Last.fm Discoverer

Last.fm has announced that a new app will help users explore more than two million tracks from emerging artists.

The ‘Discover’ service will allow Last.fm users to explore esoteric genres such as ‘Antarctic shaman chillwave’ and ‘Ambient bassoon apocalypse’ and all those other ridiculous things that pop up in iTunes from time to time. However, through a partnership with Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 9, the service will allow unlimited skips, ad free plays and mini mixes of newly discovered tracks that can then be shared.

VP of Product at Last.fm Matthew Hawn said: “Our team has grappled over the years on how to best overcome the barriers of discovering new music, whether it be finding new artists from around the globe, downloading tracks or sharing with friends. Last.fm Discover solves this problem”.

Internet Explorer lead in the UK Gabby Hegerty added: "We're always looking for new and outstanding ways to bring fantastic HTML5 experiences to Internet Explorer 9 users, and this new site from Last.FM will not disappoint”.

Its difficult to shake the feeling that this may not be as useful as that friendly yet neurotic guy lurking behind the counter of your local record store but if there is one thing that music lovers dream of its “Fantastic HTML experiences”. Still, it is a fairly interesting twist on the obsession with ‘music discovery’ that music sites have now and is fun to navigate. You can find out more here.