Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Last.fm VS Substack

Compare Last.fm VS Substack and see what are their differences

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Last.fm logo Last.fm

The world's largest online music service. Listen online, find out more about your favourite artists, and get music recommendations, only at Last.fm

Substack logo Substack

With Substack, anyone can start a publication that combines a personal website, blog, and email newsletter or podcast. It's quick and simple.
  • Last.fm Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-17
  • Substack Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-10-26

Last.fm features and specs

  • Personalized Recommendations
    Last.fm offers music recommendations tailored to the user's tastes based on their listening history.
  • Scrobbling
    The service tracks the music a user listens to across various platforms and devices, helping create a comprehensive listening profile.
  • Community Features
    Users can join groups, participate in discussions, and share music tastes with others, fostering a sense of community.
  • Discover New Music
    Last.fm helps users discover new artists and songs that they might like, making it easier for them to expand their musical horizons.
  • Visual Insights
    The platform provides graphs and charts that offer visual insights into a user's listening habits and trends over time.

Possible disadvantages of Last.fm

  • Subscription Costs
    Access to some of Last.fmโ€™s advanced features requires a subscription, which might not be ideal for all users.
  • Data Privacy Concerns
    The extensive tracking of listening habits may raise privacy concerns for some users.
  • Interface Complexity
    The user interface can be somewhat complex and cluttered, which might be challenging for new users to navigate.
  • Platform Dependency
    Its effectiveness relies on integration with other music services, meaning it is less useful if it doesnโ€™t sync well with the userโ€™s primary music platform.
  • Limited Offline Features
    Without an active internet connection, many of Last.fm's features become inaccessible, limiting its utility.

Substack features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    Substack offers a user-friendly interface that makes it easy for writers to publish and monetize their newsletters.
  • Built-in Monetization
    Writers can easily charge readers for subscriptions, allowing for straightforward monetization.
  • Direct Audience Connection
    Substack allows writers to build a direct relationship with their audience via email, which can lead to a more engaged readership.
  • Discovery and Community
    Features like staff picks and recommendations help writers get discovered by new readers.
  • No Upfront Costs
    Substack does not charge upfront fees; instead, it takes a percentage of subscription revenues, making it easier to start.
  • Content Ownership
    Writers retain full ownership of their content, giving them more control over their work.

Possible disadvantages of Substack

  • Revenue Share
    Substack takes a 10% cut of subscription revenues, which can add up for writers with a large subscriber base.
  • Limited Customization
    The platform has limited customization options compared to building a custom website or using more flexible CMS options.
  • Dependency on Platform
    Relying on Substack means depending on its policies and infrastructure, which could pose risks if the platform changes its terms or features.
  • Competition
    As more writers join Substack, it can become challenging to stand out amidst the growing competition.
  • Email Deliverability
    Writers may face issues with email deliverability, as some newsletters may end up in spam folders.
  • Payment Processing Fees
    Besides Substack's fee, payment processors like Stripe also take a percentage, further reducing net earnings for writers.

Analysis of Last.fm

Overall verdict

  • Last.fm is considered a good platform for music enthusiasts who want to explore new music and understand their listening habits better. Its powerful scrobbling feature and community elements make it a valuable tool for music discovery.

Why this product is good

  • Last.fm is a music recommendation and discovery service that provides personalized music suggestions based on a user's listening habits. It allows users to track their music listening history, provides insights and statistics, and helps discover new music through recommendations and a rich community-driven database.

Recommended for

  • Music lovers seeking personalized recommendations.
  • Listeners who want to track and analyze their music habits.
  • Individuals interested in discovering new artists and songs.
  • Users who enjoy engaging with a community of music enthusiasts.

Analysis of Substack

Overall verdict

  • Substack is a good choice for writers seeking autonomy and a straightforward way to monetize their content. However, it may not be the best fit for those who prefer working within the framework of a larger publication or those unfamiliar with the challenges of building and maintaining a subscriber base.

Why this product is good

  • Substack is a platform that allows writers, journalists, and content creators to publish and monetize their newsletters. It is praised for its ease of use, built-in subscription system, and direct-to-consumer model which enables writers to retain control over their audience and content. The platform has attracted both independent writers and established journalists seeking the freedom to monetize their work without traditional media constraints.

