Last.fm Radio to require subscription (outside of UK/US/DE)

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- [Deleted user] said...
- User
- 24 Mar 2009, 16:06
Last.fm Radio to require subscription (outside of UK/US/DE)

Seeing as I know not everyone reads the blog...

http://blog.last.fm/2009/03/24/lastfm-radio-announcement

Today we’re announcing an upcoming change to the way Last.fm Radio works in some parts of the world. In the United States, United Kingdom and Germany, nothing will change.

In all other countries, listening to Last.fm Radio will soon require a subscription of €3.00 per month. There will be a 30 track free trial, and we hope this will convince people to subscribe and keep listening to the radio. Everything else on Last.fm (scrobbling, recommendations, charts, biographies, events, videos etc.) will remain free in all countries, like it is now.

Since we streamed our first track from Last.fm back in 2002, we have focused on playing the right songs to the right people, compensating artists for playing their music, and being the best music site on the web. We appreciate the support we get from the 30 million people who use Last.fm every month—double the number of people since this time last year. We work with over 280,000 labels and artists, many of whom we pay directly, and have built up the largest catalogue of any web radio platform: over 7 million tracks are available on Last.fm Radio stations.

In order to keep providing the best radio service on the web, we need to ask our listeners from countries other than USA, UK and Germany to subscribe for €3.00 per month. In return you’ll get unlimited access to Last.fm Radio, and a promise that we’ll be hard at work improving the service for years to come.Thoughts....

[quote][b][user][/user][/b] said: Seeing as I know not everyone reads the blog... http://blog.last.fm/2009/03/24/lastfm-radio-announcement [quote]Today we’re announcing an upcoming change to the way Last.fm Radio works in some parts of the world. In the United States, United Kingdom and Germany, nothing will change. In all other countries, [b]listening to Last.fm Radio will soon require a subscription of €3.00 per month[/b]. There will be a 30 track free trial, and we hope this will convince people to subscribe and keep listening to the radio. Everything else on Last.fm (scrobbling, recommendations, charts, biographies, events, videos etc.) will remain free in all countries, like it is now. Since we streamed our first track from Last.fm back in 2002, we have focused on playing the right songs to the right people, compensating artists for playing their music, and being the best music site on the web. We appreciate the support we get from the 30 million people who use Last.fm every month—double the number of people since this time last year. We work with over 280,000 labels and artists, many of whom we pay directly, and have built up the largest catalogue of any web radio platform: over 7 million tracks are available on Last.fm Radio stations. In order to keep providing the best radio service on the web, we need to ask our listeners from countries other than USA, UK and Germany to subscribe for €3.00 per month. In return you’ll get unlimited access to Last.fm Radio, and a promise that we’ll be hard at work improving the service for years to come.[/quote]Thoughts....[/quote]

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- akrde said...
- Subscriber
- 24 Mar 2009, 16:45
...TRACKED!!!

Tomahawk Music Player
Last.fm Free Music Player
Playdar Music Content Resolver

[quote][b][user]akrde[/user][/b] said: ...TRACKED!!![/quote]

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- dkagedal said...
- User
- 24 Mar 2009, 16:59
In return you’ll get unlimited access to Last.fm Radio

It's still not clear that we (in Sweden and other places) would get the same feature set as they have in USA/UK/Germany if we shell out the money. Will we?

[quote][b][user]dkagedal[/user][/b] said: [quote]In return you’ll get unlimited access to Last.fm Radio[/quote] It's still not clear that we (in Sweden and other places) would get the same feature set as they have in USA/UK/Germany if we shell out the money. Will we?[/quote]

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- brtkrbzhnv said...
- User
- 24 Mar 2009, 17:06
Well, I'm here almost exclusively for the audioscrobbling, so this doesn't directly affect me a lot – but removing one of your two core features doesn't exactly seem like a sign of good health (and then we have the layoffs that happened a few months ago); so this is making me a tiny bit worried about the future of Last.fm.

last.fm#DIV(class=messageSig)

[quote][b][user]brtkrbzhnv[/user][/b] said: Well, I'm here almost exclusively for the audioscrobbling, so this doesn't directly affect me a lot – but removing one of your two core features doesn't exactly seem like a sign of good health (and then we have the layoffs that happened a few months ago); so this is making me a tiny bit worried about the future of Last.fm.[/quote]

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- rasmusfm said...
- User
- 24 Mar 2009, 17:10
This is going to cost last.fm a lot of users and with good cause. I’ll probably stay as a subscriber, but I still think it sucks.

