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Music site Last.fm bought by CBS

news.bbc.co.uk — Social music site Last.fm has been bought by US media giant CBS Corporation for $280m (£140m), the largest-ever UK Web 2.0 acquisition

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  • ct2000, on 10/11/2007, -11/+101bargin
    • bpapa, on 10/11/2007, -16/+8Agreed. WTF, that sounds reallllllly low to me. But then again wasn't Digg valued at not much more than that?
    • admirabumblebee, on 10/11/2007, -22/+8This must be why last.fm has sucked for the last few days. Multiple stations of mine keep saying it's ran out of music, when i DO get music to play it skips constantly.

      Damnit. Now I have to find another radio station (cbs or not).

      If a, then b!
    • cruzlee, on 10/11/2007, -9/+38I am thinking, when we need to, can't we (the users) just use the open source audioscrobbler basis for a new site?

      By the way, this seems to be the new trend; starting up a friendly looking, quasi open source, lean & mean thingy and then, when you have a massive community gathered around your cool app, you slowly force 'em to kneel and quietly assrape them. Just look at BSplayer and utorrent for example. Or maybe even google for that matter.
    • Lukesed, on 10/11/2007, -4/+22I really miss the good old audioscrobbler, before it turned into last.fm. I started using it years ago, back when the focus was tracking what you listen to, rather than doing the streaming thing (there is a reason streaming services fail). I used to get some great music recommendations from people who shared my eclectic musical taste, but the community is basically gone now.
    • mdhauke, on 10/11/2007, -5/+30***** cbs
    • bpapa, on 10/11/2007, -21/+4Weird, my comment, which was actually a reply to the original comment in this thread, has -5 diggs. Meanwhile, a comment that is just comment abuse has +8 diggs.

      gotta love this place!
    • drobati, on 10/11/2007, -1/+28*****. Now the site is going to blow.
    • spliffy, on 10/11/2007, -7/+21. buy lastfm
      2. get millions of users listening habits based on age, location and personal interests for free and create marketing data.
      3. ???
      4. profit

      lastfm serves you no function except to show how cool you are, by what music you listen to.
    • longboarder543, on 10/11/2007, -1/+31As a courtesy, I created a website template for the new last.fm that fits CBS' branding and style.

      http://aycu15.webshots.com/image/15894/2000891532929295186_rs.jpg
    • Kickboy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2They probably could have sold to Yahoo or Google for twice that, and would probably be better off that way. What kind of experience does CBS have running a user-driven community? They are a ***** media company!

      I think the owner of Last.FM has a few screws loose, to be honest. Doesn't mean I'll quit using the site though, but it does greatly change how I will look at it.
  • DCUK, on 10/11/2007, -12/+331Great, another site I love to be ***** over by old media
    • samuelcotterall, on 10/11/2007, -1/+114CBS bought Fender guitars, had no passion for the company, and almost destroyed it.

      I can see this happening with Last.fm.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fender#Sale_to_CBS
    • samuelcotterall, on 10/11/2007, -22/+6Sorry, double post.
    • CoSMoSYS, on 10/11/2007, -2/+174Straight from the horses mouth over at http://blog.last.fm

      * The Last.fm team stays put in London, we’ll grow the company some more here.
      * We will continue to execute our world domination plans – our focus is still music and the surrounding ecosystem. The founders (myself included) are still at the helm.
      * We have more resources at our disposal now, and more clout when it comes to negotiating licensing deals etc.
      * OH NOES UR SELLIN MY SCROBBLES!!1!! — Don’t panic. The openness of our platform and our approach to privacy won’t change.
    • mooninite, on 10/11/2007, -6/+94cosmosys, how long do you really think the founders will have before they are fired?

      CBS will see negative profit earnings from Last.FM and will cut it to pieces. They didn't pay $200+ million to let some kids run it.
    • scoobycarolan, on 10/11/2007, -1/+19Ab So Lutely. Well, where's the next great thing I can only enjoy for 2 months.
    • paulmdx, on 10/11/2007, -1/+85"We have more resources at our disposal now"

      How to acquire a company: (1) say they will keep control, (2) say they will have more resources at their disposal.