Recommended for

  • Independent writers and journalists
  • Content creators looking to monetize their work
  • Individuals seeking a direct relationship with their audience
  • Those who appreciate simplicity in publishing

Last.fm videos

DO NOT USE last.fm website review (BAD WEBSITE)

More videos:

  • Review - Music I Listened to in 2018 [last.fm]

Substack videos

Monetizing Podcasts and Newsletters - Chris Best of Substack and Jonathan Gill of Backtracks

More videos:

  • Review - E1016 Substack CEO Chris Best empowers writers via email newsletter platform, raised $15M from a16z
  • Review - Why EVERYONE should be on Substack | What it is, How it Works, $$$
  • Review - Beehiiv vs Substack (2024) - Which is Better?
  • Review - My Experience with SUBSTACK: An Honest Review of Substack

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Last.fm and Substack)
Music
100 100%
0% 0
Blogging
0 0%
100% 100
Music Streaming
100 100%
0% 0
CMS
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Last.fm and Substack

Last.fm Reviews

The Best Spotify Alternatives In Music[Top 10]
Last.FM is a music streaming service that focuses on community-driven music discovery and recommendation. Users can create profiles, scrobble their music listening habits, and connect with others who share similar tastes. Last.FMโ€™s algorithm-driven recommendations provide users with personalized playlists and radio stations based on their listening history. The platform also...
Receiptify Alternatives โ€“ Websites like Receiptify
Last.fm tracks your music listening across various platforms and provides detailed analytics, such as your most listened-to tracks, artists, and genres. While it doesnโ€™t create receipts, it offers in-depth insights into your listening habits. For those interested in analytics and tracking over time, Last.fm provides a comprehensive overview of your musical tastes.
Top 10 Spotify Alternatives (Free/Paid) โ€“ 2024
Another entry, Last.FM has been a great option as one of the Spotify alternatives that has been available since 2002 and this makes it one of the oldest options available in this list.
9 Best Free Music Download Sites in 2022
Last.fm is the flagship product of Audioscrobbler's music engine design team. Users "record" tracks more than 10 million times a day to Last FM's servers, it's one of the world's largest social music platforms.
9 best free Spotify alternatives
Last.fm is more about music discovery than listening to what you already know: its famous "scrobbling" analyses the songs you listen to (not just on the site, but in desktop and mobile music apps too) and comes up with suggestions for similar music it thinks you'll like. Frustratingly many of the available tracks are just previews, and the free radio streaming is a paid-for...

Substack Reviews

25+ Medium Alternative Platforms for Publishing Articles
Substack offers writers of all experience levels the ability to write an email newsletter thatโ€™s profitable through subscriptions. Substack provides purpose-built web and newsletter publishing tools to enable writers to monetize their newsletters. It is a service often favoured by readers because itโ€™s a convenient all-in-one solution for writing a successful podcast that...
Source: forgefusion.io
10 Best Medium Alternatives for Reading and Publishing
What sะตts Substack apart is its sะตamlะตss intะตgration of contะตnt crะตation and subscription-basะตd monะตtization. Substackโ€™s usะตr-friะตndly intะตrfacะต, distribution tools, and support for various contะตnt formats make it a popular choice for indะตpะตndะตnt crะตators looking to connะตct dirะตctly with thะตir audiะตncะต and turn thะตir passion into a sustainablะต incomะต strะตam.
9 Best Medium Alternatives for Making Money With Your Writing in 2023
Substack and Medium differ primarily in their monetization methods. Medium pays creators based on reader engagement, while Substack enables writers to monetize directly through paid subscriptions to their newsletters. This business model allows Substack users to build a direct relationship with their readers via their email inboxes, whereas Medium interactions primarily...
11 Patreon Alternatives for Audience Monetization in 2023
Like a few of the other platforms weโ€™ve looked at, Substack takes a cut of your earnings rather than charging a 10% platform fee.
Source: www.uscreen.tv
Any good Mailchimp alternatives?
My question for you is, what is keeping you from making $31 per month from your list? Are you using any feature that Substack (free until you get paid) can't handle?

