Last.fm, CBS Corp.’s/CBS Interactive Music Group’s global music recommendation service, will launch a specially made app for digital music service Spotify, helping listeners using the service decide what to play next—from new artists, albums and tracks. The music discovery app will be launched on the new Spotify Platform, which was unveiled 11/30 in NYC. It allows third party developers to easily build innovative, engaging music-based apps. The Last.fm app can be accessed by millions of Spotify users through the new App Finder.
In addition to new music discovery, the app will bring an added layer of context to the music being listened to on Spotify with bios and background info available to view for each artist. Users will also be able to create and save playlists of recent tracks listened to, top albums, loved tracks and recommendations. Almost 40 million current Last.fm members will be able to take advantage of their existing music history to get personalized recommendations while new users will immediately benefit from the collective wisdom of the Last.fm community.
Other features of the Last.fm for Spotify app:
Access to richer, deeper artist information and images on Last.fm
The ability to track personal listening history
The creation of playlists based on listening habits
The application is available in the UK, US, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
RBR-TVBR observation: This is markedly different than Pandora or Jango, in that the music discovery (suggested music) is social, rather than based on an algorithm like Pandora’s Music Genome Project. With Pandora and Jango, listeners can tune into pre-made genre stations and other users’ stations, but, again, the new music offered up is done via software.
