CBS RADIO To Stream Its Stations To Last.fm's U.S. Audience; CBS RADIO
Internet Network Listeners Gain Access To Last.fm's Free Online Music
Library
NEW YORK, April 1, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CBS RADIO, the CBS
Corporation division consisting of 140 major market radio stations, and
Last.fm, the CBS-owned music and social networking Web site, today
announced a strategic partnership designed to expand the reach of each. In
so doing, they will enhance the content and features available on their
sites, and open the door to cross-promotional opportunities throughout
their respective platforms.
The announcement was made jointly today by Dan Mason, President and
CEO, CBS RADIO, and Felix Miller, CEO and Co-Founder, Last.fm.
Under this agreement, CBS RADIO will provide streaming of all its
stations to Last.fm's U.S. audience, including top market properties like
New York's WCBS-FM, Los Angeles' KROQ, Chicago's WXRT and Atlanta's WVEE.
Through CBS RADIO's new online player to be launched this Spring, users of
Last.fm will be able to stream any of the over-the-air stations at any
time. This follows CBS RADIO's recent agreement with AOL, which allows AOL
listeners access to CBS over-the-air and Internet stations through CBS
RADIO's new player, and is similar to Last.fm's recent partnership with the
BBC's digital radio stations.
At the same time, audiences will also be able to seamlessly shift from
streaming their favorite CBS RADIO station, to Last.fm where they can play
individual songs for free, essentially giving listeners the ability to
listen to every song played on the CBS RADIO Internet network again.
"This is an inventive way for CBS RADIO to expand its streaming
campaign by adding another tremendous distribution platform," said Mason.
"Streaming our stations on Last.fm exposes our incredible portfolio of
brands, talent and content to a large, growing audience, while at the same
time providing additional value to all our advertisers. We're very pleased
to work with Felix and our friends at Last.fm on this new partnership."
"This is the first of what we hope to be many collaborations between
CBS RADIO and Last.fm," said Miller. "The content and distribution power
between these brands is incredible, and we're tapping into that strength to
greatly expand our digital footprints while significantly improving the
user experience on all our platforms. It's a win-win situation for
everyone, most importantly the user who now has more ways to listen to
their favorite music and stations."
A staggered rollout of CBS RADIO's streams to Last.fm is currently
underway and includes all genres, including rock, pop, country, news, talk
and sports stations, among others. The full online version of the stations
will be streamed, providing Web-based advertisers additional exposure to
Last.fm's growing U.S. audience.
About CBS RADIO
CBS RADIO is one of the largest major-market operators in the United
States with stations covering news, sports, alternative rock, oldies,
country, talk, classic rock, JACK and urban formats, among others. A
division of CBS Corporation, CBS RADIO operates 140 radio stations, all but
one of which are in the nation's top 50 markets. CBS RADIO also has made
aggressive moves to converge new and traditional media through creative
programming and advanced delivery methods, including online streaming, HD
Radio, mobile messaging and podcasting. Audio streams of more than 143 CBS
RADIO stations and custom channels are currently available online, and more
than two thirds of the Company's stations are broadcasting in HD digital
radio. Additionally, CBS RADIO is home to 27 of the country's leading
sports franchises amongst MLB, the NFL, the NBA, the WNBA and the NHL,
including the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Chicago White Sox, New
England Patriots, New York Giants, Chicago Bears and the Detroit Red Wings.
For more information on CBS RADIO, please visit http://www.cbsradio.com.
About Last.fm
Founded in 2002, Last.fm is the largest global free music platform on
the Web. Last.fm can offer music fans millions of tracks in every genre for
free- on-demand streaming thanks to partnerships with Universal, EMI,
Warner Music Group and Sony BMG, independent aggregators The Orchard, CD
Baby and IODA, and more than 150,000 independent artists and labels -
without the need to sign up or download any software. As well as being able
to access tracks for free -- a service which has seen Last.fm become the
fastest-growing free online music network in the U.S. -- music fans can
also share their music preferences by linking their media player to the
Last.fm database. As a result, Last.fm can intelligently recommend 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.
SOURCE CBS Corporation
 back to top
Related links:
http://www.cbsradio.com
http://www.last.fm
http://www.prnewswire.com/comp/185007.html /
CONTACT:
Christian Ward of Last.fm,
+44(0)20-7780-7080, christian@last.fm; or Shannon Jacobs of CBS
Corporation, +1-212-975-3161, sljacobs@cbs.com; or Allison
Mandara of CBS Radio, +1-212-846-3906,
allison.mandara@cbsradio.com
|
