{"slug": "last-fm", "name": "Last.fm", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "Music tracking service that logs (\"scrobbles\") your listening and recommends artists.", "recommenders": 13, "commenters": 19, "warners": 3, "score": 9.515, "rising": -4.25, "first": "2025-12-14", "latest": "2026-09-30", "why": "HN commenters love it for discovering new music through scrobbling and for listening histories that go back to the 2000s.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 13, "neutral": 3, "compare": 0, "warn": 3}, "spark": [0, 3, 0, 0, 0, 0, 9, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": ["Music discovery", "Listening history"], "caveat": "Stripped redesign", "short_quote": "I still use Last.fm! I've had it since 2008. It's really cool seeing how my music taste has changed", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.last.fm", "pricing": "freemium", "aliases": ["Last.fm"], "verdict": [{"text": "HN commenters love it for discovering new music through scrobbling", "cites": [{"id": 772859856, "item_id": 48303741, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48303741", "by": "moomoo11", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i discovered so much music i love to this day thanks to their scrobbling", "excerpt": "i discovered so much music i love to this day thanks to their scrobbling or whatever discovery service was. i\u2019m talking like 2000s", "context": "", "use_case": "music discovery", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}, {"id": 770598368, "item_id": 48162398, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48162398", "by": "tuvix", "date": "2026-05-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I credit last.fm with showing me a lot of the music I love, it\u2019s the perfect recommendation model", "excerpt": "Super awesome! I credit last.fm with showing me a lot of the music I love, it\u2019s the perfect recommendation model and still the best social music platform so I\u2019m definitely rooting for you to improve on it!", "context": "", "use_case": "music discovery", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Rocksky \u2013 Music scrobbling and discovery on the AT Protocol"}, {"id": 782923761, "item_id": 48932735, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48932735", "by": "parasti", "date": "2026-07-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Audioscrobbler/Last.fm is miles ahead of this.", "excerpt": "Spotify is fundamentally broken in a certain, unfixable way, IMO. I use it and have a subscription, but I dread opening their app and looking at the starting screen that shows the same artists I listened to twenty years ago in pointless blurbs like \"presave this (you can't listen to it)\", \"jump back in (you literally already listened to it)\", \"your favorite artists (not according to you but according to us)\". There i", "context": "", "use_case": "music discovery", "switched_from": "", "story": "The lost joy of music piracy"}]}, {"text": " and for listening histories that go back to the 2000s.", "cites": [{"id": 772756976, "item_id": 48297311, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48297311", "by": "donatj", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love Last.fm, I've been scrobbling for over 20 years now.", "excerpt": "I love Last.fm, I've been scrobbling for over 20 years now. It's amazing to me that they have managed to stick around like they have. They're very much an \"old internet\" site, and I hope they can stick around for many many more years.", "context": "", "use_case": "scrobbling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}, {"id": 740432512, "item_id": 46277032, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46277032", "by": "cyrialize", "date": "2025-12-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I still use Last.fm! I've had it since 2008. It's really cool seeing how my music taste has changed", "excerpt": "I still use Last.fm! I've had it since 2008. It's really cool seeing how my music taste has changed, and seeing what I've come back to over and over again. When I used to be much more active in online music communities I would post a 9x9 of my most listened to albums of the past week and discuss them.", "context": "", "use_case": "tracking music listening", "switched_from": "", "story": "2002: Last.fm and Audioscrobbler Herald the Social Web"}, {"id": 772787152, "item_id": 48299197, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48299197", "by": "lawlesst", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I recently switched to last.fm and am able to generate recommendations via their API just fine and without being a pro subscriber.", "excerpt": "I've had the same experience. Spotify abruptly deprecated their recommendations API endpoint (https://community.spotify.com/t5/Spotify-for-Developers/spotify-api-Get-Recommendations-alternative/td-p/6540653). I recently switched to last.fm and am able to generate recommendations via their API just fine and without being a pro subscriber. I also had the delight of finding my streams from 2008 still in my history after", "context": "", "use_case": "music recommendations via API", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}]}, {"text": " Complaints include a redesign that stripped features beyond tracking listens", "cites": [{"id": 798487232, "item_id": 49905452, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49905452", "by": "TFNA", "date": "2026-09-30", "stance": "warn", "quote": "It stripped so much functionality that the site became useless