Last.fm seeks sponsors for live music venture

Last.fm, the online music network, is seeking sponsors for a series of gigs across the UK and US for unsigned artists to help to fund and promote the events.

Official partners will be offered branding at the event, as well as on all promotional activity on Last.fm, and a presence on the “Last.fm presents” profile page.

Last.fm vice-president of global marketing Orlejna Yeung says/ “We want Last.fm to be a big player in the live music scene, building on the popularity of our music site. We are looking for commercial partners to help us ensure these are a huge success for our community of unsigned artists.”

The CBS-owned website is used by almost 2 million UK members, and it aims to boost its popularity by becoming a site where unknown artists and bands are discovered.

Last.fm senior vice-president of European advertising sales Miles Lewis says: “We have a solid fanbase that engages with and returns daily to their Last.fm pages. We want to extend this using live concerts, building awareness of our service and offering advertisers opportunities to reach this crucial market.”

The concerts aim to rival MySpace’s music tour, an ongoing series of concert events produced by and branded for the social network. They are held across the UK and US and sponsored by hairstyling brand, VO5.

Gigs will be held monthly in different locations, mainly in London and New York.