Last.fm has re-established itself as an independent company after nearly two decades under CBS/Paramount ownership. The company has confirmed that the service will remain unchanged and users’ accounts, scrobbles, subscriptions and privacy settings will continue to function as they did previously.
For many users, Last.fm serves as a personal archive of their musical life spanning 10–20 years. This has contributed to the strong online response to the announcement.
Existing users will not experience any changes and the company will continue to be managed by the same team. With a renewed focus on music discovery and community, forums and groups are expected to be reinstated after their removal during the acquisition. The Reddit forums have welcomed the news with some sparking their interests again, with some re-starting their accounts and signing up to Last.FM’s Pro features..
However, there is concern regarding the long-term sustainability of the service, wondering if there are enough users using their “Pro” model. Existing Ad model might not be enough some say.
Other scrobbling services such as Libre.FM and Listenbrainz.org have gained popularity due to their non-corporate ethos, open-source software and transparency regarding the use of scrobble data.
 What do you think? Is this great news for music listening historians?