last.fm

Unsettling and unsubstantiated Last.fm rumour

March 2, 2007 By Dan Thornton

Viacom execs are looking to buy last.fm for $450 million, in an unsubstantiated rumour story published on dealbreaker.com

As commented on before, Last.fm had recently signed a deal for content from Warner, so was, perhaps, preparing for something like this?

I’ll be keeping a close eye on this story, as although I don’t often use the last.fm player, I do enjoy seeing my MP3s listed up there, as well as using the pandora/last.fm mash-up, here.

More convergence for online entertainment

February 13, 2007 By Dan Thornton

It seems like there’s a new story about media converging every day at the moment. Actually, it seems more like 20 per day. And most are offering something of interest.

StumbleUpon Video on the Ninteno Wii (Techcrunch): A good move for StumbleUpon to get word of mouth and entice all the owners of the new Nintendo console. And it’s a more efficient way of getting content that MS licensing individual companies and videos for their Live service.
Myspace is offering video filtering. Viacom is looking for a Youtube work around (NewTeeVee): Both these stories in the NewTeeVee round up suggest that the mighty Gootube still hasn’t won over content providers, or scared away rivals enough to be totally secure.
Last.fm secure music from Warner.(Downloadsquad). One music company has hitched a trailer to the social music network. How long before the others finally join up, particularly as the conversations about Digital Rights Management are generally allowing that the pirates had it right all along?

Boost for Last.fm

February 9, 2007 By Dan Thornton

With integration into every music playing device on your computer, and 15 millions users, Last.fm is already extremely popular and heavily used. There’s even a mash-up to combine it’s services with the equally popular Pandora.com.

But the news of a new deal with the fourth largest supplier of music, Warner Music Group, is probably the best news for Last.fm users, and a sign that Last is in the premier position for a social music site.

The biggest flaw in any of the popular services is having enough music available to keep listeners interested. Too often you find yourself hearing the same songs over, and over again, particularly when you’re choosing a small sub-genre. Now Last will be best placed to avoid that flaw, while Warner will benefit from interacting with a social music site, and it’s artists will get a lot more coverage.

It’ll be interesting to see if other music firms follow suit, and whether they’ll also choose Last.fm, or whether they’ll attempt to bolster a rival service.

Tip off from downloadsquad.com