Opinion
Strategic verdict: Channel 4 Radio’s alliance with Last.fm
17.05.2007Jonathan Barrowman, Head of Radio Channel 4 Radio’s alliance with social networking site Last.fm is a canny move in keeping with their challenger brand credentials.
Last.fm sits firmly in the web 2.0 world – a global community of 20m music enthusiasts who use the portal to listen to music, personalise their choices, exchange comments on what they’ve heard, recommend new tracks to friends and to buy music.
I like it. It’s more intuitive, more like ‘radio’ compared to iTunes and much more engaging compared to music services like musicovery.com. Strategically, 4Radio and Last.fm therefore makes a lot of sense. An alliance with Last.fm can strengthen 4Radio’s brand equity in online radio and create a USP on this essential platform whilst they await the result of their bid for the second DAB multiplex.
Major commercial radio groups have only just begun to cultivate their own online music communities, with their main focus centred on linear broadcasts to their 31m UK listeners.
The jury is out, however, on the initial collaboration – The Worldwide Chart. Last.fm tracks and ranks what users listen to and – whilst a chart show based on their preferences might expose a UK audience to potentially new genres of world music – it somehow feels counterintuitive.
Successful chart show properties like Hit40Uk are loosing traction with audiences despite the inclusion of digital downloads and the launch of variants such as Fresh 40 and The ‘A’ List. The reality is – chart shows represent the fading grandeur of the analogue world and are at odds with a peer-to-peer digital space.
The real potential for 4Radio lies in the technology and the enormous web community that Last.fm brings to the table. 4Radio can take content and applications to where consumers hang-out rather than expecting them to simply tune-in. Last.fm will track and share all the music 4Radio DJs are playing and allow 20m Last.fm users to compare, sample, discuss and experience the 4Radio brand in their time and space.
Rather than just becoming a content island, this will enable 4Radio to interact with the web community, taking content to consumers and personalising their experience of the brand.