      Yep, they fell for that one..
    • kevincannon, on 10/11/2007, -3/+11Seems like the bought it cause it's the closest thing they could find to myspace for a reasonable price.

      If you don't have a social network you're nothing these days!
    • CoSMoSYS, on 10/11/2007, -3/+10mooninite, do you seriously think CBS will even fire them for negative profits? If that were true wouldn't Katie Couric be out of a job by now?
    • jasz, on 10/11/2007, -2/+36I really want to cry... I LOVE last.fm and this definitely doesn't sound like a deal that will end up in something positive for end users...

      In fact, I can see CBS pushing their DRM'ed tracks via last.fm :(

      so.... so sad....
    • rpgmaker, on 10/11/2007, -0/+22The thing that ***** me up with this acquisition is that the buyer is US-based company and now the stupid US laws on the radio online would apply to Last.fm, when they complete the acquisition of course.
    • logicalnoise, on 10/11/2007, -4/+1hmmm maybe they will finally create a decent search function this time. 3 monthes on the damn service and it refused to bring my music up when I searched my exact artist name. 10,000 results, none of them correct!
    • eliotness, on 10/11/2007, -3/+11I feel like my favorite indie band just sold out mainstream :(
    • diggzoid, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1this totaly sucks, my "dubhead" account is now all wasted 107000 plays and I belong to the man
    • PueSi, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4I wonder when are they going to buy Digg...
  • parkylondon, on 10/11/2007, -5/+57Oh goody. Will CBS insert the FUBAR stick into Last.fm, give it a good twist and balls it up good and proper? Probably, very probably. Big Media + New Idea + cash = FUBAR
    • tsunamisteve, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3Hey let's listen to some ***** podcast about Survivor!!!1!
  • kelvinshuffle, on 10/11/2007, -4/+50what an acquisition not by google!
    • bobcrotch, on 10/11/2007, -3/+26Yeah to bad too because google wouldn't completely take the site over and ruin it.
    • smackhero, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4yea, if any company were going to take over it, i would have preferred google. they at least know how to run a web service. CBS is likely to ruin this for a lot of indie artists, labels, and listeners. they'll probably start injecting their own artists into all the stations or start promoting their artists heavily on last.fm.
    • redboy, on 10/11/2007, -6/+1rightttttt because it worked so well for dodgeball.com ;)
  • krist69, on 10/11/2007, -5/+73As long as nothing changes, it should be okay.

    However, i have a feeling things will change.
    • chicken101, on 10/11/2007, -2/+9*****, i love last.fm.

      Why does this always happen to me. Next digg is gonna be bought by yahoo or something. argh!!
    • IEatHamburgers, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6Yahoo hasn't screwed up its acquisitions too bad - lately - so it's possible CBS might not rip the site apart.

      Of course, something tells me CBS wanted something to rival MySpace (something like "We want something to give Rupert Murdock and the bastards at FOX a headache"), that this was all they could get, and they're going to force Last.FM to become something it shouldn't be - a horrifying blend of Last.FM and MySpace.

      *crosses fingers hoping otherwise*
  • CraigMacrae, on 10/11/2007, -1/+92Good for the Last.fm guys, they deserve a bit of a pay rise. But God damn CBS better not change things.
  • kodoTM, on 10/11/2007, -19/+5I'm surprised that Viacom passed up on this, as it will be the MTV for a new generation of music fans. It's how I listen, discover and learn about new artists as well as track my own listening habits. I'm looking forward to what they do in Facebook.


  • kingmoffa, on 10/11/2007, -5/+10i've just started using lastfm properly (my mythtv box nows scrobbles).

    GUTTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    • ardnut, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Using MythMusic? If so please give details.
  • mcic1984, on 10/11/2007, -1/+28Last.fm is fantastic (been using it for a couple of years now), though I am lately a bit disappointed that iLike got there first with Facebook integration.

