@john there was a Guardian Tech Weekly podcast about online music a couple of weeks ago, and mention of the last.fm model. When it was suggested that the ad model wasn’t goint to work as people just listen to the stream, and don’t use the site they argued there that the information available on last.fm led people to browse the site and therefore see the ads. However, I can easily see this going to ads inserted into the stream – why not? And with the social network information they can target the ads as well? If this happened you’d have to decide if you still felt the same, whether you’d pay to avoid the ads, or just go elsewhere.

@mike you are right that anyone relying on advertising has probably got some tough times ahead. Presumably we’ll see some substantial consolidation – which means that a service like last.fm which has a more established customer base is more likely to survive than newer startups who are building at the moment. Coming back to the point above – you only have the choice to go elsewhere while there are plenty of startups not bothered about making money. If there is last.fm or nothing (or trad radio) – which will you choose?