IMPORTING YOUR STREAMING HISTORY TO LAST.

FM FOR DUMMIES
LAST UPDATED: Jun 14, 2022
(written in blue)

Basically, there’s an ancient version of this document (has blue pages) circulating Discord, predominantly in
The Spotify Hangout server. It’s especially upsetting that, in addition to having my work stolen by the server
owner, the content itself was rushed and thus not as adequately explained as it is here. Having since been
banned from the server for petty reasons, there is no way for me to reach out to anyone and rectify this. My
only hope is that this version finds itself in the hands of those who could use it. I’ve linked my Last.fm/Discord
at the bottom of the document for anyone who’s stumped and needs some assistance!

On the left-hand side of this page, you’ll find the Show document outline icon . Use it to navigate the
text. Ignore headings you don’t need. He will be your best friend throughout this guide.

A WORD OF CAUTION
I know what you’re thinking, and you must be sweating. At first glance, it’s nothing but alphabet soup and
you’ve already managed to convince yourself you’d have better luck copping a pair of Dunks on the SNKRS
app than attempting something like this, let alone succeeding at it. But I can promise you that as convoluted
as this whole thing seems, I’ve tried my best to break this process down in the most easily comprehensible
way I know how, leaving as minimal room for confusion as possible. (And that means shit loads of words and
overexplaining). So flick the sweat off your brow and follow along as I guide you step-by-step on how to
import your streaming history to Last.fm.

Disclaimer: Importing your scrobbles will (almost) completely annihilate your Last.fm listening reports,
though this isn’t as scary as it sounds. All this means is your daily scrobble average will increase with the
more you import. Some people like to receive accurate data on their listening habits (e.g., the exact date each
song was streamed). If you are one of these people, do not continue.

Here’s an example of what I mean. My daily average sat at a cool 10 before importation.
 REQUESTING YOUR DATA
SPOTIFY [UPDATED]

1. Compose an email to [email protected] entitled Requesting a Copy of My Extended Streaming

History. Be sure this is the same email address connected to your account.

2. Paste the following template in the body of the email and replace everything in brackets with the
correct information.

Hello! I would like to download a copy of my extended streaming

history. For verification purposes, I’m using a [make, model, and OS
version of any device you use with Spotify] and a song I’ve recently
saved to my library is [song name and who it’s by]. Thanks!

3. Respond to any and all emails you receive in response. You’ll be asked to confirm your request before
they can start preparing your data. This process shouldn’t take any longer than 30 days!
 This is the one you should not have received if you followed the directions.

Level 1

This is the correct email you should find within your inbox once your data is finalized.

Level 2
 APPLE MUSIC

1. With your Apple ID, sign into privacy.apple.com. Under Get a copy of your data, request a copy using
the link provided.

2. On the next page, tick the first box only (Apple Media Services information), then hit Continue at the
bottom of the page.

3. Select the maximum file size that is the most convenient for you, otherwise leave it alone at 1GB, then
Complete request. It shouldn’t take longer than a week for Apple to compile all your data.
Occasionally, you should check privacy.apple.com for updates on its status.

Notice: Unlike Spotify, Apple Music doesn’t provide album data, which isn’t necessary for importing,
but it’s still a dealbreaker for some folks. Thankfully, for Last.fm Pro users, there is the option to bulk-
edit your albumless scrobbles through the website.
 PREPPING YOUR DATA

SPOTIFY

1. Once you’ve downloaded your ZIP folder named my_spotify_data, extract it and locate the
endsong_.json files. The number of these files will reflect the amount of music you’ve streamed.

Do not progress beyond this point if your JSON files are named StreamingHistory instead of
endsong, as they will not work with this method. Instead, go back and make another data request.

Notice: The Scrubbler allows you to scrobble a maximum of 3,000 songs in a 24-hour timeframe.

2. Open https://lilnasy.github.io/scribblyscrobbly in your browser.

Special thanks to TedBundyVevo for lending me this uber cool, uber efficient tool that is specially
designed to trim down all the fat in these JSON files, split them every 2.6k plays for easier
digestibility, and sort them chronologically.

