Last.fm claims to have become the fastest growing online music network in the US, with a unique listener increase of 92 per cent since launching four weeks ago. The social networking music site said that it has more than 21 million active users worldwide every month.
Martin Stiksel, co-founder of the site, said: "We have created a new model that works for everyone - listeners, artists and copyright holders - and the user response proves that it is working. "Free is the future, and this is signalled not only by the industry"s growing acceptance of what we"re doing, but more importantly by the incredibly fast increase of users accessing music on Last.fm since we launched free-on-demand."