Online music service Last.fm will no longer provide on-demand track playback, instead directing users to third-party sources.
Along with information on the track and its social history, users will be provided with links to the song on Spotify, MOG (US), the Hype Machine and other music services that offer scrobbling to Last.fm. Music videos from sites such as Vevo and YouTube are also being introduced.
Scrobbling is Last.fm’s method of analysing a user’s exact music taste through the songs they listen to, in order to optimise recommendations and use the information in music-based social-networking features.
We feel strongly that we can better fulfill our core mission by instead connecting our users to services in the ecosystem that, unlike us, focus primarily on a jukebox-in-the-sky streaming experience
“Engagement with features like user profiles and personalised radio stations has remained much higher than usage of on-demand playback,” said Matthew Ogle, head of web products at Last.fm, in a post on the company’s blog. “We feel strongly that we can better fulfill our core mission by instead connecting our users to services in the ecosystem that, unlike us, focus primarily on a jukebox-in-the-sky streaming experience.”
“Our vision is for Last.fm to efficiently connect any user to all of the relevant streaming options in their country for every track we know about, as well as being able to personalise listening preferences Last.fm-wide.”
Ogle clarified that the changes only affect the site’s single-track playback and not its online radio stations, which are still running.
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