Last.fm
Music tracking service that logs ("scrobbles") your listening and recommends artists.
HN commenters love it for discovering new music through scrobbling123 and for listening histories that go back to the 2000s.456 Complaints include a redesign that stripped features beyond tracking listens7, no good first-party data export8, and trickier scrobbling from Apple Music.9
Why people recommend it
Music discovery · 3
Commenters credit its scrobbling-based recommendations, radio and neighbours with finding music they love.
“i discovered so much music i love to this day thanks to their scrobbling”
“I credit last.fm with showing me a lot of the music I love, it’s the perfect recommendation model”
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“I used to love Last.FM and was a paid subscriber.”
Listening history · 3
Long-running scrobble histories show how users' taste has changed over the years.
“I love Last.fm, I've been scrobbling for over 20 years now.”
“I still use Last.fm! I've had it since 2008. It's really cool seeing how my music taste has changed”
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“I recently switched to last.fm and am able to generate recommendations via their API just fine and without being a pro subscriber.”
Social connection · 3
Commenters value seeing what friends listen to and connecting with others through music.
“Audioscrobbler/Last.fm is miles ahead of this.”
“I credit last.fm with showing me a lot of the music I love, it’s the perfect recommendation model”
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“Last.fm & in particular audioscrobbling has been such an amazing joy to have in the world.”
API and tools · 3
Its API and third-party sites built on it support recommendations, charts and visualizations.
“I recently switched to last.fm and am able to generate recommendations via their API just fine and without being a pro subscriber.”
“last.fm is one of my very favorite services.”
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“I love last.fm with all my being.”
Old-web longevity · 3
Commenters fondly describe it as a long-lived service from the open, old internet.
“last.fm is one of those services that is from the pinnacle of the open web.”
“I love Last.fm, I've been scrobbling for over 20 years now.”
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“Man i love last.fm even though it's been technically superseded (for most people) by Spotify's recommendation features.”
Caveats and dissent
Stripped redesign · 1
One commenter says a redesign over a decade ago removed features like local gigs and meeting nearby listeners.
“It stripped so much functionality that the site became useless except for merely tracking one's own listens”
Data export · 1
Getting your data out reportedly requires a third-party export tool.
Apple Music scrobbling · 1
Scrobbling became trickier after switching from Spotify to Apple Music.
“I love the service but it's been trickier to use since I switched from Spotify to Apple Music.”
Rough edges · 1
Some parts of the service are described as rough around the edges.
“last.fm is one of my very favorite services.”
Open alternatives · 3
Some commenters point to or have moved to ListenBrainz, Koito, teal.fm or rocksky.app.
“I love last.fm with all my being.”
Show 1 more
“Last.fm & in particular audioscrobbling has been such an amazing joy to have in the world.”
Often compared with
Who recommends it in their own words
Threads where it came up
- Last.fm is now independent 9 mentions
- RSS Feeds for Last.fm 3 mentions
- 2002: Last.fm and Audioscrobbler Herald the Social Web 3 mentions
- The lost joy of music piracy 2 mentions
- Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (July 2026) 1 mention
- Show HN: Rocksky – Music scrobbling and discovery on the AT Protocol 1 mention
Data: last-fm.json. Quotes are verbatim; the verdict and theme labels are written by a model from these comments, and every clause links to its sources.
All comments 19
“I used to love Last.FM and was a paid subscriber.”
“It stripped so much functionality that the site became useless except for merely tracking one's own listens”
“Not even a good first-party export”
“I have a somewhat patchy last.fm history going back to 2005”
“everything is still connected with last.fm too, so once a while I'll also take a look at my neighbours there”
“Audioscrobbler/Last.fm is miles ahead of this.”
“i discovered so much music i love to this day thanks to their scrobbling”
“I recently switched to last.fm and am able to generate recommendations via their API just fine and without being a pro subscriber.”
“Your request was blocked. To protect our website, our security firewall has flagged this request as potentially unsafe.”
“I love the service but it's been trickier to use since I switched from Spotify to Apple Music.”
“I love Last.fm, I've been scrobbling for over 20 years now.”
“last.fm is one of those services that is from the pinnacle of the open web.”
“last.fm is one of my very favorite services.”
“Last.fm & in particular audioscrobbling has been such an amazing joy to have in the world.”
“Man i love last.fm even though it's been technically superseded (for most people) by Spotify's recommendation features.”
“I credit last.fm with showing me a lot of the music I love, it’s the perfect recommendation model”
“I still use Last.fm! I've had it since 2008. It's really cool seeing how my music taste has changed”
“They gave we a reset link. Very happy to use it again.”
“I love last.fm with all my being.”