    Also, it's a bit of a shame none of the UK media companies were forward-looking enough to buy Last.fm which was the UK's probably top Web 2.0 property...
    • dezmd, on 10/11/2007, -17/+6No offense, but ***** facebook.
    • gmillerd, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2ilike has a lot of potential, their client is great. using my clientside ratings is smart, last.fm tags are worthless.
  • phronko, on 10/11/2007, -7/+174*****.
  • AndrewDB, on 01/10/2008, -32/+12Well today's the day I start to stop using Last.fm.
    • TheUndertoker, on 10/11/2007, -6/+12@ doctorsax

      You're deluding yourself. You know as well as I what's going to happen now that big media has a hold of it.

      I just finished deleting/uninstalling everything last.fm related. It was fun while it lasted I suppose.
    • Paranormalized, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6To me, it's not a matter of whether they will ruin the user experience; I just don't trust CBS to keep their grubby paws off the data last.fm has compiled, and I'm not really trying to help them out with their data mining operations.

      The last.fm guys claim that won't happen, but it's out of their hands now. They don't own the data anymore.
    • ragsmaloy, on 10/11/2007, -1/+3@Paranormalized

      The data last.fm has compiled is available freely to anyone who wants it already through their audioscrobbler data feed site
      http://www.audioscrobbler.net/data/webservices/

      However I do think they will end up ***** it up but i'll hang around and give them a chance just incase they mange to avoid destroying it
    • phoomp, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4@doctorsax
      Whether or not they screw it up, I think there's a pretty good chance CBS will be blocking content for those outside the US, as CBS does with their web-TV broadcasts (though, interestingly, CBS *doesn't* block non-US residents from watching the *commercials* that precede the blocked TV content).
    • bigtomrodney, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5CBS are shareholders in the media industry. Do you honestly think that they would pass up on an oppertunity to monitor mp3/wma/whatever usage and try to bring it into the scope of the fight against piracy?

      Honestly I think Last.fm's promise to not keep your logs and anonymise your usage generally might be slightly reworded in the next while.
    • msgyrd, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5It may be premature, but he has every right to be paranoid. More companies get ruined from selling out than those who get improved. Big media companies are out there to exploit users for every dollar they can so they can stay a big media company. Being cool, innovative, usable, or respectable is not their concern. Last.fm may remain the same for a few months, but it won't last forever.
    • gmillerd, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1agreed.
  • Affiniti, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2Yeah.. *****. I really hope they can keep the site as good as before..
  • krabat, on 10/11/2007, -2/+36So, who wants to start taking bets on when they will completely ***** it up?
  • CielChocobo, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4So now that they have a lot of money, when are they going to dump the project and create something newer and better - which would not be owned by CBS?
  • Steaminx, on 10/11/2007, -0/+39Maybe the servers will finally speed up. I love the site, but it is ridiculously slow.
    • Barryke, on 10/11/2007, -2/+5That's to make sure you buy an real full-feature account.
      They just support free listening to the point that its profitable by paid-for statistics gathering.
    • TheTankengine, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1I started using the free streaming radio player a couple months ago and that hasn't happened to me even once.
  • kickarse, on 10/11/2007, -2/+13They really needed this backing because of the new laws that might go into affect. They are really saving their skins, imo. But, I'm pretty sure they made sure of all the fine tape to keep things as close as possible to what it is now.
    • localzuk, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7What laws would those be then? Remember, this is a UK company.
  • thewebguy, on 10/11/2007, -3/+6is like every person that has commented so far english? is last.fm more popular across the pond?
    • YuriSakazaki, on 10/11/2007, -0/+24I'm American and I've been using Last.fm since the Audioscrobbler days.
    • radial, on 10/11/2007, -3/+12I'm in america, have used last.fm for years. I had no idea last.fm wasn't in america.
    • Murdats, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Im australian and I know lots of people who use it.
      I use to use last.fm till they blocked non-us IP's (bastard RIAA)
      and yes, I know you can use proxies and whatnot, but I really cbf putting in that much effort, I just wont be finding any new artists for a while because apparently the RIAA hates making their artists visible (well except the ones that are brands and not artists)
    • FishPoisonCon, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3in the US, too - i joined Jun 29, 2005 and i thought *i* was late to the party...

