Corporate rock sucks #13: Last.fm and Sony
Posted on July 12th, 2007 by Andy
So last.fm have struck a deal with ugly major Sony (you know the same Sony who care so little for their customers that surreptitiously install damaging software onto their computers) - now I understand that last.fm is part of a major corporate media group and that jumping into bed with major labels was the inevitable next step but this quote from Thomas Hesse of Sony BMG was worrying…
The Last.fm streaming service will give our established artists a platform through which they can reach new audiences, and its unique recommendation system will provide our emerging artists with an important opportunity to build their fan base
So they plan to use last.fm’s recommendation system to promote their emerging acts…so the recommendation system isn’t (or won’t be) a genuine one but more a promotional/advertising platform for Sony? And at what cost? Independent labels? Artists not aligned with a record company? The customers who can no longer trust that the recommendations were made for valid reasons?
To be honest the CBS thing, and then the non-silence on the Day of Silence (although I’ll admit that this wasn’t quite a black and white issue), and now this have really saddened me. I like to think a community based site would care for its community - I’m finding it more and more difficult to believe that last.fm do.
Posted in corporate rock sucks, last.fm |
July 12th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
Hey Andy! Just wanted to let you know that the impartiality of our recommendations is pretty darn sacred to us. That quote is less scary than it sounds; Sony just realized that by putting their music on Last.fm radio, our system will simply do with it what we do with ALL music: find the right ears for it.
Since our recommendations are built on huge amounts of scrobbling submissions for tracks we don’t necessarily have for streaming, quite often we want to play someone a certain artist or track but don’t have the audio files to do so. Our deals with labels, whether big (like EMI and Warner, who we signed with way before we ‘went corporate’) or small (the vast majority of the labels we work with are small indies) are central to our mission of having the largest collection of music ever. Cause then our recommendations and the radio will *really* rock. And it will always remain community-driven. That’s what we do, cause that’s how music should work.
All best, Matt @ Last.fm
July 12th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
Thanks for the reply Matt - it’s very impressive that every time I have a whine about last.fm someone comes along and puts my mind at rest (or tries to)! I appreciate the reassurance that the recommendations system will remain unaffected by the commercial relationships you are building.
I’m still concerned at the way the partnership was publicised (e.g. from the Guardian report - “A spokesperson for Last.fm said the deal was a powerful marketing tool for Sony”). And the fact remains that the sort of deals last.fm has struck with Sony (and Warners) will inevitably put strains on the integrity of the system.
Major labels expect a return on their investment and (while I’m aware that last.fm is more than a radio station) you have to admit that there is potential for a serious conflict of interest when labels (or their representatives) strike deals with radio stations.