Last.fm layoff 20% of workforce

Having got most of Acknowledgement and Boring staff onto Last.fm over the past few months, I was sad to learn earlier today that last.fm, the social network based around the music you and your friends listen to, is laying off 20% of their 90-ish strong workforce.

Last.fm was a favourite of mine as the software would just sit in the background tracking the music you listen to through media players, such as iTunes, or via the streaming service on the last.fm website. This tracking of music even had a verb: ’scrobbling’.

After getting everyone to register and use the site religiously, we had a few weeks of fun creating an office chart and seeing how our music choices differed. The thing was, that’s where it ended. The level of engagement last.fm provides, though fun, doesn’t reward frequent users enough. Sure, it reccommends music you may never listened to before but if you’re anything like me, it’s pretty easy to exhaust these offerings and get bored of their suggestions.

It’s never nice to learn of people in the same industry as you losing their jobs, so as a mark of respect I’m going to use last.fm all day tomorrow. Even though I know it’s going to suggest Kylie, one too many times.