3. Click the ☝ emoji to select and upload all your JSON files at once , ignoring endvideo.json.
4. You’ll know they’re done cooking once the 👇 emoji appears. Click it to download a ZIP folder of your
newly divorced data.

5. Extract the ZIP and rename it Imports. This will help you keep better track of them in the future. The
next steps are absolutely vital to follow so that you’ll avoid importing your pre-existing scrobbles,
essentially duplicating your Last.fm account.

6. Sign into Last.fm and locate your scrobbles.

7. Go to the last page and identify your first ever scrobble.

8. Make note of the song and time it occured. For instance, my first scrobble was Frank Ocean’s “DHL”
on October 19th, 2019 at 9:48 PM.
9. Head over to https://jsoneditoronline.org to begin removing the scrobbles you don’t need to import.

10. In the menu bar, Open from disk and select the Imports folder you made in Step 5.

Whichever JSON you upload here will depend heavily on when your first scrobble took place. Each file
is named after the date and time the data inside begins on. Since mine occured on October 19th,
2019, I will upload just the file that contains that scrobble.
11. Looks a mess, doesn’t it? No worries! To turn the data into something actually legible, just click the
formatting button next to tree.
12. Scroll until you’ve found the date of your first scrobble, then peruse the data until you’ve pinpointed
the actual scrobble.

Although I couldn’t find DHL, I was able to find the Swimming Tapes album I streamed directly after
it. There could be numerous reasons as to why it isn’t in there, but thankfully as it’s already scrobbled,
I’m not sacrificing all that much. Simply find the earliest song you’ve scrobbled, then, starting with the
comma before it, select it and everything underneath.

13. Once you’ve dragged your selection to the bottom of the document, make sure to leave the closed
bracket ( ] ) untouched. Then delete your selection, or hit backspace.
 Congrats! You have now rid yourself of the nightmare that is realizing you might’ve just double-
scrobbled your entire Last.fm account by accident.

14. Save to disk and replace the original file in your Imports folder with this one.

15. Sort your data by name if you haven’t already, with your oldest scrobbles on top, then get rid of
everything below the file you just edited, sparing the file itself. You won’t be needing them, as you’ve
already scrobbled these ones.
16. To avoid any mix-ups and save yourself from confusion, name your files according to the day you’ll be
importing them. Come up with a naming system that best accommodates your schedule.

APPLE MUSIC
1. Click your Apple Media Services information ZIP once to highlight it. Compressed Folder Tools
should then appear in the menu bar. Beneath it, Extract All. Inside that folder, look for
Apple_Media_Services, then open Apple Music Activity until finally you’ve found Apple Music Play
Activity.csv.

2. Upload this CSV to https://lilnasy.github.io/scribblyscrobbly (courtesy of TedBundyVevo), then

download the result.

Using this tool helps with a number of things, such as sorting your history chronologically and tossing
away unwanted data like your Build Version or IP Address, as well as any track that wouldn’t
normally scrobble per Last.fm’s standards, like those you skipped or didn’t stream at least halfway
through.

3. Download the result and move these files into a new folder titled Imports for ease of recordkeeping.

4. If you happened to stop using Apple Music before making your Last.fm account (or if you’ve made an
entirely new account just for imports), that means you will be scrobbling everything in these files.
Your preparation ends here. Skip gaily to importing your data.

For those of you who’ve been using Apple Music since you first started scrobbling, you’ll need to look
for your first scrobble inside your data to avoid rescrobbling anything you already have.

5. Sign into Last.fm and locate your scrobbles.

6. Go to the last page and identify your first ever scrobble.

7. Make note of the song and time it occurred. For instance, uzzeli’s first scrobble was Todd Rundren’s
“Hello It’s Me,” taking place on March 9th, 2019.

