December 16th, 2009
Survival Guide: Bands on Last.fm
As part of the ongoing series of A Band’s Guide to Surviving Online we’ve explored Twitter and now turn to last.fm.
What is Last.fm?
Last.fm is a UK-based Internet radio and music community website founded in 2002. It claims over 30 million active users based in more than 200 countries. In May 2007, CBS Interactive acquired Last.fm for $280 Million USD.
Last.fm allows users to download a program that tracks the music they listen to on their computer and sends the play data back to Last.fm. Thus, data from Last.fm incorporates plays from people’s iTunes and iPods via a technology called “Scrobbling.”
Getting Started:
- Your band might already have a last.fm page. Once an artist has had a track or tracks “scrobbled” by at least one user, Last.fm automatically generates a main artist page, even if there is no music available for streaming on the radio.
- Bands must “claim their page.” Ideally you can get last.fm/music/your+band+name
- Make sure any user generated information and links are correct. Customize your page with your band logo, colors, bio, photos and videos.
What to do with an Account:
- Make sure to upload your music so your songs will be available for streaming through the radio.
- Last.fm is an extensive site. Make sure there is content for each section: biography, pictures, video, albums, tracks, events, news, tags, listeners, journal
- Pay attention to how people are tagging your band and start using that language to describe your sound.
- Watch which songs are played the most use this information when deciding which songs to send to radio, put on your profile pages, shoot music videos for etc.
- Find similar bands and see how they present themselves on Last.fm.
- Join groups and actively participate in the conversation threads
- Shouts are like comments on MySpace, make sure to respond to each and every one!
- Using their PowerPlay functionality you can buy exposure to fans who like similar artists to you.
- Include links to your other social media sites.
Posted by Alex in Industry Musings
Great write up. I agree that Last.fm is a "must" platform for bands…
However, I see a similar problem you guys may have in evangelizing the importance of these new sites/tech to bands. The gist, they don't give a f@#$ about tech. What are you guys doing to overcome these challenges?
This is a similar problem that a startup like Foursquare is having to convince bars/restaurants to run promotions on the platform. These brick and mortar businesses don't often see the value of emerging tech, it's a tough sell sometimes.
Nice work guys.
Thanks Ryan, that's a great point. I'm on the phone every day with managers complaining that their band doesn't care about contributing content and updating their pages. I've been yelled at by old school professionals wondering why they hell they should care about MySpace plays when they have SoundScan numbers?
I believe that the educational component of what NBS and 4Sq are doing (blogging, speaking, case studies, one-on-one conversations etc.) is great but ultimately the ground will fully shift and all that will be left are those that understand the new game (or can hire someone who does).
Quick aside: I do believe that artists should be artists first and foremost. They are all unique and their willingness/interest in the online music world is part of their assets (or liabilities). There also won't be a uniform strategy for all of them. If they are interested in photography they can keep a photoblog, if they like live conversations they can publicize their AIM screen names etc.
One example: I went out on the road with a band called Sing It Loud a year ago and, like most of us, were entirely skeptical on the value of Twitter. I downloaded the client on their phones and reminded them to tweet everyday. At first it was forced but now they each have thousands of followers, love the direct connection with the fans and can see the value to their careers.
Hi, what blog platform is this? Can I download it for free or..? I would really appreciate it if you could answer this question! Thanks in advance!
Glad you like it! It is a custom WordPress installation we developed in-house. Unfortunately it's not available for download at this time.