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Last.fm seems to be a lot more popular than Substack. While we know about 2622 links to Last.fm, we've tracked only 98 mentions of Substack. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Last.fm mentions (2622)

  • 'Death to Spotify': the DIY movement to get artists and fans to quit the app
    We used to have very good discoverability platforms, e.g. https://last.fm . Then streaming came along and destroyed everything. - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
  • The day I canceled my Spotify subscription
    I switched to https://qobuz.com, mainly for the high audio quality (it goes up to 192kHz 24bit, which is worth it for me as I have the necessary equipment to make use of this), but it also supports "Spotify quality" i.e. Mp3 quality/320 kbps, but I stayed for the experience. It does not really have an algorithm, there is one playlist "My weekly Q", which updates each week with songs that you could like. The only... - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • Mr. Bungle - Nananana (lost fake song)
    Hi, anyone remember that song? I remember I downloaded it from ares and I liked it but unfortunately it wasn't by mr bungle, it was just mislabelled (like the toxic cover). If anyone has it around I would like to hear it again! On last.fm it comes up as some people listen to it from time to time. Any info you have, or the original artist, I'd appreciate it. From what I remember it sounded like a demo and just said... Source: over 2 years ago
  • 1970โ€™s music makes me feel the most alive. What music does that for you?
    Try last.fm, great website for recommending music. Those one's you suggested are a bit more jazzy than I usually listen to but maybe try What's Goin' On - Marvin Gaye. Talking Book, or Songs in the Key of Life - Stevie Wonder. Couple of my favorites. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Outjerked by last fm
    Average last.fm comment section to be fair. Source: over 2 years ago
View more

Substack mentions (98)

  • SpaceX to buy Cursor AI coding agent operator Anysphere for $60B
    The thing is, even the center of the road academics who refrain from such comparisons are noting the similarity. The MAGA movement meets the traditional defining characteristics of fascio. We can be rigid and say that only Mussoliniโ€˜s political movement can be properly be called fascist. But if we call Hitler and the Nazis fascists as well, then we open the door to any movement that meets the criteria. And Trump... - Source: Hacker News / 21 days ago
  • AMA: I'm Eric Ries (The Lean Startup) & Author of New Bestseller Incorruptible
    Yes, it's much different in other countries. See https://substack.com/@doks/p-198191751. - Source: Hacker News / 27 days ago
  • Show HN: Playing with genomics foundation model tutorial/explainer article
    Hi folks, I got curious about how genomics foundation models work and wrote an article explaining how they are trained + can be used. Feel free to use the following as learning resources if you wish to jump into ML for comp bio stuff, it may help: - Code: https://github.com/dillondesilva/nt-promoter-region-classification - Article/Tutorial:... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • CBP Directive 3340-049B: Border Search of Electronic Devices
    The vast majority of people from the developed world have no problems going through any border in the developed world. Your experience is probably representative, but that's not what we're talking about. My understanding is that de facto you have no rights at all in China. The Americans take this sort of thing very seriously, which is why it's in the news and talked about. Some guy gets imprisoned for 37... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • GitHub โ€“ DOS 1.0: Transcription of Tim Paterson's DOS Printouts
    There was never a serious claim DOS copied CP/M code. The controversy was mostly about legality of reimplementation of the API, plus some pretty vague claims about copying the design: https://substack.com/@nemanjatrifunovic/note/p-178321556. - Source: Hacker News / 2 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Last.fm and Substack, you can also consider the following products

Spotify - Map shows when two people play same song at same time

Medium - Welcome to Medium, a place to read, write, and interact with the stories that matter most to you.

Pandora - Pandora Radio is a free (ad-supported) internet radio founded in 2000.

Ghost - Ghost is a fully open source, adaptable platform for building and running a modern online publication. We power blogs, magazines and journalists from Zappos to Sky News.

Deezer - Deezer is a music streaming app created in France. It is available in 180 counties and gets 16 million users a month. 6 million of the users have paid subscriptions. Read more about Deezer.

MailChimp - MailChimp is the best way to design, send, and share email newsletters.