Now you are just pants ..so dance in your pants !
Korczyk
31 May, 23:06
Damn it feels good to be an American.
Oh, and, “we are looking at supporting pay-by-SMS, and possibly some other options. Can’t promise we’ll have support for everyone’s favourite payment system from day one” doesn’t mean “what you wanted is going to happen.”
That’s called a maybe promise. Learning to read and take in information and process it accordingly is a good skill to attain. Look into it.
suaude
1 June, 11:19
Hi, I’m British but live in France so can understand UK ads and buy UK products (or can recommend them to my UK based family) – why can’t I get Last.FM for free too?
More payment options (e.g. Annual at reduced price) would make me maybe think twice about leaving Last.FM, but until then, I’m going to have to stop the scrobbling.
name
1 June, 14:44
muck idiot us uk and germany.
i like the audio-incz say for the last-fm, pay for the music… 3000/song/month.
uninstalled. hate u.
—————————————————-
for free listener, use the free surver proxy for firefox ;) and not must registration and idiot pay…
other name
1 June, 15:14
I hate last FM too!
ex-last.fm user
1 June, 15:35
Last.fm is charging for their streaming radio for us outside the favored countires – by the same token, all of us in these countries should start charging Last.fm for the data we provide them in terms of our listening habits and patterns – this is extremely valuable information for CBS in determining who the next money making artist will likely be – and we now give this away for absolutely nothing.
No more scrobbling data from me to Last.fm. Fair is fair.
Peter
2 June, 03:44
barrier free internet? not with last.fm. Please go on destroying the very foundation the internet is based on.
R.I.P
2 June, 08:30
Before it was a fair exchange, our music data, video, picture and wiki contributions exchanged with the radio service. And this contributions are the real gold mine of last.fm, isn’t it? How many $ or £ or € have you earned using our data? Now there isn’t any reason to contribute anymore! No free radio, no data!
The avidity of your new business plan it’s going to kill last.fm
If I want to contribute to a new real free service, please switch to libre.fm and help us to create a real alternative.
Anastasia
2 June, 11:15
After all, there is di.fm. =/
6pawen
2 June, 11:27
Hm. Ok. I will use di.fm
I hate when after a long time, someone starts trying to force me to use their service not for free. It’s not about money – it’s about insulting services.
Blasted Zen
2 June, 14:18
Killing in the name of Last FM!
Some of those that joint forces are the same that has to carry your losses.
Come On!
Killing in the name of Last FM!
And now you do what they told ya
But now you do what they told ya
Well now you do what they told ya
Those who don’t pay are justified, for a borderline, that’s your view but not mine.
You justify those someone have to pay by wearing the badge, for chosen this site.
Some of those that joint forces are the same that has to carry your losses.
Come on!
Killing in the name of Last FM!
And now you do what they told ya,
now you’re under control
Come on!
F**k you, I wont do what you tell me!
F**k you, I wont do what you tell me!
Motherfu**er!
Uggh!
(Inspired by Rage Against The Machine)
Last FM Go Die!!!!
shoko
2 June, 16:12
hey
I don’t actually mind paying €3.00 per month.
But,
I don’t understand why you ask it only to Non-US, UK and Germany residents.
Music should be served all over the world equally on the internet.
Will you explain the reason, please?
well, maybe we all can guess…
Don’t you get that people are angry because you’re behaving like a racist….?
from Japan
McKak Cooper
3 June, 01:35
After reading all the swearing in here had some reserves to add mines too :)
However I did uninstalled your software and I feel heavily offended about this “I don’t give a crap” attitude. I personally got no notifications at all. And anyway one thing apparently a lot of people miss.
Beside the fact that you acted on this like Achmed the dead terrorist “you racist bastard!” you have a very interesting way for charging users.
3EUR, 3USD, 3GPB. Far as I know those values are not really equal so I wonder where’s the bloody equity ? If I live in Romania can I pay you 3RON which is like 1,1 EUR ? Is still 3 in my currency as you made those stupid subscriptions, isn’t ?
If i’d be you guys 1st i’ll fire that Marketing idiot that thought this is a viable solution.
Second why the hell in the world should I care to pay you 3EUR/3GBP per month ? It’s not about money, I spend online over a few hundreds a month and I am not discriminated when I buy from US, I am not paying more than US people do for the same service.
I’ll personally never come back because you insulted me along with a bunch of other users. I can still listen last.fm if I want and I can tell if someone wants to trick you will trick you and you have nothing to do about it.
Wish you bad luck and sink fast!
Regards from Romania!
Comments are closed for this entry.