It's still not clear that we (in Sweden and other places) would get the same feature set as they have in USA/UK/Germany if we shell out the money. Will we?
I hope so, but I wouldn't bet on it.

Also this better bring the Last.fm Iphone App to the rest of us.

[quote][b][user]rasmusfm[/user][/b] said: This is going to cost last.fm a lot of users and with good cause. I’ll probably stay as a subscriber, but I still think it sucks. [quote]It's still not clear that we (in Sweden and other places) would get the same feature set as they have in USA/UK/Germany if we shell out the money. Will we?[/quote] I hope so, but I wouldn't bet on it. Also this better bring the Last.fm Iphone App to the rest of us. [/quote]

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- schlagschnitzel said...
- Alumni
- 24 Mar 2009, 17:12
dkagedal said:
In return you’ll get unlimited access to Last.fm Radio
It's still not clear that we (in Sweden and other places) would get the same feature set as they have in USA/UK/Germany if we shell out the money. Will we?If you mean the Free On-Demand service, this is still restricted to US, UK and Germany, but stay tuned for more updates as we're always working on improvements.

[quote][b][user]schlagschnitzel[/user][/b] said: [quote][b][user]dkagedal[/user][/b] said: [quote]In return you’ll get unlimited access to Last.fm Radio[/quote] It's still not clear that we (in Sweden and other places) would get the same feature set as they have in USA/UK/Germany if we shell out the money. Will we?[/quote]If you mean the Free On-Demand service, this is still restricted to US, UK and Germany, but stay tuned for more updates as we're always working on improvements.[/quote]

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- penguin_of_zoom said...
- User
- 24 Mar 2009, 17:27
Since I am not directly affected by this, I'll stay out of the debate this will inevitably cause but for the sake of those people who are affected and who wish to support last.fm, I hope that this change will put the "offer other payment options" item near the top of the to-do list.

[quote][b][user]penguin_of_zoom[/user][/b] said: Since I am not directly affected by this, I'll stay out of the debate this will inevitably cause but for the sake of those people who are affected and who wish to support last.fm, I hope that this change will put the "offer other payment options" item near the top of the to-do list. [/quote]

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- intraordinaire said...
- User
- 24 Mar 2009, 17:35
WTF

schlagschnitzel a dit :

If you mean the Free On-Demand service, this is still restricted to US, UK and Germany, but stay tuned for more updates as we're always working on improvements.

I really hope I'm misunderstanding this sentence.

Do you mean, we future paying users will still get less features than freeloaders from the UK US and Germany?

So we don't even get an improvement from paying? What the hell!?

[quote][b][user]intraordinaire[/user][/b] said: [quote][b][user]schlagschnitzel[/user][/b] a dit : If you mean the Free On-Demand service, this is still restricted to US, UK and Germany, but stay tuned for more updates as we're always working on improvements.[/quote] I really hope I'm misunderstanding this sentence. Do you mean, we future paying users will still get less features than freeloaders from the UK US and Germany? So we don't even get an improvement from paying? What the hell!?[/quote]

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- maz35 said...
- Subscriber
- 24 Mar 2009, 18:10
Sad day for people outside those countries.I'm already blaming the labels even if the last.fm guys wont as they cant rock the negotiating boat...that and this damn recession.

