If you use Last.fm and don't live in the US, UK, or Germany, you might need to get your wallet out. The online radio service has announced that users outside of those countries (their 3 most popular) will need to start paying €3.00 (about $4.40 USD) per month to continue streaming music on Last.fm.

Last.fm doesn’t offer much of a reason as to the change, other than writing on their blog that “There will be a 30 track free trial, and we hope this will convince people to subscribe and keep listening to the radio,” and the to-be-expected “In order to keep providing the best radio service on the web, we need to ask our listeners from countries other than USA, UK and Germany to subscribe for €3.00 per month.”

The real reason is likely international licensing fees, which led Pandora to pull the plug on international users back in 2007. It’s unfortunate for users outside of Last.fm’s top countries, but likely a necessary move to continue to provide sustainable service, even though the outfit is now owned by media conglomerate CBS.

Update: As a point of clarification, Last.fm users outside of the US, UK, and Germany will still be able to use Last.fm's other features. Last.fm explains, "Everything else on Last.fm (scrobbling, recommendations, charts, biographies, events, videos etc.) will remain free in all countries, like it is now."

Additional Online Radio Resources