except for merely tracking one's own listens", "excerpt": "As mentioned in the HN submission, Last.fm went through a redesign already over a decade ago. It stripped so much functionality that the site became useless except for merely tracking one's own listens, and there were already libre alternatives for that. Last.fm is one of my go-to examples of how the internet has become a lonelier place. The old Last.fm was deeply linked with real life: it would show upcoming gigs in", "context": "", "use_case": "music tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "RSS Feeds for Last.fm"}]}, {"text": ", no good first-party data export", "cites": [{"id": 798481009, "item_id": 49905063, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49905063", "by": "cobertos", "date": "2026-09-30", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Not even a good first-party export", "excerpt": "Self-hosted Koito[0] and glad I left Last.fm. Not even a good first-party export, gotta use some hacked together third-party one to get your data out. [0]: https://github.com/gabehf/koito", "context": "", "use_case": "scrobble tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "RSS Feeds for Last.fm"}]}, {"text": ", and trickier scrobbling from Apple Music.", "cites": [{"id": 772764240, "item_id": 48297765, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48297765", "by": "jamesbvaughan", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love the service but it's been trickier to use since I switched from Spotify to Apple Music.", "excerpt": "I hope this is a good change for last.fm! I love the service but it's been trickier to use since I switched from Spotify to Apple Music. Does anyone have a setup they're happy with for scrobbling from Apple Music across different types of devices?", "context": "", "use_case": "scrobbling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Music discovery", "summary": "Commenters credit its scrobbling-based recommendations, radio and neighbours with finding music they love.", "quotes": [{"id": 772859856, "item_id": 48303741, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48303741", "by": "moomoo11", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i discovered so much music i love to this day thanks to their scrobbling", "excerpt": "i discovered so much music i love to this day thanks to their scrobbling or whatever discovery service was. i\u2019m talking like 2000s", "context": "", "use_case": "music discovery", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}, {"id": 770598368, "item_id": 48162398, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48162398", "by": "tuvix", "date": "2026-05-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I credit last.fm with showing me a lot of the music I love, it\u2019s the perfect recommendation model", "excerpt": "Super awesome! I credit last.fm with showing me a lot of the music I love, it\u2019s the perfect recommendation model and still the best social music platform so I\u2019m definitely rooting for you to improve on it!", "context": "", "use_case": "music discovery", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Rocksky \u2013 Music scrobbling and discovery on the AT Protocol"}, {"id": 798509184, "item_id": 49906824, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49906824", "by": "raffraffraff", "date": "2026-09-30", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used to love Last.FM and was a paid subscriber.", "excerpt": "I used to love Last.FM and was a paid subscriber. Their neighbourhood radio was a great way to find music rateyourmusic.com is also dead to me now. And MusicBrainz is an excellent resource marred by horrible user experience and a primary focus on listing every issue of an album in every country and in every format (who the hell wants that?)", "context": "former paid subscriber", "use_case": "music discovery", "switched_from": "", "story": "RSS Feeds for Last.fm"}]}, {"label": "Listening history", "summary": "Long-running scrobble histories show how users' taste has changed over the years.", "quotes": [{"id": 772756976, "item_id": 48297311, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48297311", "by": "donatj", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love Last.fm, I've been scrobbling for over 20 years now.", "excerpt": "I love Last.fm, I've been scrobbling for over 20 years now. It's amazing to me that they have managed to stick around like they have. They're very much an \"old internet\" site, and I hope they can stick around for many many more years.", "context": "", "use_case": "scrobbling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}, {"id": 740432512, "item_id": 46277032, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46277032", "by": "cyrialize", "date": "2025-12-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I still use Last.fm! I've had it since 2008. It's really cool seeing how my music taste has changed", "excerpt": "I still use Last.fm! I've had it since 2008. It's really cool seeing how my music taste has changed, and seeing what I've come back to over and over again. When I used to be much more active in online music communities I would post a 9x9 of my most listened to albums of the past week and discuss them.", "context": "", "use_case": "tracking music listening", "switched_from": "", "story": "2002: Last.fm and Audioscrobbler Herald the Social Web"}, {"id": 772787152, "item_id": 48299197, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48299197", "by": "lawlesst", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I