      i didn't really use it that much (scrobbled only 3,200 songs in 2 years) until a couple months ago when i redesigned my site to incorporate their album quilts, radio and other widgets... hope that doesn't change now :(
  • Dudibob, on 10/11/2007, -2/+1What's going to happen to live.fm though? The RIAA are trying to ***** them over and now this, is last.fm saved or is it going to be drastically changed to cope with the RIAA? :(
    • shark72, on 10/11/2007, -0/+14"What's going to happen to live.fm though? The RIAA are trying to ***** them over and now this, is last.fm saved or is it going to be drastically changed to cope with the RIAA? :( "

      Huh? CBS *is* a member of the RIAA.
    • Murdats, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6@doctorsax
      well you would think so wouldnt you?
      remember the MPAA seizing pirate bays machines (not in america)
      remember how the RIAA keeps trying to shut down allofmp3.com (not in america)
      and im sure there are others I cant remember

      point being, these US companies feel their wishes should be applied to all no matter of legality or borders
    • Disjunto, on 10/11/2007, -1/+1they try.... don't get anywhere
  • samuelcotterall, on 10/11/2007, -0/+13I'm slightly saddened that the UK's coolest startup has been bought by an American company, but even in the last hour, last.fm has received a lot of attention from the mainstream media - which can't be a bad thing.

    I heard it first from the Guardian - which almost never happens.
  • markperia, on 10/11/2007, -23/+3CBS. whew. At least its a bit better than getting bought out by say... Viacom or Fox which we all know will definitely ***** it up. You know, lesser evil sort of thing.

    I just hope if they did change something, it wont be its core structure.
    • ibeetle, on 10/11/2007, -1/+22You are being sarcastic? Right? You do know that Viacom owns CBS.
  • fragsta, on 10/11/2007, -1/+21Does anyone else think the guy in this photo from the article looks like he's being tortured by electric-shock nodes attached to his ears?

    http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/42986000/jpg/_42986473_headphones203.jpg
    • qwame, on 10/11/2007, -4/+5damn it, beat me to it. That guy looks way retarded.
    • pissflaps, on 10/11/2007, -0/+18That is CBS' depiction of how youngsters listen to music these days. :-)
  • ibeetle, on 10/11/2007, -0/+36Let us hope it goes down like this:
    For the first year CBS will not even know they own them.
    For the second year CBS will not know what to do with them.
    For the here after as long as they stay out of trouble, keep a low profile and make a profit CBS will leave them alone.

    Yea right. In six months CBS will rip out half the music. Replace it with ads. Turn it into a subscription service.
    • underrun, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5"CBStunes" perhaps. You will be able to order your CDs and cassettes via the site too.
  • EllisAshbrook, on 10/11/2007, -4/+1Good news for sites like Finetune!
  • sam991, on 10/11/2007, -3/+26The day the music died?
  • jferraro, on 10/11/2007, -2/+2I love last.fm because I can easily upload music and share it with the world. I haven't found another site as good. I hope that doesn't go away.
    • superspud, on 10/11/2007, -2/+3You can upload music? Since when? I thought you just uploaded the names of tracks you played a few minutes ago...
    • ericush, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5@superspud: http://www.last.fm/uploadmusic/
    • seasleepy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3From that site:
      "Important!

      These accounts are for artists and labels only. Uploading music that you do not own the copyright to is illegal. Violation will result in the deletion of your account and legal action."

      So. Unless it's *you* singing, no uploading.
  • fine, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4I think an integration in Google would enhance its feature richness even more ... but let's look at the positive aspects, another door for Google to study our private behavior is closed.
  • xxdesmus, on 10/11/2007, -0/+9They seriously better not ***** this up.
  • DeFex, on 10/11/2007, -1/+12RIP last.fm

    This is/was a site where independent artists could actually get a bit of exposure for their tracks with no record companies involved.
    the Greedy organized crime syndicate who have no real function except to steal money from artists and consumers™ do not like that, so it is buy and destroy, just like mp3.com
  • NinjaPlease, on 10/11/2007, -0/+28One of the reasons I liked last.fm was because it was independent of the industry. Now when I use it I'm gonna feel like CBS is looking over my shoulder.
  • HanSolo69, on 10/11/2007, -9/+1Good news. now maybe they will fix all those typos like "neighbours." I mean, what the hell? is that even a word? Because i don't know what it means.

