Music streaming competition hots up: First Spotify, now Last.fm jumps on social media bandwagon

As Spotity is rumoured to be joining forces with Facebook, another music service is eyeing up social networks as a way to get ahead. Last.fm’s plans are that its users will be able to sign in from Facebook, and they can also share tracks with their Facebook friends. The same system will make it easier to find your friends on Last.fm and see what they are listening to.

Sounds like we can expect some competition in the music streaming arena. Last.fm has about 30 million monthly users, and charges £3 per month in subscription fees. The group faces strong competition from Spotify and free services, meaning plans are in the works to make itself unique:

“I know we have a lot of work to do, but we want to become the connective tissue between services like Spotify and iTunes and the place where people publish their music taste online,” Vice President of Product at Last.fm, Matthew Hawn, told BBC News. “If Foursquare is where you publish your location, and Facebook is where you socially connect, Last.fm should be where you publish your taste in music.”

Last.fm is now going to try and make its service more mainstream, added Hawn – this includes a redesign of the site and again running live music events.