At first, I am no avid last.fm user (or any other webservices in general). I was listening to last.fm radio only very rarely. The big, chunky music library I have at home has some very personal advantages over last.fm. But let’s get to the topic, shall we: even if I agree totally with everyone who thinks that last.fm’s decision was the wrong one, there are some things you have to consider (aka. the big picture).
The business case “offering content of which only 5% is (partially) free on a large scale and worldwide” will *never ever ever* work. Either it is able to generate enough revenue on ads or is a non-profit org and (maybe) get public funds/donors – or subscription fees from the users. Apparently, last.fm ads only seem to generate enough money in the 3 countries which do not need to pay the fee. It’s a two-sided sword.. Piss off the users by haveing them pay or piss off the investors by generating no (not enough) revenue. Thin line, thin line.. of course, it’s a little awkward if you advertise for 5 years as the “free, all free, wooha!”-service and suddenly switch to subscription fees. I think they knew that this will piss off many many users.
I’d say that the big problem here on this little world is not last.fm but the oversized, large media imperia around the globe. I mean, in the end, where do you think the money you pay goes to? A small amount ends up at last.fm (streaming media is very expensive: endless traffic, huge storage needs, etc) but the *big* chunk ends up in the pockets of sony bmg, warner, or for that matter, the company which lately bought last.fm: CBS.. But this is how it works.
Now, this does not excuse the decision to make CC/free music part of the whole deal for which you have to pay. The very sad thing from my point of view is, that they didn’t even consider offering a free channel completely dedicated to CC/free music. There’s plenty of it. Who knows, maybe this is going to happen. If not, I’m sure some other service will jump into the gap left behind by last.fm.
And, well, their PR sucks.
My conclusion: it’s sad to see another great free internet service turn into a subscribers-only place. Lots of users will simply not pay, because they don’t need it this much, thus making the platform less interesting for everyone, the users AND the (net)labels publishing their music. I will think about removing my content. But I’m not sure yet.
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PS. Something that makes me feel a little sad not about last.fm, but about the world in general is: Why is no one willing to pay for a good service, anyhow? Everybody just wants to get everything for free. You don’t need to be a genius to realise that on the long run, this really doesn’t work and never, ever, ever will! What do you think how many times I felt pissed off when a (potential) client made big round eyes when I told him how much my service costs? It’s definately not a lot of money that I bill for my work, but it’s what I’m worth. If I am worth it to them, they shall pay me, if not, their loss. This also applies to everything else. You wanna play WoW for 20$ a month? Is it worth it? Pay for it and have fun (now before you leave a flame in my comments: offering free content and charge for it is actually greedyness and robbery, as demonstrated by last.fm).