Remember Last.fm? The CBS subsidiary has been quiet in recent years, but yesterday it popped up with a notable milestone: 100bn plays. Which, as the company’s press release put it: “equates to Last.fm’s 60 million registered users enjoying over 761,034 years of music”. The caveat being that since 2014, these streams are coming from other digital services like Spotify and YouTube, which Last.fm uses as its source. The company has repositioned itself as a content aggregator, but also as a big-data play. “Over 100bn plays across hundreds of services from around the globe provides an immense treasure trove of music listening habits,” said MD Simon Moran. “No other music recommendation service has the same breadth of data.” The company’s last set of financial results reveal that in 2014, its revenues fell by 15.1% to £4.2m, with the company recording a net loss of £1.9m for the year. Last.fm ended that year with net liabilities of £39.4m, but with a commitment from CBS to continue supporting the business.
Tools: platforms to help you reach new audiences
Tools: Kaiber
In the year or so since its launch, AI startup Kaiber has been making waves,…