Michael N. Dundas

I used to be a big fan of last.fm.  I have been a member for close to three years and have used them quite regularly  to stream music to our kitchen during meals, our living room, and my home office.  Even when I was at my employers office, I would often have it streaming from my laptop while I was working.  It was great.  It allowed me to hear new songs.  Songs that I liked, I would make note of the particulars and check the artist out.  If I liked the songs of the artist, I would sometimes purchase the songs via the Internet.

I was not impressed with the last.fm decision to charge €3.00 per month for anyone who is not geographically located in the U.S.A., Europe, or Germany.   It is not that I have an issue with the €3.00 per month I don’t.  I have issue with two things.  First the fact that they were not transparent about the reason for this change initially.  They announced the new change and did not explain why certain countries were exempt from the fee.  Finally, after five days and many subscriber queries and complaints, last.fm decided to come clean.  While I appreciate they did finally come clean and explain to their subscribers why, I dis-like their initial dishonestly.  It gives insight into the management and their ethics and priorities.  The second is the fact that it is long over due for the entertainment industry to stop clinging to old business models and change them.  The Internet is international not national.  The laws and business models have to change and I wish they would stop fighting it.  If last.fm had said everyone must now pay the €3.00 per month, I probably would have just signed up.

As such, I started looking around.  It was easly to quickly find an alternative.  I have been trying Imeem out over the last week.  It takes a while to get used to their interface, but once you do it is not too bad.  They have deals with major record labels and I have been able to find much of the same music I listened to on last.fm.  I encourage anyone that was a last.fm user that is on the fence to try it out first before making a decision to be a subscriber of last.fm.