Last.fm Adds Free Spotify Streaming
Last week we reported on plans by Last.fm to stream music via YouTube. Today, the CBS owned Last.fm announced a deal with Spotify. Both free and premium Spotify users can now play and control music from a Spotify playbar at the bottom of the Last.fm screen. It's unclear if YouTube or streaming from other services are still part of the Last.fm plan, though it's likely given the cost savings that outside music providers offer the struggling service.
Before Pandora, Rhapsody, and Spotify, Last.fm launched personalized online radio. But since 2007 when CBS bought the music service for $280 million, new competitors have taken Last.fm users. Now the company appears to be planning a last-ditch comeback and cutting operating costs by switching to music powered by Spotify, YouTube and other music sources.
In today's announcement, Last.fm said, "We’ve teamed up with Spotify to bring their entire catalogue, on demand, to the world’s leading music recommendation service. Whether it be your own profile page, artist pages or album pages – if Spotify has it, you can play it and control it on Last.fm via the Spotify playbar at the bottom of the screen. Using your Spotify account (premium or free) you can listen to any track simply by pressing the play button. This will load all tracks on a Last.fm page as a playlist in Spotify."
