What are people writing about Last.fm's announcement of its ad-supported, free streaming service that offers the four majors and many indies?

• New York Times: "Some record labels also received an upfront cash payment, subject to a minimum of a fraction of one cent a play."
• Silicon Alley Insider: "Yawn."
• TechCrunch: "It is good to see some creative licensing finally taking hold in the music industry." This isn't all that creative. Similar free services already exist (Napster, Rhapsody).
• Gizmodo: "But of course, there are limitations thanks to label tightassness, the biggest point of suck being that you can only listen to a song three times."
• Mashable: "Between ad revenue and a subscription service, Last.fm now has a significant business model and is taking direct aim at the existing music subscription services such as Rhapsody and Napster." Well, it's a business model. The significance will come from the degree to which CBS can get mainstream Americans to use the service. As it stands now, Last.fm users tend to be (to use broad brush strokes) indie rock-loving technophiles and bloggers who spend a lot of time in front of a computer.

Other things to note: Last.fm plans a subscription service that will allow users to listen to as many songs as they want; plays are capped at three per track but people will work around this since you don't have to log in to listen; and CBS will begin advertising Last.fm during the Grammy Awards on February 10. (How funny would it have been to see Last.fm ads during the Super Bowl, three years after Napster blew a bunch of money on those spots?)

At first blush -- and I say this only about this new development without knowing what new features will evolve -- I'm in agreement with the Alley Insider. Yawn. Maybe CBS' market research says otherwise, but people really don't fall over themselves for ad-supported, free audio streaming services that come with plays-per-track ceilings. Not even feature-rich subscription services have caught on. There will be a demand for it, but CBS-sized demand? Rhapsody and Napster already offer this -- minus the social networking aspect -- and neither has captured the fancy of the typical music lover. Worst of all, it lacks portability (thus far).

Since they receive so little money from streams, artists and labels aren't going to get overly excited about Last.fm. But it's one of those things you have to do. Got to cover all the bases, make your music available everywhere, not miss out on any opportunities to connect with an audience and find new fans.