The Tag Appreciation Society | The Last.fm Mass Tagger

[quote][b][user]maz35[/user][/b] said: Sad day for people outside those countries.I'm already blaming the labels even if the last.fm guys wont as they cant rock the negotiating boat...that and this damn recession.[/quote]

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- akrde said...
- Subscriber
- 24 Mar 2009, 18:16
Does the €3.00 per month mean that users who are paying this monthly fee are normal subscribers with all the Subscription Benefits? Or is this a new subscriber status now, i.e. "radio subscriber", and these people still see ads and can't play playlists and so on?

And why €3.00 per month and not €2.50 as here in Germany?

Tomahawk Music Player
Last.fm Free Music Player
Playdar Music Content Resolver

[quote][b][user]akrde[/user][/b] said: Does the €3.00 per month mean that users who are paying this monthly fee are normal subscribers with all the [url=http://www.last.fm/subscribe]Subscription Benefits[/url]? Or is this a new subscriber status now, i.e. "radio subscriber", and these people still see ads and can't play playlists and so on? And why €3.00 per month and not €2.50 as here in Germany?[/quote]

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- Russ said...
- Alumni
- 24 Mar 2009, 18:37
akrde said:
Does the €3.00 per month mean that users who are paying this monthly fee are normal subscribers with all the Subscription Benefits? Or is this a new subscriber status now, i.e. "radio subscriber", and these people still see ads and can't play playlists and so on?

And why €3.00 per month and not €2.50 as here in Germany?

It's the same subscription, so subscribers in other countries will get all the standard features too.

This wasn't very clear in the blog post, but we're also raising the subscription prices slightly on Monday - they'll be going up to €3/$3/£3 in all territories (this is the first time we've raised prices in over 4 years).

[quote][b][user]Russ[/user][/b] said: [quote][b][user]akrde[/user][/b] said: Does the €3.00 per month mean that users who are paying this monthly fee are normal subscribers with all the [url=http://www.last.fm/subscribe]Subscription Benefits[/url]? Or is this a new subscriber status now, i.e. "radio subscriber", and these people still see ads and can't play playlists and so on? And why €3.00 per month and not €2.50 as here in Germany?[/quote] It's the same subscription, so subscribers in other countries will get all the standard features too. This wasn't very clear in the blog post, but we're also raising the subscription prices slightly on Monday - they'll be going up to €3/$3/£3 in all territories (this is the first time we've raised prices in over 4 years).[/quote]

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- Russ said...
- Alumni
- 24 Mar 2009, 18:51
Re: WTF

intraordinaire said:
I really hope I'm misunderstanding this sentence.

Do you mean, we future paying users will still get less features than freeloaders from the UK US and Germany?

So we don't even get an improvement from paying? What the hell!?

You're not misunderstanding it - this is unfortunately correct. On-demand listening is a licensing minefield and we don't have the capability to support it outside UK/DE/US at the moment.

[quote][b][user]Russ[/user][/b] said: [quote][b][user]intraordinaire[/user][/b] said: I really hope I'm misunderstanding this sentence. Do you mean, we future paying users will still get less features than freeloaders from the UK US and Germany? So we don't even get an improvement from paying? What the hell!?[/quote] You're not misunderstanding it - this is unfortunately correct. On-demand listening is a licensing minefield and we don't have the capability to support it outside UK/DE/US at the moment.[/quote]

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- [Deleted user] said...
- User
- 24 Mar 2009, 18:53
(tracked...)

[quote][b][user][/user][/b] said: (tracked...)[/quote]

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- akrde said...
- Subscriber
- 24 Mar 2009, 19:03
Russ said:
This wasn't very clear in the blog post, but we're also raising the subscription prices slightly on Monday - they'll be going up to €3/$3/£3 in all territories (this is the first time we've raised prices in over 4 years).

Ok, but it should be mentioned in the blog post too, because most of the people (me included) don't understand why free radio still will be available in US, UK, DE but not in all other countries anymore, so having different monthly fees would make this situation even worse.

