Duke Listens!: Visit my main blog at MusicMachinery.com

Just last week, I predicted that 2008 would be the year of free music.  I wrote:

In 2008, this is all going to change.  We are now starting to see the next generation of music apps hit the web that no longer are beholden to the rules of Internet radio. These  music apps allow you to play any song you want, at anytime for free. 2008 will be the year of the Celestial Jukebox - at least if you are sitting at your computer, You will be able to listen to virtually any song that you want, on demand.  The only time you will need to pay for music is if you want to listen to it on your iPod or your living room stereo.

Today, Last.fm has rolled out their on-demand service.  RJ describes this in his blog (my emphasis added):

Full-length tracks are now available in the US, UK, and Germany, and we’re hard at work broadening our coverage into other countries. During this initial public beta period, each track can be played up to 3 times for free before a notice appears telling you about our upcoming subscription service. The soon-to-be announced subscription service will give you unlimited plays and some other useful things. We’re also working on bringing full-length tracks to the desktop client and beyond.

This is a big deal. Big for last.fm and big for music listeners.  Free on-demand listening, coupled with last.fm's huge social data and listener-base will let last.fm and its listeners do all sorts of interesting things.  Last.fm is also opening the door for new artists,  letting them upload music and earning money each time their songs are played on last.fm.  

Last.fm's offering is not 100% free though.  It is like Napster's offering - 3 free plays (Napster offered 5) of any particular song.  After the 3rd play you need to be a subscriber  before you can listen again to that song.  This model works for music discovery and really helps making playlists shareable - but it won't replace your iTunes music collection.  If you really like a song, you'll have to buy it or become a subscriber.  I'm interested to see how a last.fm subscription service will work - any subscription service that doesn't work  with the iPod is going to have a tough time .  (Some details on the last.fm unlimited listening subscription are here).

I'm excited to see where last.fm goes with this. They have lots of smart people who are working hard to turn last.fm into the celestial box. Last.fm really will become the last fm radio station you'll ever need. 2008 is the year of free music on the desktop ... 2009 will be the year of free music everywhere.  The celestial jukebox is here!