Members lowbasslowbass Posted October 22, 2006 Members Share Posted October 22, 2006 Hey, does any of you use www.last.fm for promotion? You can create a label/artist account, upload tracks and allow the users to listen to them via various streaming stations - or even allow them to download the tracks if you want to. Every track and album has links so the listener can go and buy the track or the album. The whole network is like MySpace, only better, build exclusively around music and without the bad stuff. The only drawback I see is that Last.fm obviously makes very big money through advertising but does not pay any royalties to the artists. The agreement is royalties-free. Last Fm is no different from a radio station, so why is Last.fm allowed to do so and others are not? Maybe there are special agreements with the big labels and the independent artists are on their own? Anyway, let me know what you think about this. And if you have uploaded your material, please let me know if you have noticed more actual sales. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vier-personen Posted October 23, 2006 Members Share Posted October 23, 2006 I am interested in opinions from last.fm users, too, so bump! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Poker Posted October 24, 2006 Members Share Posted October 24, 2006 They suck, IMO. They charge way too much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vier-personen Posted October 24, 2006 Members Share Posted October 24, 2006 I just realised that one of my older tracks (electronic music that some would call experimental, some avantgarde, etc.) is already on last.fm because the track is on a compilation CD (2003) and it seems like the label put the cd on there. And guess how many people listened to my track: 1 (one). I haven´t looked into how last.fm really works yet, but I guess you have to do something to get people interested in you, it won´t happen all by itself. I might give it a try though, and see what one can do. Let me add, that I am not depressed about having only one listener yet. I find it rather funny, actually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Poker Posted October 25, 2006 Members Share Posted October 25, 2006 You have to pay to get plays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members vier-personen Posted October 25, 2006 Members Share Posted October 25, 2006 Originally posted by Poker You have to pay to get plays. Really? On the website they write that everything is for free... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members brassic Posted October 29, 2006 Members Share Posted October 29, 2006 Originally posted by vier-personen Really? On the website they write that everything is for free... It is. There is something you can get called a "power play" which is paid for, but it is flagged as such (ie, you can tell which tracks are there because someone paid to put it there because it says so). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members georg79 Posted November 3, 2006 Members Share Posted November 3, 2006 So: -> musicians upload their music for free -> Last Fm makes streaming stations based on tags -> Last Fm fills every single page with banners and ads -> Last Fm makes money from advertising -> musicians receive no royalties Last Fm - musicians = 1-0 How is this company different from any radio station? Why should Last Fm be an exception? Because they help musicians to promote their work? The same thing can be said for any radio station.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ihateyouguys Posted November 3, 2006 Members Share Posted November 3, 2006 Originally posted by georg79 So: -> musicians upload their music for free -> Last Fm makes streaming stations based on tags -> Last Fm fills every single page with banners and ads -> Last Fm makes money from advertising -> musicians receive no royalties Last Fm - musicians = 1-0 How is this company different from any radio station? Why should Last Fm be an exception? Because they help musicians to promote their work? The same thing can be said for any radio station.... you can actually get royalties from radio airplay (although it's not likely for a very small act) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members brassic Posted November 3, 2006 Members Share Posted November 3, 2006 Some random thoughs: I could be wrong but I was under the impression that banner advertising doesn't generate that much income. It definitely didn't generate much at the website I worked for. I've been in the last.fm London offices. They're not in a posh part of town, and they certainly aren't very plush. Not that it's a major indication, but I didn't get the impression that it was a company with wads of cash to throw around. FYI - Yahoo has internet radio stations that operate on a similar system. They do pay, but the vast majority of the content is mainstream. I use last.fm as an artist, label representative and a consumer. I personally don't have a problem giving my stuff to last.fm for free. Let them use the advertising revenues to keep the site and its servers running and provide a platform to give less mainstream stuff a chance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BlueStrat Posted November 3, 2006 Members Share Posted November 3, 2006 Originally posted by brassic Let them use the advertising revenues to keep the site and its servers running and provide a platform to give less mainstream stuff a chance. And that's the endless conundrum we modern musicians find ourselves in: endless opportunities to promote our music for free so that our less mainstream stuff might have a chance. A chance to do what is the question. If I have my material on 5 or ten sites that give it away, who on earth is going to want to pay for it? So I get a lot of exposure, and that's great, but what does exposure get you if it doesn't convert to income? I don't have any answers, by the way, I'm just venting my experience. I get emails from guys from Bulgaria and New Zealand and Singapore, telling me how much they like my stuff, but it's stuff they got free off the internet. Yeah, occaisionally, one may actually trot over to a link and buy a CD, but it's pretty rare. The fact is, I sell just a many CDs online fom people browsing the vendors as I did before I put up free links. So, in other words, giving my stuff away has gotten me nothing except some attaboys from some people I'll never meet across the planet. I guess that's something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members brassic Posted November 3, 2006 Members Share Posted November 3, 2006 Originally posted by BlueStrat A chance to do what is the question. If I have my material on 5 or ten sites that give it away, who on earth is going to want to pay for it? So I get a lot of exposure, and that's great, but what does exposure get you if it doesn't convert to income? I don't have any answers, by the way, I'm just venting my experience. The site in question is streaming radio only, and it's not on-demand. Although you can chose to let them offer your stuff for download, it's not a requirement. We don't have our music available for download, only for streaming. What appeals to me is that (like terrestrial radio) someone can hear your music but because they can't get it on tap (or take it with them), they would have to buy it if they wanted to listen whenever. I often get people mailing us asking where they can buy a CD, and the only exposure we've had at all has been internet plays and a little bit of press. We haven't got a record or CD out so I can't talk about actual sales, but I have been pleasantly suprised by the level of interest in the demos that have got out there. I'd like to see PRS/MSCPS/ASCAP payouts to artist for internet radio plays. However, most of the internet stations playing non-mainstream music can't afford these kinds of payouts. If they could, they'd go the Clear Channel route and feature only the music that has the most widespread appeal. (See Yahoo music, which does pay out, but the majority of the music is mainstream and most indie music on there is probably streamed for free as well.) Sorry, a lot of this is fairly random. I'm not thinking very clearly today as I have a pretty bad flu and am not making sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members georg79 Posted November 5, 2006 Members Share Posted November 5, 2006 The owner of Last Fm is a software company that has developed a media/audio player. And, guess what, they don't give their rights away for free. But they do want the musicians to do so. Very nice business model. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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