Two-Class Community: Last.fm to Start Charging Users
The free music portal Last.fm is known for offering worldwide users an unlimited array of Internet radio options. Now, certain users will have to pay three bucks a month.
According to a blog entry by Richard Jones are all users affected who happen to inhabit regions outside of the USA, England, and Germany. Last.fm fans outside of these countries will have to soon start paying three dollars to access Last.fm. The community features such as rating, charts, events, and videos will remain free of charge. In addition, 30 units will remain gratis as a trial sample to all users.
This move is thought to correlate to sources of revenue and license costs. With 30,000 visitors per month in the US, Germany, and the UK, Last.fm should be able to
sufficiently cover the costs in these countries, but apparently not enough to cover the costs in the rest of the world.
Last.fm emerged in 2002 and is the biggest online radio service worldwide. In 2005, the platform merged with the similar-functioning open source solution Audioscrobbler. Countless Linux audio applications are capable of supporting Last.fm.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
KDE Sets Ambitious Goals for 2026 and Beyond
KDE Connect reveals the goals for the Linux desktop darling, with one of those goals long overdue.
-
It’s Time to Test Fedora 45 Beta
Fedora 45 beta has been released with updated Gnome, KDE Plasma, and kernel.
-
Ubuntu Stonking Stingray Gets Even Rustier
Ubuntu 26.10 has completed its migration to the Rust-based coreutils.
-
AI Fixes Linux Bottlenecks Using “Hideous” Code
A Linux developer used AI to fix bottlenecks that caused problems when building the kernel. The resulting AI-generated code needed a lot of work.
-
Advanced Video Coding Still Under Patent
Brazilian patent BRPI0109962B1 has expired, which means that DivX and Xvid are no longer problematic for Linux, but it doesn’t mean that video is all of a sudden fully unleashed.
-
2,000 Vulnerabilities per Linux Release
Thanks to AI bug hunters, the Linux kernel is seeing record numbers of vulnerabilities, and it's overwhelming developers.
-
Linux Exempt from California’s Age Verification Law
So long as Linux is distributed under the GPL, MIT, BSD, and Apache licenses, the OS is exempt from being required to verify the age of its users in California.
-
Roll Out the Cake: Linux Turns 35
35 years ago, a Finnish student began a humble project that would forever change the course of technology.
-
China Switching from Windows to Linux
China has ordered several government agencies to drop a Chinese-developed version of Windows 10 in favor of either KylinOS or UOS.
-
Pine64 Halts Production of Linux Devices
With continued DRAM and eMMC shortages, Pine64 has decided to discontinue production of Linux devices.