If you say Last.fm in 2021, the answer is: “Why, isn’t it dead yet?” And that’s a fair question, because the music website, which has been in operation for 19 years, has fallen out of favor with the mass public. Surprisingly, the service still attracts music lovers with unconventional features, and the small but active community still generates jokes and memes. If you’re a Last.fm user, you probably listen to a lot of different music. You must know that this service helps you discover new music and build up your collection, as well as offers fascinating insights into your musical tastes.
Luckily, you can combine Spotify and Last.fm, which means you can connect Spotify directly to your Last.fm profile. But be aware that the process has changed in recent years, and now you run the risk of double scrobbling. So, here is how to connect Last.fm to Spotify and what scrobbling means.
What does scrobbling mean
Scrobbling is the collection of information about listening to music and transmitting it to the Last.fm server. On this basis, the service makes selections of the most popular artists, tracks, and genres for different periods of time – a week, one, three, six, or twelve months or a year. This is the most important and unique feature of the website.
The information is collected through a program called scrobbler. It can run in the background on your computer, phone, or the sites through which you listen to music. For a track to “scrobble”, you must play at least 50% of it without skipping. To make scrobbling, you need to give Last.fm access to your listening history. Sometimes this requires installing the app. In other cases, you may need to provide access from a third-party app or the Last.fm website.
Why users cheat on auditions
Many users scrobble up so that their account has more tracks they have listened to and the charts look a certain way. This is done both in simple ways – leaving the player on overnight or muting the sound, and through special services. There are also some surprising profiles with exclusively black and white charts. That’s because users purposely “scrobble” only artists with black and white photos on their avatars. Nothing personal, only aesthetic.
The scrubbing and statistics functions allow you to compare your tastes with the tastes of other users. It works automatically. Just go to someone else’s profile and the service will show you how much your preferences match and highlight the three groups you both like.
How to connect Last.fm to Spotify using settings
If you want to connect Last.fm to Spotify, you have to follow these steps:
- First of all, navigate to the Last.fm official website and sign in to your account.
- Then, click on your profile picture in the top right corner of the screen and choose “Settings”.
- After that, open the “Applications” tab.
- Click on the “Connect” button next to the Spotify logo to start scrobbling.
- Finally, enter your Spotify username and password of you are making the connection for the first time.
How to connect Last.fm to Spotify using a new way
There used to be different ways to switch Spotify to Last.fm depending on the device you were using. In each case, you had to go to the Spotify settings menu and enter your Last.fm credentials. However, in June 2018, Last.fm and Spotify introduced a new way to connect the two services. You can now set up Spotify scrolling through Last.fm.
Follow these steps to connect Last.fm to Spotify using a new way:
- Go to the Last.fm website and open the “About” page.
- Click the “Track My Music” tab at the top of the screen/
- Next, scroll down and find the Spotify entry.
- Select “Connect”.
