UX Design: Last.fm
The Brief
Add a feature to the Last.fm mobile app that will increase usage times and encourage user interaction
My Role
UX Designer
Tools
Figma, Photoshop
Background
Last.fm is a popular music website that allows users to automatically track their listening habits, learn about new music, and discover new events coming to their town. Right now, Last.fm's app reflects your own data and doesn't allow for users to interact in a social way.
For this project, I needed to add a feature to their app that would increase usage among current users and I wanted them to be able to interact with each other.
Discovery
Research
Where other music streaming apps might have a feed dedicated to discovery and even social feeds, Last.fm's app only provides users with visualizations of their own data. Last.fm was created as a social network and still has some of that framework on their desktop site, but it's not on the mobile app.
Above: screens from the current iteration of Last.fm's mobile app.
Last.fm does not have "traditional" competitors, so for a competitive analysis, I looked at other entities in the landscape that have a social element.
Fully integrated with Last.fm
Yearly rundown of listening habits
You can be friends with other users and message them
Users can make collaborative playlists
Social-based listening app, closest to Last.fm in terms of what the product offers
Users can add friends and make graphics to show off their taste on social media
All communication is targeted at colleges and campus life
Social game connected to Spotify, users make a collaborative playlist and vote on their favorite song
Has ability to play with friends and share in the music experience
Discussion has to take place off app
User Interviews
20 current Last.fm users were surveyed about their habits and their feelings toward the product
5 of those were selected at random for detailed one-on-one interviews
100%
Describe listening to music as a "social activity"
0%
83%
Hold a favorable opinion of Last.fm
17%
"I pay $50/yr for Last.fm because it's tracked all of my listening for two decades, but I check it once a week at most."
"When I talk to my friends about Spotify, it feels like we're all getting the exact same recommendations."
"I'm more interested in the music my friends are listening to than hearing music I might like."
Takeaways
Companies see music as a social product but they're more than willing to let someone else host that discussion
Users are currently passive when it comes to Last.fm: They set up the scrobbler (the tool that tracks your data) and check their stats when they feel like it
Those surveyed were mostly unaware of the social aspects, and even users who were aware mentioned it was ≥10 years since they last used them
Interview subjects mentioned that their discovery algorithms don't feel accurate, some expressed skepticism regarding how "personal" they are.
Definition
Defining A Problem
Listening to music and sharing that experience is a community activity, but music apps feel isolated
Users love recommendations for new music or events, but they do not like it when those recs are inaccurate or feel impersonal
"How might we use Last.fm as a way to augment a music fan's experience on the internet?"
"How might we provide a tailored experience for users that accurately reflects their habits and their community?"
Concept
At the beginning, I believed that the website's activity was mostly passive and that users weren't engaged, but that's not accurate. Users are engaged, they're just not engaged on the website itself. They still engage with the data on other websites in ways Last.fm can't reflect.
There's still social networking infrastructure on the site and users like their data. Maybe users would enjoy a feed that allows them to see what friends are listening to and what their friends like that they might also like.
Feature List
Essential
Friend listening activity in feed
Specific listening and general listening breakdowns (Think albums and artists vs. genres)
Listening-based recommendations
Should Have
Proximity-based recommendations for live events based on listening habits
Commenting on user activity
Sending music to friends
Nice To Have
Collaborative playlists
Groups
Reintroducing: Obsessions
When considering features, I wanted to bring back Obsessions. These are sort of like Facebook's statuses or tweets, but they're just a song that you're obsessed with, with no commentary. It's an old-school feature, but adding it to the feed allows for some user interactivity that isn't there now.
User Flows
Design
Designing this feed was an exercise in sticking to their branding and not reinventing the wheel when it comes to data presentation. I wanted to show users a reality that's already possible with the data they submit to Last.fm every time they listen to music. Using current data, I was able to construct a feed with interesting insights and new places to explore in the database.
High Fidelity Wireframes
Testing
Testers are all current Last.fm users
10 testers in total: Five for mid fidelity prototype, five for high fidelity prototype
Learn more about how users explore this app
Determine what should be on the Friends feed
Evaluate user attitudes around a reintroduction of social features on Last.fm
Learn more about how users explore this app
Users will take a guided tour of the Last.fm Friends Feed
Users will explore the feed for themselves
Users will take a survey of their thoughts and feelings at the end of their testing
Takeaways
Users spent more time on the app, exploring the test feed without prompting or direction
100% of testers believed they'd use the social capabilities of the app to talk to friends either on or off the app
Obsessions made the app feel unique
Select quotes:
"With the data that Last.fm has, I don't know why they don't have something like this. It seems like a no-brainer."
"…This is the kind of thing I'd much rather see than the recommendations I get on Spotify."
Testing didn't lead to many suggestions for improvement and I think that's a product of being presented with a brand new feature that users hadn't considered. That being said, of the few suggestions I got, here are the ones I'd most likely implement:
Calendar integration with events suggested from the app
Add Obsessions to a playlist queue
A major consideration I hadn't made was how users' profiles would look. Currently, you cannot see another user's profile from your app, and your own profile page just takes you to your settings. On the left, I've mocked up a potential profile page that gives some recent activity, overall stats, and a user's current Obsession.
One thing that really excited me about this project was the ability to use framework that already existed and re-integrating it for a new audience. I saw how excited users were about this and I loved being able to tell them that this was already possible. I think it's great to know a product so well that you can find new ways to show off the data you already have.
I know that a lot of UX design focuses on identifying and solving problems, and while I do see this as a solution, I think it makes more sense as a way to augment users' current experiences rather than solve their problems. Augmenting the experience is what Last.fm was built on, and I think that evolving the product would make users eager to use it rather than stay passive like they are now.
Jay Papandreas
Denver, CO
2025
Jay Papandreas, 2025, all rights reserved