Tomahawk Music Player
Last.fm Free Music Player
Playdar Music Content Resolver

[quote][b][user]akrde[/user][/b] said: [quote][b][user]Russ[/user][/b] said: This wasn't very clear in the blog post, but we're also raising the subscription prices slightly on Monday - they'll be going up to €3/$3/£3 in all territories (this is the first time we've raised prices in over 4 years).[/quote] Ok, but it should be mentioned in the blog post too, because most of the people (me included) don't understand why free radio still will be available in US, UK, DE but not in all other countries anymore, so having different monthly fees would make this situation even worse.[/quote]

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- stuartsjm said...
- User
- 24 Mar 2009, 19:34
Russ said:
This wasn't very clear in the blog post, but we're also raising the subscription prices slightly on Monday - they'll be going up to €3/$3/£3 in all territories (this is the first time we've raised prices in over 4 years).

Wasn't very clear? It wasn't mentioned. A doubling of the UK subscription price. I'm guessing it might be a good idea to take out a 12 month subscription before Monday then.

Sad to see that Last.fm has needed to do this, but at the same time I fully support it. I recognise that you have to pay a fee every time us users hear a track on the radio, not to mention all the others costs of running the servers/business. I'm not sure where some people expect the money to come from to pay for these things. I hope Last.fm can continue to evolve, while finding a sustainable business model to support it for a long time to come, because it is a great product.

[quote][b][user]stuartsjm[/user][/b] said: [quote][b][user]Russ[/user][/b] said: This wasn't very clear in the blog post, but we're also raising the subscription prices slightly on Monday - they'll be going up to €3/$3/£3 in all territories (this is the first time we've raised prices in over 4 years).[/quote] Wasn't very clear? It wasn't mentioned. A doubling of the UK subscription price. I'm guessing it might be a good idea to take out a 12 month subscription before Monday then. Sad to see that Last.fm has needed to do this, but at the same time I fully support it. I recognise that you have to pay a fee every time us users hear a track on the radio, not to mention all the others costs of running the servers/business. I'm not sure where some people expect the money to come from to pay for these things. I hope Last.fm can continue to evolve, while finding a sustainable business model to support it for a long time to come, because it is a great product. [/quote]

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- [Deleted user] said...
- User
- 24 Mar 2009, 19:38
Russ said:
This wasn't very clear in the blog post, but we're also raising the subscription prices slightly on Monday - they'll be going up to €3/$3/£3 in all territories (this is the first time we've raised prices in over 4 years).Will this affect existing subscribers?

I've still got six months' subscription outstanding at the old rate. Do I now have only three months remaining?! I assume not, but thought it best to ask....

[quote][b][user][/user][/b] said: [quote][b][user]Russ[/user][/b] said: This wasn't very clear in the blog post, but we're also raising the subscription prices slightly on Monday - they'll be going up to €3/$3/£3 in all territories (this is the first time we've raised prices in over 4 years).[/quote]Will this affect existing subscribers? I've still got six months' subscription outstanding at the old rate. Do I now have only three months remaining?! I assume not, but thought it best to ask....[/quote]

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- fletador said...
- User
- 24 Mar 2009, 19:54
This shows how they care about us out of those 3 countries...

Dissapointing

sucks

[quote][b][user]fletador[/user][/b] said: This shows how they care about us out of those 3 countries... Dissapointing sucks[/quote]

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- tonique said...
- User
- 24 Mar 2009, 19:58
:<

~ my music on Bandcamp | Last.fm ~

[quote][b][user]tonique[/user][/b] said: :<[/quote]

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- krabjunazis said...
- User
- 24 Mar 2009, 20:21
sucks-a-lot phh

rozkalns.tumblr.com

[quote][b][user]krabjunazis[/user][/b] said: sucks-a-lot phh[/quote]

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- Brendan_Is_Cool said...
- Subscriber
- 24 Mar 2009, 20:22
Doesn't surprise me that Canada wasn't mentioned

My music blog

[quote][b][user]Brendan_Is_Cool[/user][/b] said: Doesn't surprise me that Canada wasn't mentioned[/quote]

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- WichitaQ said...
- Subscriber
- 24 Mar 2009, 20:29
i'm blond so i didn't get all the facts done (not my fault :\)... users outside those countries pay 0,5€ more, or an additional 3€ to the standard 2,5€ (or 3€, whatever it's going to be)?