recently switched to last.fm and am able to generate recommendations via their API just fine and without being a pro subscriber.", "excerpt": "I've had the same experience. Spotify abruptly deprecated their recommendations API endpoint (https://community.spotify.com/t5/Spotify-for-Developers/spotify-api-Get-Recommendations-alternative/td-p/6540653). I recently switched to last.fm and am able to generate recommendations via their API just fine and without being a pro subscriber. I also had the delight of finding my streams from 2008 still in my history after", "context": "", "use_case": "music recommendations via API", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}]}, {"label": "Social connection", "summary": "Commenters value seeing what friends listen to and connecting with others through music.", "quotes": [{"id": 782923761, "item_id": 48932735, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48932735", "by": "parasti", "date": "2026-07-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Audioscrobbler/Last.fm is miles ahead of this.", "excerpt": "Spotify is fundamentally broken in a certain, unfixable way, IMO. I use it and have a subscription, but I dread opening their app and looking at the starting screen that shows the same artists I listened to twenty years ago in pointless blurbs like \"presave this (you can't listen to it)\", \"jump back in (you literally already listened to it)\", \"your favorite artists (not according to you but according to us)\". There i", "context": "", "use_case": "music discovery", "switched_from": "", "story": "The lost joy of music piracy"}, {"id": 770598368, "item_id": 48162398, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48162398", "by": "tuvix", "date": "2026-05-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I credit last.fm with showing me a lot of the music I love, it\u2019s the perfect recommendation model", "excerpt": "Super awesome! I credit last.fm with showing me a lot of the music I love, it\u2019s the perfect recommendation model and still the best social music platform so I\u2019m definitely rooting for you to improve on it!", "context": "", "use_case": "music discovery", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Rocksky \u2013 Music scrobbling and discovery on the AT Protocol"}, {"id": 772740002, "item_id": 48296250, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48296250", "by": "jauntywundrkind", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Last.fm & in particular audioscrobbling has been such an amazing joy to have in the world.", "excerpt": "Last.fm & in particular audioscrobbling has been such an amazing joy to have in the world. Music is so important to me, and it's amazing having this system to help see over time what friends and I myself enjoy. These days, for auduiscrobbling, I recommend folks use either teal.fm (which alas is somewhat DIY or find-a-friend for their API service) or rocksky.app. There's a better credible exit, as it's based on atprot", "context": "", "use_case": "audioscrobbling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}]}, {"label": "API and tools", "summary": "Its API and third-party sites built on it support recommendations, charts and visualizations.", "quotes": [{"id": 772787152, "item_id": 48299197, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48299197", "by": "lawlesst", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I recently switched to last.fm and am able to generate recommendations via their API just fine and without being a pro subscriber.", "excerpt": "I've had the same experience. Spotify abruptly deprecated their recommendations API endpoint (https://community.spotify.com/t5/Spotify-for-Developers/spotify-api-Get-Recommendations-alternative/td-p/6540653). I recently switched to last.fm and am able to generate recommendations via their API just fine and without being a pro subscriber. I also had the delight of finding my streams from 2008 still in my history after", "context": "", "use_case": "music recommendations via API", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}, {"id": 772745072, "item_id": 48296567, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48296567", "by": "quirino", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "last.fm is one of my very favorite services.", "excerpt": "last.fm is one of my very favorite services. It's rough around the edges in some parts, but I've gotten incredible value from it. A couple of websites built on it that I check out from time to time: - https://lastfmviz.netlify.app/ - shows what you've been listening to as a grid of album covers. You can scroll down as long as you want. It's cool to look back and remember where I was when listening to specific music. ", "context": "", "use_case": "tracking listening history", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}, {"id": 740276448, "item_id": 46267278, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46267278", "by": "wantlotsofcurry", "date": "2025-12-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love last.fm with all my being.", "excerpt": "I love last.fm with all my being. I recently created a ListenBrainz (same org as MusicBrainz) account which is an open source alternative that you don\u2019t have to host yourself. I\u2019m scrobbling to both places now just in case. Check out tapmusic.net too to make cool diagrams out of your scrobbled music.", "context": "", "use_case": "scrobbling music", "switched_from": "", "story": "2002: Last.fm and Audioscrobbler Herald the Social Web"}]}, {"label": "Old-web