<p>Today is a great day for both Music producers and consumers. The CD albums are clearly out fashioned and online music stores cannot (yet) compete with piracy. Well, <a href="http://last.fm">last.fm</a> brings to the mainstream a concept many are trying to implement (like <a href="http://www.reverbnation.com/">reverbnation</a> and the Portuguese <a href="http://alcidesfonseca.com/blog/267">PalcoPrincipal</a>).</p>

<p><a href="http://blog.last.fm/2008/01/23/free-the-music">Last.fm announced</a> they will now make full tracks available free for the first 3 times (during the beta) and forever if you subscribe their soon-to-be-announced subscription along with some surprises. And it will come to the Desktop application too! (iTunes be aware!)</p>

<p>The greater news is that <strong>artists will be paid directly</strong> (as they insisted in highlighting) according to how popular their music is. So after all, they are getting a share of the advertising revenue just like ReverbNation. The difference (and what most astonishes me!) is that they managed to make these deals with the major labels: <span class="caps">EMI</span>, Sony <span class="caps">BMG</span>, Universal and Warner.</p>

<p>The only not-so-good news is that this is available for US, UK and Germany only! Can&#8217;t wait till it comes to Portugal!</p>