8. Go to https://jsoneditoronline.org to begin removing the scrobbles you don’t need to import and Open
from disk.

9. Inside the Imports folder you created in Step 3, determine which JSON contains your first scrobble.
(Hint: The name of each file corresponds with the date the data inside begins with.) Upload it.
Since I’m looking for March 19, 2019, the file named 2019-02-06 (February 6, 2019) will contain the first
scrobble because it falls before the file of the next date, 2019-03-30 (March 30, 2019).

10. Format the data out of its globby, illegible state by clicking the button next to “tree”.
11. Now here comes the difficult part. You’ll need to scroll and peruse the data until you’ve located your
first scrobble, or something close to it.

Found it yet? Took you long enough. Now, place your cursor to the left of the comma that sits atop the
curly bracket enclosing your first scrobble, then scroll to the very bottom of the window. While
holding shift, click to the right of the last squiggly bracket }. This will highlight your first scrobble and
everything beneath it. Hit delete.

12. Save to disk, then move the file into your Imports folder, replacing the original.
13. Now that you’re inside the folder, make sure it’s sorted by name. This orders your JSONs
chronologically, from oldest to newest. Then select everything under the file you just edited and
delete them, as you’ve likely scrobbled these tracks already.

14. This last step is totally optional but really helpful for keeping track of the batches you’re due to
import. You can either rename the files like so or with the month and day you intend to import them
(e.g., 8.9, 8.10, 8.11, 8.12)
 IMPORTING ON WINDOWS
SPOTIFY

1. Go to https://github.com/SHOEGAZEssb/Last.fm-Scrubbler-WPF/releases and find the latest version

of Scrubbler.

2. Download the ZIP under Assets, ignoring the source code, then Open when done.
3. To extract the file, find Compressed Folder Tools in the menu bar, then Extract all.

4. Once you’ve extracted the ZIP folder, open the application (the only file with a logo).
5. Run into this window by any chance? Hit More info and you’ll see the Run anyway button tucked neatly
inside.

6. Sign into Last.fm where it says Not logged in.

7. Click the green plus sign and enter your username and password. If, by any chance, you are logged
out in the future, click your username under Available Users: then the blue button to sign back in.
8. Under the File Parse Scrobbler tab, Parser will be set to CSV by default. Change this to JSON, then
in your Imports folder, upload your first file using the ellipsis (...).

9. Load the file by clicking Parse, then click Check All to tick all 2600 scrobbles.

10. On the bottom left next to Scrobble, Preview your scrobbles to review them. This is exactly how they
will be imported, so it’s important to make any last-minute corrections. Once you’ve made sure
everything is in proper order, hit Scrobble.
11. If, for whatever reason, you receive the Error while scrobbling: Cached message, be sure that 1.) you
haven’t exceeded the daily scrobble limit (3000) or 2.) that you’ve using disconnected and
reconnected Scrubbler from your Last.fm Application settings if you’ve changed your Last.fm handle
since using the app.

APPLE MUSIC [UPDATING…]

[nothing to see here yet. check back later!]

IMPORTING ON MAC
SPOTIFY [UPDATED, YET AGAIN]
 Third time's a charm, eh? Here lies the ancient methods of Virtual Box and The Universal Scrobbler, both of
which came and went fairly swiftly. Standing firmly in their place, Parallels is by far the easiest workaround
when it comes to importing on MacOS with virtually no complications or convoluted installation instructions.
Better yet, all your files are mirrored onto the virtual machine, which means no extra maneuvering to get your
JSON files from Point A to B—they’re already there! Extremely convenient, as well as M1 compatible.

1. Head over to https://www.parallels.com. On the homepage, download the Parallels free trial.

2. Upon downloading, you’ll immediately be redirected to the Trial Center in your browser. Follow the
simple steps listed on the page to set up Windows 10.

3. Once you’re all signed up and ready to go, find and open Microsoft Edge, then make your way on over
to the Windows importing instructions. Your JSON files will likely be in the Downloads folder.

Some things to be wary of as you make your way over to the Windows importing instructions:

★ Take note of the day you started your free trial. Every day, before launching the application,
you’ll need to have gone into your System Preferences and set the date back to before you
signed up for the free trial in your Date & Time settings. Once you’ve opened Parallels, revert
the date to the present day (in order for the Scrubbler to work) and carry on with your
business.

