News.blog: Warner pulls catalogue from Last.fm

Warner Music Group has pulled its entire catalogue from Last.fm, a company spokeswoman confirmed on Friday.

Warner Music would not comment on the reason for leaving Last.fm, but the label's departure is certainly a setback for the social-networking site. Warner was the first of the major labels to do a deal with Last.fm.

Last.fm offers an on-demand streaming service that's free to members but has been seriously hamstrung by limits placed on song playback. The site allows users to listen three times to a song. At rival Imeem, users can listen to free streaming music as many times as they want.

Silicon Alley Insider reports that Warner Music licensed its music to Last.fm on a month-to-month basis and hasn't renewed it.

"We are currently negotiating a new agreement with Warner Music Group," CBS, which acquired Last.fm a year ago, said in a statement. The network added that it was "working hard to build the most comprehensive music service on the Web".

Note: CBS has agreed to acquire CNET Networks, parent company of CNET.co.uk.