Last.fm Founders Hand Reins Over to CBS

by Jordan Yerman | June 11, 2009 at 12:29 pm

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Last.fm, perhaps the most successful British music startup, is going through big changes. The three co-founders, Felix Miller, Martin Stiksel, and Richard Jones have announced their departure from Last.fm, founded in 2002 and now owned by American broadcaster CBS. The trio will stay on as consultants until September before moving on to a new venture.

Last.fm serves the user music based on pre-entered preferences, serving as a sort of customized online jukebox.

After two years running Last.fm within CBS we feel the time is right to begin the process of handing over the reins. This is the latest stage in a long journey for us founders, which began in a living room in East London in 2002, and took us to the headquarters of one of the biggest media companies in the world.

David Goodman, president of CBS Interactive Music, will take over the daily managing of the site.

Both founders agreed that the immediate focus of the music and social networking site had to be its business development. Mr Stiksel said: “The online music industry is far from a global industry yet and has complex revenue and cost streams to balance against users’ enjoyment factor.”