    /sarcasm. of course, right after i go back to using last.fm
    i wonder if this will affect the Facebook app has uses last.fm
  • sim0n20, on 10/11/2007, -5/+0http://www.allreleasedates.com/NewReleases.aspx?ReleaseDateCatName=Music
  • modeps, on 10/11/2007, -1/+10oh great... now CBS knows what I'm listening to...
  • st3vo, on 10/11/2007, -2/+11Google! Where were you?!
  • bering, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5Damn! I was hoping for a Google acquisition so they could use their super algorithms on my three years of accumulated data.
    • jessielikes, on 10/11/2007, -7/+0Why Google? I don't like the idea either...
      Google isn't THE ONE.
  • ericnmu, on 10/11/2007, -1/+4Article says Google payed 165bn for Youtube.
  • zos13, on 10/11/2007, -0/+7Ahhhh! I love last.fm. This can't be good.
  • Raisedbycoffee, on 10/11/2007, -3/+1As long as it become crowded with advertisements, I'll stick to it. Once Fox began raping Myspace with movie promotions, I stopped visiting my page. If I see one ad for Survivor: Generic Non-tropical Island, I"ll be pissed!!

    Otherwise, let's hope they will increase the speed; I might just use the radio function more often.
  • kinda4, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6"cbs radio is the largest radio group in the us, with 179 stations in the top 50 markets"

    I have a feeling this has something to do w/it.
    • Viakenny, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4it could've been worse. it could've been Clear Channel.
  • AaronD12, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Hopefully Google will come up with their own Last.FM competitor. Maybe YouTune? If not, The Pirate Bay will come up with something.
  • k3n85, on 10/11/2007, -2/+34'OH NOES UR SELLIN MY SCROBBLES!!1!!'
    - Best line yet
  • TexanPsycho, on 10/11/2007, -1/+2If they do ***** it up, then I'll just change the Scrobbler software to send the information to my own server. From there I can do what I like with it. All I use it for is statistics and finding new music, I've got BitTorrent for that.
  • Pie_Man, on 10/11/2007, -3/+12Maybe they will use this to study what people are listening too...quit producing crap. This is a priceless tool for any music producer because it gives, with 100% complete accuracy, a complete marketing study of what people are actually listening to. Not what they "think" people are listening to.

    Maybe it will produce the wake up call that the music industry needs...as they are currently a bunch of clueless dolts.

    Oh yeah. Almost forgot...F*UCK the RIAA!
  • ChristBehemoth, on 10/11/2007, -1/+5they're gonna rip the beauty out of the currently existing last.fm
  • EvaMonkey01, on 10/11/2007, -0/+6Oh wow, I just find out about Last.fm (Leave me alone, I'm a slow learner) and it's being taken over already.

    Please don't screw it up Viacom... Oh wait, you own Mtv don't you? Well, I guess it's inevitable then.
    • Viakenny, on 10/11/2007, -0/+2they said it many times, I'll say it again: VIACOM AND CBS SPLIT LAST YEAR!!!
  • hexodeci, on 10/11/2007, -0/+15wait, another thing ruined by old media? didnt myspace already suck before fox got it?
  • ahawks, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Damn. I'm still pissed at CBS for canceling Jericho, and I JUST signed up for last.fm this morning.
    • nuxx, on 10/11/2007, -0/+1Jericho was cancelled???? WTF?!?!?!
    • CerealBoy, on 10/11/2007, -0/+0Damn! That's a nasty piece of bad timing there :/
  • totorototoro, on 10/11/2007, -0/+4Crap. I love last.fm, but it seemed like the one worrying factor about it was the privacy issue...it was fine when it was run by a bunch of music fans, but now that its owned by a media conglomerate like CBS? Crap.
  • MavRevMatt, on 10/11/2007, -0/+5Another great website to no longer use....
  • combatchuck, on 10/11/2007, -0/+3Goodbye, Last.fm. We hardly knew ya.
  • ezkiel, on 10/11/2007, -0/+8Viacomm Exec: OK So we're gonna inject our ***** artists into a new site with real potential.
    Douche #1: Last.fm has real potential.

    $$$

    x x
    _
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