Levis Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 You know what sucks? That this is not going to affect any other last.fming SFer, so I am alone in my grumbling. 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. So I suddenly feel like I have to do all my tagged radio listening NOW before I can't anymore Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeBB Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 I share your pain... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levis Posted March 25, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 You last.fm too? I did not know Okay, I shall grumble with you bah. :beady: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farin Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 even though it doesn't affect me personally I still think that this sucks quite a lot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edna Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 No lastfm in Spain? Oh, I can live without it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farin Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 well, no radio at least... you could still use the other stuff for free Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Seeker Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 You'd expect them to add Australia to the 'free' countries too... this sucks a whole lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levis Posted March 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2009 I'm thinking of uninstalling the scrobbler since all it's going to do is boost my play count and while I can understand their reasons for doing this, I'd rather not support it. Also, it serves no purpose anymore. As for: You'd expect them to add Australia to the 'free' countries too To be honest, I'd rather they didn't. The reason everyone's so pissed off is because it's discrimination. the big 3 that don't have to pay are the richest countries in the world and could probably afford it. One of the people who commented pointed out that 3 euros is not pocket money in Brazil. In India it's 200 rupees. In Colombia it's 9871 pesos. Oz could afford it too, so yeah, it's odd they haven't made it 'free' here. But I'd feel like one of the 'bad guys' if they did. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Posted March 27, 2009 Report Share Posted March 27, 2009 (edited) ^ Big baby ! Get over it . Who cares ? There will be /are others to fill the niche . If a few bucks are the obstacle then welcome to the real world . I doubt 3 euros will break you if you really like this service. I really think it ridiculous for people on the net to expect everything to be free . What are you ; utopians ? Edited March 27, 2009 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farin Posted March 27, 2009 Report Share Posted March 27, 2009 I really think it ridiculous for people on the net to expect everything to be free . What are you ; utopians ? they do that because it's been free since it started 5 or 6 years ago. In general you're right of course, the sites have bills to pay too There will be /are others to fill the niche. that's what everybody's saying, but actually the other 'free' alternatives are much more restricted... Pandora can only be used in the US, Spotify only for free in a handful of countries - the other can pay 9.99€ for the 'premium' service. and even if others would come forward I can assure you, once they get popular enough (last.fm has over 25 million users) they will cease to be free as well. Also, I don't think the 3€/3$/3£ is too much, the main issue is probably that the business model pays itself through advertising in the US/UK and Germany - which means nothing changes for these users, people percieve that as unfair (I wouldn't call it 'discrimination' though) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levis Posted March 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2009 They could get MORE money then, and have people less - but uniformly - angry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edna Posted March 27, 2009 Report Share Posted March 27, 2009 I can afford those 3 € but I refuse to pay to listen to any radio. I´d rather youtube or listen to my friends' playlists... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Posted March 27, 2009 Report Share Posted March 27, 2009 They could get MORE money then, and have people less - but uniformly - angry. But aren't these 'angry ' folk , by and large , simply spongers who liked it being free and hoped it would continue that way forever ? AKA , utopians ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levis Posted March 27, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2009 Why is it Utopian when it already exists for three countries? Their main gripe is, understandably, that they now HAVE to pay to listen to radio and even as subscribers they don't get the benefits free listeners in the US, UK and Germany do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Posted March 27, 2009 Report Share Posted March 27, 2009 Let them shoot themselves in the head , then . If they are wrong , they'll set it straight again . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otokichi Posted March 30, 2009 Report Share Posted March 30, 2009 You could tell this was coming, when the shop was sold to a music biz conglomerate a while back. Sounds a bit too much like DVD "Region Codes" applied to the Internet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farin Posted March 30, 2009 Report Share Posted March 30, 2009 Last.fm Radio Announcement (Revisited) Monday, 30 March 2009 Since our announcement last Tuesday about starting to charge users €3.00 per month for listening to the radio in countries other than the USA, UK and Germany, we’ve received a lot of feedback. It’s not a decision we’ve made lightly, and I want to explain why we came to this conclusion and answer some common questions. Last.fm Radio has always been ad supported, which means we sell ads on the site to cover the cost of running the service and paying the music licensing fees. If you’ve spent more than 5 minutes on the site you’ll know that the Last.fm community is international to the extreme – we are made up of people from practically every country in the world. Last.fm is a better place for it. However, we simply can’t be in every country where our radio service is available selling the ads we need to support the service. The Internet is global, and geographic restrictions seem unfair, but it’s a reality we are faced with every day when managing our music licensing partnerships. We’re listening and we’ve postponed the date on which radio will become a subscription service outside the USA, UK and Germany. In the meantime we’ll be squeezing in some additional improvements based on your requests: * Gift subscriptions: you’ll be able to buy a subscription for a friend * Updating developers using our Radio API: third-party apps that stream Last.fm Radio will have full access to the Radio API, so streaming will work provided the user that logs in is a subscriber. (All other APIs remain free/unchanged) * Investigating alternative payment options. If Paypal sucks in your country, or you don’t have a credit card, don’t despair. Based on feedback so far, 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, but we’ll do our best to make it easy for you. As soon as we’ve completed the upgrades noted above, we’ll move ahead with the transition. Thereafter, radio in the USA, UK and Germany will remain ad-supported, and radio in other countries where it’s not feasible to have an ad-supported service will be moving to a subscription service. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levis Posted March 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2009 Oh they're not entirely terrible then - I still suggest they go the whole hog and charge all the countries because it'll only mean more monies for them. A few more days of radio, ist gut till then Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c_s_1987 Posted March 31, 2009 Report Share Posted March 31, 2009 (edited) You know what sucks? That this is not going to affect any other last.fming SFer, so I am alone in my grumbling. Ahem... Just because I haven't used it for months doesn't mean it won't affect me. Edited March 31, 2009 by Guest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levis Posted March 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted March 31, 2009 Oh, I'm sorry! You'd dropped off the first page of my friends list (the one which tells me who's been listening to what recently) - it's entirely your fault, actually, so wait - I'm NOT sorry, after all, hah! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Levis Posted April 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted April 22, 2009 They just implemented it. No warning, no nothing. I have a 30 song free 'trial', my homepage tells me so. Such a good site, such terrible PR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farin Posted April 22, 2009 Report Share Posted April 22, 2009 Such a good site, such terrible PR. you'd think they'd learn of the problems they had in the past Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viaene Posted April 25, 2009 Report Share Posted April 25, 2009 I'm currently listening to "classic rock" radio on Deezer.com I'm not sure how the site works exactly, but the radio thing is pretty much like last.fm's tag radio system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindCrime Posted April 25, 2009 Report Share Posted April 25, 2009 I use the playlist site that LeeBB uses for the T10s and just custom make my own radio station. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farin Posted April 25, 2009 Report Share Posted April 25, 2009 yeah, projectplaylist is a cool site - but not really useful if you want to listen to something new... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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