Last.fm, founded in London in 2002, was bought by the American media giant CBS last year for $280m (?143m). Richard Jones, one of Last fm's three founders, told the BBC: "We want to make music available free and legally to whoever wants it, while rewarding the artists at the same time." Asked whether users would not prefer to own music - and be able to put it on a portable player - rather than just being able to stream it, he said: "The way people consume music is changing - sometimes you just want to listen to it there and then." Unsigned artists who use the scheme will get a payment from Last.fm every time someone listens to one of their tracks. This is just the latest attempt to find a new model for an industry struggling with falling physical sales, while attempting to earn money from online music. Last year saw the launch of Spiral Frog, another free service supported by advertising. Unlike Last.fm, it offers free downloads but has failed to make a major impact. Mr Jones from Last.fm said that may be because users are forced to listen to an advert with each track, whereas his service will be supported by banner advertising. Last.fm is launching its on-demand service in the US, UK and Germany immediately, and plans to roll it out globally over the coming months. The big record labels will be watching closely to see how great the demand is for streamed music - and how many of the customers then go on to pay for downloads.
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