longevity", "summary": "Commenters fondly describe it as a long-lived service from the open, old internet.", "quotes": [{"id": 772747536, "item_id": 48296721, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48296721", "by": "oflannabhra", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "last.fm is one of those services that is from the pinnacle of the open web.", "excerpt": "one of the very first programming projects I took on was to figure out how to scrobble the records that I was playing. It was my first exposure to so many things: Ruby, FFIs, audio processing, audio fingerprinting (I think I used echo nest ?). Ended up going to local meetups to ask for advice. last.fm is one of those services that is from the pinnacle of the open web.", "context": "", "use_case": "scrobbling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}, {"id": 772756976, "item_id": 48297311, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48297311", "by": "donatj", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love Last.fm, I've been scrobbling for over 20 years now.", "excerpt": "I love Last.fm, I've been scrobbling for over 20 years now. It's amazing to me that they have managed to stick around like they have. They're very much an \"old internet\" site, and I hope they can stick around for many many more years.", "context": "", "use_case": "scrobbling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}, {"id": 772739664, "item_id": 48296229, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48296229", "by": "ale", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Man i love last.fm even though it's been technically superseded (for most people) by Spotify's recommendation features.", "excerpt": "Man i love last.fm even though it's been technically superseded (for most people) by Spotify's recommendation features. It just fit so well in the zeitgeist of 2000's indie scene, microblogs, early social media.", "context": "", "use_case": "music discovery", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Stripped redesign", "summary": "One commenter says a redesign over a decade ago removed features like local gigs and meeting nearby listeners.", "quotes": [{"id": 798487232, "item_id": 49905452, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49905452", "by": "TFNA", "date": "2026-09-30", "stance": "warn", "quote": "It stripped so much functionality that the site became useless except for merely tracking one's own listens", "excerpt": "As mentioned in the HN submission, Last.fm went through a redesign already over a decade ago. It stripped so much functionality that the site became useless except for merely tracking one's own listens, and there were already libre alternatives for that. Last.fm is one of my go-to examples of how the internet has become a lonelier place. The old Last.fm was deeply linked with real life: it would show upcoming gigs in", "context": "", "use_case": "music tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "RSS Feeds for Last.fm"}]}, {"label": "Data export", "summary": "Getting your data out reportedly requires a third-party export tool.", "quotes": [{"id": 798481009, "item_id": 49905063, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49905063", "by": "cobertos", "date": "2026-09-30", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Not even a good first-party export", "excerpt": "Self-hosted Koito[0] and glad I left Last.fm. Not even a good first-party export, gotta use some hacked together third-party one to get your data out. [0]: https://github.com/gabehf/koito", "context": "", "use_case": "scrobble tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "RSS Feeds for Last.fm"}]}, {"label": "Apple Music scrobbling", "summary": "Scrobbling became trickier after switching from Spotify to Apple Music.", "quotes": [{"id": 772764240, "item_id": 48297765, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48297765", "by": "jamesbvaughan", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love the service but it's been trickier to use since I switched from Spotify to Apple Music.", "excerpt": "I hope this is a good change for last.fm! I love the service but it's been trickier to use since I switched from Spotify to Apple Music. Does anyone have a setup they're happy with for scrobbling from Apple Music across different types of devices?", "context": "", "use_case": "scrobbling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}]}, {"label": "Rough edges", "summary": "Some parts of the service are described as rough around the edges.", "quotes": [{"id": 772745072, "item_id": 48296567, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48296567", "by": "quirino", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "last.fm is one of my very favorite services.", "excerpt": "last.fm is one of my very favorite services. It's rough around the edges in some parts, but I've gotten incredible value from it. A couple of websites built on it that I check out from time to time: - https://lastfmviz.netlify.app/ - shows what you've been listening to as a grid of album covers. You can scroll down as long as you want. It's cool to look back and remember where I was when listening to specific music. ", "context": "", "use_case": "tracking listening history", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}]}, {"label": "Open alternatives", "summary": "Some commenters point to or have moved to ListenBrainz, Koito, teal.fm or rocksky.app.", "quotes": [{"id": 798481009, "item_id": 