Last.fm Founders Announce Their Departure

One of the largest music streaming services on the Internet, Last.fm, is to lose its founders two years after it was bought by CBS. Last.fm was purchased by CBS Interactive in 2007 for $280 million and now has 37.3M monthly unique visitors. The announcement was made via a Last.fm blog in which the founders (pictured from left to right: Martin Stiksel, Felix Miller, and Richard Jones), thanked all its users for 'scrobbling' over the years to make Last.fm what it is today. In the blog, Felix Miller wrote, "Being a part of CBS, and the recently formed CBSi music group, continues to open up many opportunities for Last.fm. Recent product releases such as the new visual radio, and the Last.fm on XBox announcement, are an indication of how much more Last.fm will achieve".

Even though their blog doesn't go into detail on why all three founders are leaving the company, the rumor that circulated earlier this year about Last.fm allegedly passing user data onto the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), is still being talked about in the blogsphere as a possible reason. However, the chief executive of CBS Interactive, Quincy Smith, has been eager to deny any private data has been shared with the RIAA, and has said that the rumor, published by TechCrunch, isn't the reason for their departure. There's no word at the moment who will be replacing them, only that they will be staying on as consultants until September.

Image © Last.fm Ltd.

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