If you’re met with a Trial End notice during importing, dial back the time, relaunch, revert time,
and resume as normal. Wash, rinse, repeat.

APPLE MUSIC [UPDATING…]

[nothing to see here yet. check back later!]

 FAQ
Sure, this sounds intriguing and all, but I’m sorta embarrassed of my past listening habits. Any
way I could sift through the data and cherry-pick certain artists to import?

Precisely. Once you’ve prepped your data and parsed any file in the Scrubbler, Check all then sort by Track
or Artist and uncheck everything you wouldn’t be caught dead scrobbling!

So I requested my data from Spotify, but it seems they’ve sent me the wrong file (again). Can’t I
just proceed with my listening history of the past year instead?

It’s incredibly discouraging to go through the process of requesting a second, third, or even a fourth time. I get
it. Unfortunately, though, the methods listed on this document are tailored only for your full listening history,
which is formatted a tad differently from the file that contains only your past-year stats. So to that I say don’t
give up! Just put in another request until they get it right.

My first time importing was a breeze, though how come everything is logged under today’s date
instead of back when I streamed it?

Well, Last.fm doesn’t permit backdating scrobbles any further than 2 weeks, so the Scrubbler logs them
under the current date instead to make things easier. There are reasons for this, but I wouldn’t wanna bore
you with all the tech jargon. Though if you’re really worried about screwing with your pre-existing stats,
designate a new account solely for imports!

I parsed my scrobbles in the Scrubbler, but every time I try to import them, I run into a cached
error. What gives?

This usually means one of three things:

1.) You’ve exceeded the daily import limit of 3000 scrobbles. “But it’s been 24 hours since I last
imported,” you cry. And though it might be true, that isn’t all it takes to stop the cached error in its
tracks.
 The downside to this limit is it includes everything you’ve streamed regularly, so essentially non-
imported scrobbles as well. With each of your imports containing a bulk of 2600 streams, this leaves
only 400 scrobbles at your disposal. If you’re someone who averages that number or higher on a daily
basis, you’ll want to be mindful of this. To verify the amount of “free import space” you have at any
given moment, open the login window and select your username, then click that blue refresh symbol
down at the bottom.

From there you’ll find the number of streams out of 3000 that you have scrobbled in the past 24
hours. Should the number exceed 400, find the difference and import only that amount, or else they
won’t go through.

2.) You’ve changed your Last.fm user since installing the Scrubbler. If such is the case, there’s a pretty
simple fix. Just go into your Last.fm settings, then under Applications, find Last.fm-Scrubbler-WPF
and Disconnect. Log into the Scrubbler with your new credentials, and things should run smoothly
from here.

3.) If neither of the above solutions applied to you, then Last.fm needs a few days to get its shit sorted
out. At this point, there is nothing you nor I can do to make this issue resolve itself quicker, so give her
some space, then come back and try again!

Dude, it’s been tumbleweeds in the Apple Music importing section. What, you’re just gonna
leave us in the mud forever?

Yes! Actually, those instructions are not too different from Spotify’s. Many have figured it out and so can you!
Now that summer has officially begun, I can begin finishing this doc where I left off. For now, let’s just
pretend it’s there for aesthetic purposes.
I don’t have a Windows computer. Could I use my phone instead?

Sorry, the Scrubbler is Windows-compatible only! But if you’ve asked around and haven’t got anyone to
import for you, just hit me up and I’ll be more than willing to take that load off your shoulders.

STUMPED? CONTACT ME!

Help me make this Doc better! For any questions, complaints, and everything in between, reach me through
Last.fm or Discord at D²#3080.

For questions about the Scrubbler, contact the developer over at their Discord server.

Massive shouts out to Arsh for making the splicing tool and to Paige for helping me perfect this doc (and for
drawing the heart up top). Show some love and shoot them a follow.

Happy scrobbling!