49905063, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49905063", "by": "cobertos", "date": "2026-09-30", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Not even a good first-party export", "excerpt": "Self-hosted Koito[0] and glad I left Last.fm. Not even a good first-party export, gotta use some hacked together third-party one to get your data out. [0]: https://github.com/gabehf/koito", "context": "", "use_case": "scrobble tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "RSS Feeds for Last.fm"}, {"id": 740276448, "item_id": 46267278, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46267278", "by": "wantlotsofcurry", "date": "2025-12-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love last.fm with all my being.", "excerpt": "I love last.fm with all my being. I recently created a ListenBrainz (same org as MusicBrainz) account which is an open source alternative that you don\u2019t have to host yourself. I\u2019m scrobbling to both places now just in case. Check out tapmusic.net too to make cool diagrams out of your scrobbled music.", "context": "", "use_case": "scrobbling music", "switched_from": "", "story": "2002: Last.fm and Audioscrobbler Herald the Social Web"}, {"id": 772740002, "item_id": 48296250, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48296250", "by": "jauntywundrkind", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Last.fm & in particular audioscrobbling has been such an amazing joy to have in the world.", "excerpt": "Last.fm & in particular audioscrobbling has been such an amazing joy to have in the world. Music is so important to me, and it's amazing having this system to help see over time what friends and I myself enjoy. These days, for auduiscrobbling, I recommend folks use either teal.fm (which alas is somewhat DIY or find-a-friend for their API service) or rocksky.app. There's a better credible exit, as it's based on atprot", "context": "", "use_case": "audioscrobbling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}]}], "who": [{"by": "raffraffraff", "context": "former paid subscriber", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49906824", "date": "2026-09-30"}], "tags": ["for music discovery", "for long-term listening stats", "has a public API", "for Spotify switchers"], "use_cases": ["music discovery", "scrobbling", "tracking music listening", "music tracking", "scrobble tracking", "music listening history"], "compared": [{"slug": "spotify", "name": "Spotify", "co": 4, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "listenbrainz", "name": "ListenBrainz", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48295892", "title": "Last.fm is now independent", "mentions": 9}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49903862", "title": "RSS Feeds for Last.fm", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46266875", "title": "2002: Last.fm and Audioscrobbler Herald the Social Web", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48930454", "title": "The lost joy of music piracy", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48884984", "title": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (July 2026)", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48161881", "title": "Show HN: Rocksky \u2013 Music scrobbling and discovery on the AT Protocol", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 3}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 9, "warn": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 2}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"warn": 2, "neutral": 1}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 798509184, "item_id": 49906824, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49906824", "by": "raffraffraff", "date": "2026-09-30", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used to love Last.FM and was a paid subscriber.", "excerpt": "I used to love Last.FM and was a paid subscriber. Their neighbourhood radio was a great way to find music rateyourmusic.com is also dead to me now. And MusicBrainz is an excellent resource marred by horrible user experience and a primary focus on listing every issue of an album in every country and in every format (who the hell wants that?)", "context": "former paid subscriber", "use_case": "music discovery", "switched_from": "", "story": "RSS Feeds for Last.fm"}, {"id": 798487232, "item_id": 49905452, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49905452", "by": "TFNA", "date": "2026-09-30", "stance": "warn", "quote": "It stripped so much functionality that the site became useless except for merely tracking one's own listens", "excerpt": "As mentioned in the HN submission, Last.fm went through a redesign already over a decade ago. It stripped so much functionality that the site became useless except for merely tracking one's own listens, and there were already libre alternatives for that. Last.fm is one of my go-to examples of how the internet has become a lonelier place. The old Last.fm was deeply linked with real life: it would show upcoming gigs in", "context": "", "use_case": "music tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "RSS Feeds for Last.fm"}, {"id": 798481009, "item_id": 49905063, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49905063", "by": "cobertos", "date": "2026-09-30", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Not even a good first-party export", "excerpt": "Self-hosted Koito[0] and glad I left Last.fm. Not even a good first-party export, gotta use some hacked together third-party one to get your data out. [0]: https://github.com/gabehf/koito", "context": "", "use_case": "scrobble tracking", "switched_from": "", "story": "RSS