Ayumi Hamasaki Sekai - [article] We've given music a home

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An analysis of Last.fm's traffic by web research firm Nielsen//NetRatings shows roughly a 60/40 split between male and female users, and an older bias. Of the site's four million US users, 60% are over 35 and only 25% are between 18-34. In the UK, users are more equally spread between the two age groups, but data shows heavier usage and more time spent on the site than in the US.

Last.fm's tiny US audience is not an obstacle, say the founders. "One of the reasons CBS liked us is because we have an international spread," says Stiksel. Around 66% of the site's traffic comes from outside English-speaking countries, so the potential for growth is unquestionably huge. The site's 50-strong staff team is also very international and already publish in 10 languages including Chinese, Japanese, Polish and Portuguese.

It is fascinating to ask why, with such limited resources, Last.fm was able to come up with such a compelling service when the multi-million dollar CBS Corporation could not do that in-house.

"There is a certain alchemy, a certain voodoo, a certain magic to creating something like this," admits Stiksel. "We've been rolling in our own sauce for years and thinking about nothing else. We are soaked in it."

The CBS strategy to roll out the Last.fm model across different media fits with the plans that Stiksel and Miller had from the start. They even registered the domain Last.tv in 2003. "We realised at the beginning that the scope for this was very large, and that it would work not just for music but for films, TV and video. But there is a lot for us to do in the music space and that will be first and foremost."

Read it: 'We've given music a home'
Lack of funds meant their staff camped on the roof, but after last week's CBS buyout, Last.fm's founders are the first British Web 2.0 millionaires