in short, since i'm on the new monthly subscription, what's the cost for the full last.fm experience is going to be, for all us other users? :D

[quote][b][user]WichitaQ[/user][/b] said: i'm blond so i didn't get all the facts done (not my fault :\)... users outside those countries pay 0,5€ more, or an additional 3€ to the standard 2,5€ (or 3€, whatever it's going to be)? in short, since i'm on the new monthly subscription, what's the cost for the full last.fm experience is going to be, for all us other users? :D[/quote]

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- rickmb said...
- User
- 24 Mar 2009, 20:36
Deleting my account...

I would have gladly paid 3 euros or more for Last.fm's service, even though I rarely use radio. I wouldn't have given it a second thought.

But I absolutely will never, ever pay any kind of penalty for not being British, American or German.

I find it so utterly insulting I refuse to have anything to do with Last.fm anymore. I'm seriously furious. This is the most disgusting thing I've ever experienced with any kind of service, online or offline.

[quote][b][user]rickmb[/user][/b] said: I would have gladly paid 3 euros or more for Last.fm's service, even though I rarely use radio. I wouldn't have given it a second thought. But I absolutely will never, ever pay any kind of [i]penalty[/i] for not being British, American or German. I find it so utterly insulting I refuse to have anything to do with Last.fm anymore. I'm seriously furious. This is the most disgusting thing I've ever experienced with any kind of service, online or offline. [/quote]

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- maz35 said...
- Subscriber
- 24 Mar 2009, 20:40
WichitaQ said:
i'm blond so i didn't get all the facts done (not my fault :\)... users outside those countries pay 0,5€ more, or an additional 3€ to the standard 2,5€ (or 3€, whatever it's going to be)?

in short, since i'm on the new monthly subscription, what's the cost for the full last.fm experience is going to be, for all us other users? :D

Actually it sounds like outside UK/US/DE the choice is either all radio features or none so you get the usual subcriber benefits(playlist radios etc), no paying twice like your suggesting.

The Tag Appreciation Society | The Last.fm Mass Tagger

[quote][b][user]maz35[/user][/b] said: [quote][b][user]WichitaQ[/user][/b] said: i'm blond so i didn't get all the facts done (not my fault :\)... users outside those countries pay 0,5€ more, or an additional 3€ to the standard 2,5€ (or 3€, whatever it's going to be)? in short, since i'm on the new monthly subscription, what's the cost for the full last.fm experience is going to be, for all us other users? :D[/quote] Actually it sounds like outside UK/US/DE the choice is either all radio features or none so you get the usual subcriber benefits(playlist radios etc), no paying twice like your suggesting.[/quote]

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- WichitaQ said...
- Subscriber
- 24 Mar 2009, 20:44
oh pardon me (thx for the reply maz35 :\) i've got it right now (i think :D)...

non subscribers which don't live in the fab three have to subscribe to use any form of the radio? and it's only 0,5€ increase?
well, i don't think that should so bad, but i do admit that this might anger a lot of users :(

[quote][b][user]WichitaQ[/user][/b] said: oh pardon me (thx for the reply maz35 :\) i've got it right now (i think :D)... non subscribers which don't live in the fab three have to subscribe to use any form of the radio? and it's only 0,5€ increase? well, i don't think that should so bad, but i do admit that this might anger a lot of users :([/quote]

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- anonnamiss said...
- User
- 24 Mar 2009, 20:48
Brendan_Is_Cool said:
Doesn't surprise me that Canada wasn't mentioned

mte. We usually get screwed when it comes to these internet radio and tv sites (eg. pandora, hulu)

[quote][b][user]anonnamiss[/user][/b] said: [quote][b][user]Brendan_Is_Cool[/user][/b] said: Doesn't surprise me that Canada wasn't mentioned[/quote] mte. We usually get screwed when it comes to these internet radio and tv sites (eg. pandora, hulu)[/quote]

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