Feeds for Last.fm"}, {"id": 782992784, "item_id": 48937049, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48937049", "by": "chickensong", "date": "2026-07-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I have a somewhat patchy last.fm history going back to 2005", "excerpt": "Very cool, thanks for the write up on the recommendations. I'm always hungry for new music and I have a somewhat patchy last.fm history going back to 2005. I'd love to check out your tool, email in profile. Cheers!", "context": "", "use_case": "music listening history", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (July 2026)"}, {"id": 782948912, "item_id": 48934307, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48934307", "by": "DaanDL", "date": "2026-07-16", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "everything is still connected with last.fm too, so once a while I'll also take a look at my neighbours there", "excerpt": "Yes, this is the way. Also, everything is still connected with last.fm too, so once a while I'll also take a look at my neighbours there.", "context": "", "use_case": "music discovery", "switched_from": "", "story": "The lost joy of music piracy"}, {"id": 782923761, "item_id": 48932735, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48932735", "by": "parasti", "date": "2026-07-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Audioscrobbler/Last.fm is miles ahead of this.", "excerpt": "Spotify is fundamentally broken in a certain, unfixable way, IMO. I use it and have a subscription, but I dread opening their app and looking at the starting screen that shows the same artists I listened to twenty years ago in pointless blurbs like \"presave this (you can't listen to it)\", \"jump back in (you literally already listened to it)\", \"your favorite artists (not according to you but according to us)\". There i", "context": "", "use_case": "music discovery", "switched_from": "", "story": "The lost joy of music piracy"}, {"id": 772859856, "item_id": 48303741, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48303741", "by": "moomoo11", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "i discovered so much music i love to this day thanks to their scrobbling", "excerpt": "i discovered so much music i love to this day thanks to their scrobbling or whatever discovery service was. i\u2019m talking like 2000s", "context": "", "use_case": "music discovery", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}, {"id": 772787152, "item_id": 48299197, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48299197", "by": "lawlesst", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I recently switched to last.fm and am able to generate recommendations via their API just fine and without being a pro subscriber.", "excerpt": "I've had the same experience. Spotify abruptly deprecated their recommendations API endpoint (https://community.spotify.com/t5/Spotify-for-Developers/spotify-api-Get-Recommendations-alternative/td-p/6540653). I recently switched to last.fm and am able to generate recommendations via their API just fine and without being a pro subscriber. I also had the delight of finding my streams from 2008 still in my history after", "context": "", "use_case": "music recommendations via API", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}, {"id": 772782048, "item_id": 48298878, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48298878", "by": "kgwxd", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Your request was blocked. To protect our website, our security firewall has flagged this request as potentially unsafe.", "excerpt": "Clicked join: \"Your request was blocked. To protect our website, our security firewall has flagged this request as potentially unsafe.\" Linux, Firefox, uBlock Origin. Nothing else special. I've really been looking for an alternative too. Thanks for at least showing me what to expect before sign up. Guess I'll pass.", "context": "Linux user", "use_case": "scrobbling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}, {"id": 772764240, "item_id": 48297765, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48297765", "by": "jamesbvaughan", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love the service but it's been trickier to use since I switched from Spotify to Apple Music.", "excerpt": "I hope this is a good change for last.fm! I love the service but it's been trickier to use since I switched from Spotify to Apple Music. Does anyone have a setup they're happy with for scrobbling from Apple Music across different types of devices?", "context": "", "use_case": "scrobbling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}, {"id": 772756976, "item_id": 48297311, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48297311", "by": "donatj", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love Last.fm, I've been scrobbling for over 20 years now.", "excerpt": "I love Last.fm, I've been scrobbling for over 20 years now. It's amazing to me that they have managed to stick around like they have. They're very much an \"old internet\" site, and I hope they can stick around for many many more years.", "context": "", "use_case": "scrobbling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}, {"id": 772747536, "item_id": 48296721, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48296721", "by": "oflannabhra", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "last.fm is one of those services that is from the pinnacle of the open web.", "excerpt": "one of the very first programming projects I