CBS Radio Getting Closer To Last.fm; Partnership For Streaming
This story was written by Robert Andrews.
CBS (NYSE: CBS) Radio is to begin adding its streams to Last.fm, in the first real integration of the social music site with its new owner since the $280 million acquisition last May. CBS Radio says it will this spring launch a new player that will be added to Last.fm, offering stations like KROQ, WXRT and WCBS-FM to US users only. It compared the plan to its recent deal to power AOL (NYSE: TWX) Radio and to Last.fm's relationship with BBC Radio. But we're told the final picture of the integration is not yet determined. At the most basic, Last.fm users will get to "scrobble" tunes they hear through CBS Radio, meaning they get to flag tracks to friends and add them to playlists.
That's the case with the site's BBC Radio relationship on which this is modelled, but Last.fm doesn't currently carry any live streams from external stations. This plan has been jointly developed by CBS Radio and Last.fm but, as is demonstrated by the BBC plugin and Last.fm's active external developer community, could perhaps have been achieved were Last.fm outside the CBS camp. Site co-founder Felix Miller (via release): "This is the first of what we hope to be many collaborations between CBS Radio and Last.fm." At our UK mixer last week, Q&A guest Martin Stiksel, another co-founder, spoke of extending Last.fm's "scrobbling" to TV for both CBS and other networks, but was reticent on timescale.
By Robert Andrews