CBS Corporation has acquired social media music site Last.fm for $280 million.
Last.fm today has roughly 15 million users of the largely free service, which takes a "wisdom of crowds" approach to music recommendations. While other services, such as Pandora, are compelling, what makes Last.fm so successful is the fact that it's not intrusive. Users simply download an iTunes plugin which monitors the music they play. For example, you can see the music I listen to on my last.fm page.
According to the press release,"The Last.fm management team will work with all relevant CBS divisions to apply their community-building and technology expertise to extend CBS businesses online and within the mobile space."
This acquisition, coming on the tail of the smaller Wallstrip deal, makes it clear that CBS is taking a more serious look at new technologies. It will be interesting to see whether they can leverage these new capabilities across their traditional businesses.
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