As far as I know, ListenBrainz accesses the last.fm database (at least, I can log in to ListenBrainz using my last.fm account).
Is there a reason why one should use ListenBrainz instead of last.fm?
Are you certain? AFAIK, you can link last.fm with ListenBrainz, so you can receive scrobbles from player that donāt support ListenBrainz.
However, ListenBrainz has the entire MusicBrainz database behind it, is independent of last.fm
Does anyone want to explain how this works. Iāve never heard of ListenBrainz before today but it sounds really interesting. So far Iāve added my ListenBrainz API into Roon and I can see that my account is connected, but do I need to do a lot more to get it to record my āplaysā within Roon itself?
Iām a bit confused about it. Thanks in advance.
I believe the main point is that ListenBrainz is opensource and public, whereas last.fm is proprietary, etc, etc.
All you should need to do is to add your ListenBrainz āUser tokenā to Roonās Services page, decide whether or not you want to include live radio, and thatās it. You should then see your Roon listening start to appear on your ListenBrainz user/profile/dashboard page.
Thatās all I had to do.
Edit: note that if Roon is saying: Metadata Service Error ETIMEDOUT, as it is for me, for BBC Radio 3 right now, then that wonāt appear in ListenBrainz, even if you include live radio.
Youāre right, yeah Iām seeing some stuff in there. Cool!
ListenBrainz is a service just like last.fm, so if youāve ever used last.fm it works pretty much the same. As you listen to music normally in Roon it will submit those listens to the ListenBrainz server and record them under your account so you can get statistics about your listening history and recommendations.
Nope I am also unfamiliar with that, but Iāll check that one out too to see which one I prefer. Thanks.
You can also copy over your Last.fm scrobble history to ListenBrainz using Connect services in ListenBrainz settings. I did this before initiating scrobbling to ListenBrainz from Roon. It took just over an hour for 65,000+ tracks to be imported - though this can take longer - up to 24 hours.
I then disabled the last.fm/ListenBrainz connected service in the settings and now have Roon scrobbling to both services.
I have ended up with 3 ālostā tracks in ListenBrainz when compared to Last.fm - not bad when you consider over 65k were imported.
Whats the reason you moved over? Just to change of UI?
I now have Roon scrobbling to both Last.fm and ListenBrainz. Itās an easy strategy of having a backup/duplicate of all my Last.fm scrobbles recorded since January 2011.
Iāve used MusicBrainz over the last few years, occasionally adding albums to itās database, so knew about ListenBrainz but didnāt want the friction of checking/maintaining extensions etc.
When scrobbling music in Roon itās just a case of set and forget. Iāve had Roon configured for Last.fm since 2018 and had no problems.
Hi there, Iām new to scrobbling and trying to understand its purpose. I have 1 day of scribbles now. Doesnāt Roon already show your listening history and provide recommendations based on that though? I do think itās cool that I can also record my lp vinyl listening music now and not just digital music. Found an app called AirScrobble. Works in the background. 
Last.fm captures music scrobbles from many different sources - examples such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Foobar, Tidal, Qobuz (standalone app as well as Roon) etc. Also, the addition of being able to scrobble tracks from Live Radio adds to the overall Roon experience.
Roon does show your listening history as long as you maintain the local database. If for any reason you reinstall Roon you lose that history unless you restore from a backup.
I use Last.fm to help re-discover albums listened to in the past as well as interesting statistics created on the site.
Iām so glad I came on this thread and read thru. I had no idea this stuff existed. Iāve seen last.fm but never looked at it, until the last update when it talked about ListenBrainz scrobbling is now supported. So I came here thinking, I wonder if this is something I would benefit.
I decided to do both ListenBrainz and Last.fm like others did for data redundancy. I welcome the additional recommendations to what Roon provides. Well done Roon! I love this hobby.