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How Last.fm Will Create "Communities Around Content" from Read/WriteWeb by Guest Author

Music fans simply go to Last.fm, which has an active community of 15 million active users in more than 200 countries. It's best known for the song recommendation engine that tracks the music-listening habits and links them to other fans with similar tastes. Search for an artist, listen to a song, and see a small "billboard" ad on the screen while the tune plays. People don't even need to register with the site, if they don't want to.

Fans can listen to any song three times before they are directed to one of Last.fm's partners, including iTunes, Amazon, and 7Digital, where they can purchase the track. And just so we're clear here, tracks on Last.fm are not downloadable, so people cannot put streamed music on a digital music player.