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Business News Digital
Last.fm continues to lose CBS money, financial report confirms
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 16 December 2013
One of the original streaming platforms continues to struggle, according to its latest financials as reported on by The Guardian last week.
Last.fm, which has offered various online music services over the years, being possibly best known in the UK for its ‘scrobbling’ listening-stats technology, but a serious player in streaming music in some markets a few years back, made losses of almost £4 million in 2012 as income at its UK business fell by nearly 70%.
Overall revenues were down 21% year-on-year in 2012, from £8.13 million to £6.38 million, though the firm did manage to narrow its pre-tax losses from £4.4 million in 2011 to £3.94 million last year, probably because the company has taken some of its loss-making services offline in recent years.
Ad revenues were down 23% while subscription income fell by 12%, with the biggest slides coming from the UK, Last.fm’s original and, until last year, biggest market. Meanwhile revenues in the US went up, making it now the biggest region for the digital company in terms of revenue.
Famously bought by CBS in 2007 for $280 million, even though it was never entirely clear how Last.fm would ever make serious money long-term, The Guardian says that the US media giant is committed to continue backing the firm for at least another year.
