Last.fm to charge foreign listeners

 

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By Barry Collins

Posted on 25 Mar 2009 at 11:20

Online music streaming service, Last.fm, is to start charging listeners a fee to access the service in certain countries.

Listeners in the UK will escape the monthly fee, as will those in the US and Germany. Users in other countries will be charged three euros a month to access the service.

The company claims advertising revenue isn't strong enough to support a free service in the other countries.

"These [the UK, US and Germany] are the countries in which we have the most resources to support an ad sales organisation, which is how we earn money to pay artists and labels for their music," the company comments in a blog post

"And so we've made the decision to focus on these markets for free streaming radio. We are still available worldwide and while listening is subscription, all the other rich content on the site is still free."

The news once again raises questions over the business model of music streaming services. Rival Pandora was forced to block off UK visitors, blaming the "totally unworkable license rates" charged by the music labels.

Google has also pulled music videos from YouTube in the UK in a similar dispute over licensing fees with the Performing Right Society (PRS).