took on was to figure out how to scrobble the records that I was playing. It was my first exposure to so many things: Ruby, FFIs, audio processing, audio fingerprinting (I think I used echo nest ?). Ended up going to local meetups to ask for advice. last.fm is one of those services that is from the pinnacle of the open web.", "context": "", "use_case": "scrobbling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}, {"id": 772745072, "item_id": 48296567, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48296567", "by": "quirino", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "last.fm is one of my very favorite services.", "excerpt": "last.fm is one of my very favorite services. It's rough around the edges in some parts, but I've gotten incredible value from it. A couple of websites built on it that I check out from time to time: - https://lastfmviz.netlify.app/ - shows what you've been listening to as a grid of album covers. You can scroll down as long as you want. It's cool to look back and remember where I was when listening to specific music. ", "context": "", "use_case": "tracking listening history", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}, {"id": 772740002, "item_id": 48296250, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48296250", "by": "jauntywundrkind", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Last.fm & in particular audioscrobbling has been such an amazing joy to have in the world.", "excerpt": "Last.fm & in particular audioscrobbling has been such an amazing joy to have in the world. Music is so important to me, and it's amazing having this system to help see over time what friends and I myself enjoy. These days, for auduiscrobbling, I recommend folks use either teal.fm (which alas is somewhat DIY or find-a-friend for their API service) or rocksky.app. There's a better credible exit, as it's based on atprot", "context": "", "use_case": "audioscrobbling", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}, {"id": 772739664, "item_id": 48296229, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48296229", "by": "ale", "date": "2026-05-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Man i love last.fm even though it's been technically superseded (for most people) by Spotify's recommendation features.", "excerpt": "Man i love last.fm even though it's been technically superseded (for most people) by Spotify's recommendation features. It just fit so well in the zeitgeist of 2000's indie scene, microblogs, early social media.", "context": "", "use_case": "music discovery", "switched_from": "", "story": "Last.fm is now independent"}, {"id": 770598368, "item_id": 48162398, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48162398", "by": "tuvix", "date": "2026-05-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I credit last.fm with showing me a lot of the music I love, it\u2019s the perfect recommendation model", "excerpt": "Super awesome! I credit last.fm with showing me a lot of the music I love, it\u2019s the perfect recommendation model and still the best social music platform so I\u2019m definitely rooting for you to improve on it!", "context": "", "use_case": "music discovery", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Rocksky \u2013 Music scrobbling and discovery on the AT Protocol"}, {"id": 740432512, "item_id": 46277032, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46277032", "by": "cyrialize", "date": "2025-12-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I still use Last.fm! I've had it since 2008. It's really cool seeing how my music taste has changed", "excerpt": "I still use Last.fm! I've had it since 2008. It's really cool seeing how my music taste has changed, and seeing what I've come back to over and over again. When I used to be much more active in online music communities I would post a 9x9 of my most listened to albums of the past week and discuss them.", "context": "", "use_case": "tracking music listening", "switched_from": "", "story": "2002: Last.fm and Audioscrobbler Herald the Social Web"}, {"id": 740354256, "item_id": 46272141, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46272141", "by": "dddw", "date": "2025-12-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "They gave we a reset link. Very happy to use it again.", "excerpt": "I got a last.FM story. I used last.fm for years, then wanted tot use it again after a hiatus. But was locked out of my account, and the email I used of that service didn't exist anymore. I contacted last.fm saying what the old email was, and told them the profile picture was from a guitarist from an obscure islandic band, who's blonde hair I photo shopped into brown, so he looked more like me. They gave we a reset li", "context": "", "use_case": "tracking music listening", "switched_from": "", "story": "2002: Last.fm and Audioscrobbler Herald the Social Web"}, {"id": 740276448, "item_id": 46267278, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46267278", "by": "wantlotsofcurry", "date": "2025-12-14", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love last.fm with all my being.", "excerpt": "I love last.fm with all my being. I recently created a ListenBrainz (same org as MusicBrainz) account which is an open source alternative that you don\u2019t have to host yourself. I\u2019m scrobbling to both places now just in case. Check out tapmusic.net too to make cool diagrams out of your scrobbled music.", "context": "", "use_case": "scrobbling music", "switched_from": "", "story": "2002: Last.fm and Audioscrobbler Herald the Social Web"}]}