Last.fm Claims Free Streams Boost CD Sales

Music streaming service Last.fm says its free, on-demand music service increases CD sales...at least through Amazon.com.

Music streaming service Last.fm says it’s new free, on-demand music streaming service has an impact on music sales—but its the the effect the major record labels would seem to want people to believe. Instead of cannibalizing sales of traditional CDs and encouraging piracy, Last.fm says overall CD and download sales through partner Amazon.com have increased 119 percent since the service launched in January.

“In just over two months it’s become clear that people will buy CDs and downloads if they get access to the kind of service we offer,” said Last.fm co-founder Martin Stiksel, in a statement.

Last.fm began offering free access to streaming songs from its five million track-strong music catalog in January, and says the move has not only generated a boost in new traffic to Last.fm, but also resulted in existing users buying 66 percent more albums and individual tracks than they did before the free on-demand service debuted.

Last.fm has distribution deals with each other four major music labels as well as a selection of independents, and pays the labels each time one of their tracks is streamed from the site. The free streaming service limits users to three free playbacks before replacing the track with an advertisement and links to partner sites where users can buy the music. Last.fm has partnerships with iTunes, 7Digital, and Amazon.com.