last.fm have updated their site again. First up, the user playlist feature:
You told us and we listened. The playlist feature we launched in February now plays full-length tracks all the time. What’s the catch? It’s not bad at all: they now play in shuffle mode, and you need at least 15 tracks from different artists.
Besides having a playlist you can fill up with your favourite tracks, you can finally embed it with our shiny new playlist widget. So put as many tracks in there as you like and embed it all over the intarweb.
What does the playlist widget look like? Here’s my current playlist:
You can not just share your playlist. Choose to display your charts, recent tracks, or your radio. There’s an option to add it to your MySpace profile with a few of clicks and it even lets you choose in which section. Facebook sharing to come soon.
If you have been a last.fm user for a number of years then your Overall Chart might not reflect your more recent listening habits too accurately. Open your profile settings and you can switch to display charts of the artists you have played in the last 12, 6, or 3 months instead.
And if, like me, you often jump back and forth between last.fm and various video sharing sites to find clips of your favourite bands and latest discoveries then you’ll love the following news:
Online radio station Last.fm is adding a video section to its site this week, enabling users to create their own personalised video channels – similar to how users can already create radio stations based on their music tastes. Last.fm is partnering with major and independent labels for this. The company also claims that the quality of videos on its site “will be significantly higher than that of YouTube”, with audio encoded at 128kbps compared to YouTube’s 64kbps.
Initially it will be mainly independent labels featured on the video Last.fm – such as Ninja Tune, Nettwerk Music Group, Domino, Warp, Atlantic and Mute. However among the rosters of those independents are brand name artists like the Arctic Monkeys, Moby and Aphex Twin. Last.fm has also made partnerships with big labels like EMI and Warner, along with “over 20,000 independent labels”. Presumably videos from those labels will be added soon. All of this seems to be basically an extension of their existing radio music agreements – from which Last.fm has access to more than three million music tracks. Last.fm is hopeful of adding other big labels, particularly Universal and Sony Music Group. Negotiations are in progress now on that front.
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