On the Last.fm Viacom acquisition rumours

Posted 25 February 2007 16:16 by Kristof Michiels

I’m not feeling particularly well today, and in part it has to do with the rumours concerning a possible acquisition of Last.fm by Viacom. Viacom is a large media group which assets include MTV Networks, Paramount Pictures and Paramount Home Entertainment. For some time now, this company seems eager to get a new media success story under its wings. Last year there was the presumed interest in YouTube (which ultimately went to Google). A few days ago the group announced a key content partnership with Joost, the new Internet television service. And now, it seems, it’s time for Viacom to acquire last.fm.

For those not too familiar with Last.fm: it’s a truly excellent service which lets you keep track of your personal music consumption pattern. A small plug-in monitors whatever you listen to on your computer (or mp3-player) and automatically integrates your listening behaviour into your online profile. The brilliant thing here is the low barrier to entry: the service doesn’t need you to do any manual classifications (although these options are available). And by listening to your music, you’re not only adding information to your own profile, but you’re also helping the community. Through collaborative filtering, this meta-data is used for recommendations: users can discover other bands and songs suited to their taste, as well as like-minded individuals. As a result Last.fm is also a vibrant community of music lovers. As a bonus, Last.fm offers personalised radio and, more recently, shows information about gigs and concerts by artists you like in your neighborhood.

Now, I don’t know if the news will prove true, but I'm not particularly keen on it. As Tom Coates rightly states, Last.fm has tremendous potential, and it’s indeed half a miracle that, until now, they have managed to stay out of the hands of a larger company. But I believe that Last.fm stands a chance to develop into a major player on its own. Seeking a compatible partner wouldn't hurt this process (the abebooks participation in librarything.com spring to my mind as a good example, although at a much smaller scale) and if the laws of Web 2.0 acquisitions have to be respected: there seem to be better suited partners around with a more web-native corporate culture (e.g. Yahoo).

If Viacom treats Last.fm and its community with respect, it shouldn't matter. We've become used to this kind of scenario's, alas. But let's be honest, it doesn’t feel right... Last.fm will definitely lose its 'indie'-edge and a number of people will think twice before continuing to send their profile data to Viacom. A lot of users (including myself) use Last.fm mainly to keep track of their personal music consumption, with the community and radio aspect as a nice extra. A new indie service that only does the essential stuff with a few social twists (like last.fm back in the Audioscrobbler days) can’t be too hard to set up (hacking the open source Audioscrobbler perhaps), and should be able to attract a number of disappointed users.

If the deal doesn't close, the real 'social music revolution' can continue (for a while). If it does, let's wait and see what happens. Whichever way it turns out, I think it's time for models that make users real stakeholders in the success of social software. It's time that everyone involved in making these services a success gets a fair share of the action. This in my opinion includes having a say (however small) in what happens when the time of selling has come. For an ongoing discussion of the rumours in the Last.fm community, look here.