Last.fm Launches Personalized Visual Music Player Delivering Unparalleled, Multisensory Listening Experience

Last.fm Launches Personalized Visual Music Player Delivering Unparalleled, Multisensory Listening Experience

Evolution of Online Music Combines Personalized Streaming Audio with Rich Visuals

New Player Offers Enhanced Music Experience to Users and New Video Advertising Platform for Sponsors

NEW YORK, May 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Last.fm today announced the launch of its Personalized Visual Music player, a reinvention of the site's original online radio experience that now combines personalized streaming radio stations with rich media visuals to deliver an unparalleled multisensory listening experience to its users and unique video advertising opportunities to brands and sponsors. Last.fm is part of the newly formed CBS Interactive Music Group, a division within CBS Interactive that brings together the Company's industry-leading digital music assets.

At the center of this new listening experience is the unique next-generation player that will offer users a continuous stream of artist images, music videos and other types of rich media of the artist being played, creating a multisensory experience way beyond any traditional online music streaming service.

Additionally, users can now create multi-genre stations by mixing music tags -- "80s" and "Soundtrack," or "French," "60s" and "Female" for example -- to fine-tune their music channel. Multi-artist radio enables users to launch stations based on combinations of their favorite bands and performers; listening to a music stream featuring the likes of Radiohead, Rachmaninoff and Rage Against the Machine is now a reality.

The new music player provides advertisers and sponsors with unique visual branding opportunities to efficiently reach Last.fm's highly engaged audience in a more immersive manner than that of audio advertising.

Martin Stiksel, Last.fm Co-Founder, said, "Personalized Visual Music shows what's possible with Last.fm's unparalleled music database and the innovative vision of our team. We were the first Web site to offer personalized streaming music, and this marks the next evolution of that service. Passionate music fans come to Last.fm for more than just the songs, and Visual Radio provides them with the enriching, full-featured music experience they demand. And the bold new music player allows brands and sponsors the opportunity to directly reach these users in a visually exciting way."

Felix Miller, Last.fm CEO and Co-Founder, said, "Last.fm prides itself on using music as the carrier medium for a much richer user experience, centered around a deep dive into an artist's creative output, personality, activity and live events. Last.fm users, who listen to a billion tracks a month, are able them to share this experience with their friends, and we tie it all together with a world-class discovery engine that continues to surprise and delight music fans across the Web. Today's launch marks another milestone for us on this journey of taking music listening to the next level."

Personalized Visual Music puts the best features of Last.fm in one place. The most accurate similar artist recommendations online, relevant concert listings targeted to your locality, unparalleled song and artist information drawn from a music database of over 45 million tracks -- the "greatest hits" features of the Last.fm music experience are instantly accessible the second you press play on your Last.fm radio station, direct from the Radio page.

Check out the evolution of online music at http://www.last.fm/listen

For screenshots and demo videos please go to http://static.last.fm/visualradio/web_skinned_playing.jpg or http://static.last.fm/visualradio.

About Last.fm

Founded in 2002, Last.fm is a CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS.A) (NYSE:and) (NYSE:CBS) owned free global music platform. Last.fm offers music fans millions of tracks in every genre for free-on-demand and radio streaming thanks to partnerships with Universal, EMI, Sony BMG, CD Baby, independent aggregators The Orchard and IODA, and more than 280,000 independent artists and labels -- without needing to register or download software. Last.fm can intelligently recommend its 30 million monthly users new songs, artists, local concerts and even other members based on their musical tastes. Last.fm also supports unsigned artists by offering them an unprecedented Artist Royalty program through which they can earn revenue directly from Last.fm every time their music is streamed. Learn more about Last.fm at http://www.last.fm/.

About CBS Interactive Music Group

The CBS Interactive Music Group, a division within CBS Interactive Inc., is an industry-leading digital music group comprised of over 100 CBS RADIO music Web site, the world's number one internet radio service, which powers AOL Radio and Yahoo's Launchcast Radio as well as the leading global music discovery site, Last.fm. The CBS Interactive Music Group provides users with more content and community around their favorite music and reaches more than 40 million unique monthly users worldwide. CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS.A) (NYSE:and CBS) is the parent company of CBS Interactive, Inc.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: andrea.prochniak@cbs.com

Source: Last.fm

CONTACT: Katie Gunion, +1-212-975-8009, katie.gunion@cbs.com

Web Site: http://www.last.fm/listen

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Profile: International Entertainment