Last.fm sees users rise after preview service launch

Last.fm say that their social-networking music-recommending whatnot service has become even busier since the launch of that previously reported streaming music preview service. Unique listens are up 92% and unique users of the service are up 59% - with particular growth in the US, where the London based CBS owned service is not so well known. As previously reported, the music preview service lets users access music on demand for a limit number of plays, after which they are invited to buy tracks from download partners like 7Digital and Amazon. Last.fm co-founder Martin Stiksel says this: "We've created a new model that works for everyone - listeners, artists and copyright holders - and the user response proves that it is working. Free is the future, and this is signaled not only by the industry's growing acceptance of what we're doing, but more importantly, by the incredibly fast increase of users accessing music on Last.fm since we launched free-on-demand".