Vodafone works with Last.fm on 'music social networking'

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Vodafone works with Last.fm on 'music social networking'

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 17 December, 2008

READ MORE: Vodafone

Vodafone has announced a string of recent moves to enhance its offerings in social networking, one of the strongest growth areas in mobile web services. Having acquired social applications firm Zyb and location specialist Wayfinder, it is now partnering with music platform Last.fm to promise 'music social networking'.

The two companies are collaborating to bring Last.fm's social networking music features to cellphones, starting with the Nokia N Series - including the 'scrobbling' functionality, which tracks what users listen to in real time and builds an online music profile, which can then be shared with friends.

Last.fm claims an active social music community of over 25m users in 200 countries. It uses Scrobbler to recommend new music to customers, and as the basis for a growing range of social functions. Vodafone customers can now register for the service from their cellphones and check what their friends are listening to.

The next step will be to enable them to click through directly to the Vodafone Music Store to sample and buy recommended tracks. This feature, which could put the carrier in opposition to other music stores like Nokia's own, is initially available only in Germany but will be extended to the UK and other markets next year. To date, Vodafone has taken a two-tiered approach to music, offering its own music store on midrange phones, and providing homescreen access to Nokia Music Store from the high end N Series handsets, but this new move, focused on the same smartphones, suggests the cellco may be getting more greedy about controlling mobile music across its range.

Javier Foncillas, head of branded content at Vodafone Group, said in a statement: "With Last.fm, Vodafone continues to pioneer social networking on mobiles, delivering a new, relevant and unique music experience, to millions of customers."

The Last.fm application is available to download initially on the Nokia N95, N96, N78 and 6210 and other handsets will follow. Local language versions of the application will be available in some markets including Germany, Spain and the UK from launch, and English versions in all Vodafone territories where these handsets are distributed, notably Europe, India, Australia and New Zealand.

Last.fm supports unsigned artists with its Artist Royalty program, through which they can earn revenue directly from Last.fm every time their music is streamed.