CBS is buying Last.fm

I'm not one of those people that gets super bummed just because one of my favorite sites is purchased by a giant, wealth-maximizing behemoth. Social networking sites, especially media-intensive sites, cost a lot of money to run. They need bandwidth, top employees, new features, and finally, tons of cash, if they're going to pay the crippling royalties now required to run a commercial Web radio station. CBS has the deep pockets to keep Last.fm flourishing.

But I do hope CBS, the new owner of Last.fm, doesn't get too much in the way over there. Last.fm has become one of my favorite places on the Interweb, and I'd hate to leave if new ownership brings the suck. They've not announced any major changes so far:

Music sales aren't a big part of the financial picture so far, and they might not be even when CBS takes control. The minimal advertising on the site, however, will be beefed up. CBS envisions channels for music backed by corporate sponsors that will pay for the privilege every month.

CBS also plans to put versions of its existing radio programming on the website.

"We see it as a chance to get new eyeballs — or in this case earlobes," said a CBS executive familiar with the deal who spoke on condition of anonymity because it had not yet been announced.

I'm not too worried. Part of the reason CBS bought Last.fm is that it's got the most users by far of social music sites. They don't want to kill what made their property so valuable in the first place. It's not like there aren't plenty of competitors. iLike, Mog, and imeem are all very popular as well. Any buzz killing changes CBS introduces would lose all those new earlobes pretty quickly.
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UPDATE: Richard Jones just updated the Last.fm blog with an explanation of the acquisition and some thoughts on what will happen next:

• The Last.fm team stays put in London, we’ll grow the company some more here.
• We will continue to execute our world domination plans – our focus is still music and the surrounding ecosystem. The founders (myself included) are still at the helm.
• We have more resources at our disposal now, and more clout when it comes to negotiating licensing deals etc.
• OH NOES UR SELLIN MY SCROBBLES!!1!! — Don’t panic. The openness of our platform and our approach to privacy won’t change.