Last.fm Event Scraper

Scripts for scraping Last.fm event data as the Last.fm API does not provide event information.

Scripts

get_events_artists.py

Scrapes a Last.fm user's event pages and lists all artists in alphabetical order.

get_events.py

Scrapes a Last.fm user's events and outputs event details (date, name, venue, city) in various formats (list, JSON, CSV).

---

get_events_artists.py

Setup

1. Install required dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

Usage

python get_events_artists.py <username> [start_year] [end_year] [options]

Arguments:

• username: Last.fm username (required)
• start_year: Starting year to search (optional, default: 2005)
• end_year: Ending year to search (optional, default: 2026)

Options:

• --ignore-the: Sort artists ignoring "The" at the start (e.g., "The Beatles" appears under "B")
• --letter-headings: Include alphabetical letter headings in output (# for numbers/symbols, then A-Z, showing all letters even empty ones)
• -v, --verbose: Print verbose debug information (shows HTTP status codes, URLs being processed, retry attempts, and detailed error messages)
• -o, --output <file>: Output results to a text file instead of printing to console

Examples:

# Scrape all events for user (2005-2026)
python get_events_artists.py yz_rules

# Scrape events for specific year range
python get_events_artists.py yz_rules 2020 2025

# Sort ignoring "The" at the start
python get_events_artists.py yz_rules --ignore-the

# Include letter headings (# for numbers/symbols, A, B, C, etc.)
python get_events_artists.py yz_rules --letter-headings

# Output to a text file
python get_events_artists.py yz_rules -o artists.txt

# Enable verbose mode for debugging
python get_events_artists.py yz_rules --verbose

# Combine all options
python get_events_artists.py yz_rules 2020 2025 --ignore-the --letter-headings --verbose -o artists.txt

How it works

1. Scrapes the user's main events page: https://www.last.fm/user/{username}/events
2. Scrapes events from each year: https://www.last.fm/user/{username}/events/{year}
3. Extracts event URLs from these pages
4. Visits each event's lineup page to extract artist names
5. Outputs all unique artists in alphabetical order

Output

The script will display:

• Progress as it fetches events from each year
• Number of events found
• List of unique artists in alphabetical order (or with letter headings if --letter-headings is used)
• Total count of unique artists

With --verbose flag enabled:

• HTTP status codes for each request
• Number of links found on each page
• Individual event URLs being processed
• Number of artists found per event
• Retry attempts and detailed error messages
• Summary statistics (events processed, events with no artists, total unique artists)

Features

• Automatic retry: Requests that fail or return non-200 status codes are retried up to 3 times with 5-second delays
• Rate limiting: Built-in delays between requests to be respectful to Last.fm's servers
• Flexible sorting: Option to ignore "The" prefix when sorting artists
• Letter headings: Organize output by alphabetical sections (including # for numbers/symbols)
• File output: Save results to a text file for later use
• Verbose debugging: Detailed logging to troubleshoot issues

Note: The script includes delays between requests to be respectful to Last.fm's servers.

---

get_events.py

Setup

Same as above - install dependencies with pip install -r requirements.txt

Usage

python get_events.py <username> [start_year] [end_year] [options]

Arguments:

• username: Last.fm username (required)
• start_year: Starting year to search (optional, default: 2005)
• end_year: Ending year to search (optional, default: 2026)

Options:

• -f, --format {list,json,csv}: Output format (default: list)
  • list: Human-readable text format: "Date - Event name @ Venue Name, Venue City"
  • json: JSON array with event objects
  • csv: CSV file with columns: date, event_name, venue_name, venue_city, url
• -v, --verbose: Print verbose debug information
• -o, --output <file>: Output results to a file (required for CSV, optional for list/json)

Examples:

# Get events in list format
python get_events.py yz_rules

# Get events in JSON format
python get_events.py yz_rules --format json

# Export to CSV file
python get_events.py yz_rules --format csv -o events.csv

# Get events for specific years with verbose output
python get_events.py yz_rules 2020 2025 --verbose

# Output as JSON to file
python get_events.py yz_rules --format json -o events.json

Output Format Examples

List format:

15 Feb 2020 - Festival Name @ Venue Name, London
20 Mar 2020 - Band Name @ Club Name, Manchester

JSON format:

[
  {
    "date": "15 Feb 2020",
    "event_name": "Festival Name",
    "venue_name": "Venue Name",
    "venue_city": "London",
    "url": "https://www.last.fm/event/..."
  }
]

CSV format:

date,event_name,venue_name,venue_city,url
15 Feb 2020,Festival Name,Venue Name,London,https://www.last.fm/event/...

Features

• Multiple output formats: List, JSON, and CSV for different use cases
• Automatic retry: Same retry logic as get_events_artists.py
• Comprehensive data: Extracts date, event name, venue name, and city
• Rate limiting: Built-in delays to respect Last.fm's servers

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Common Functions

Both scripts use shared functions from common.py:

• get_all_event_urls(): Fetches event URLs from user pages
• fetch_page(): Fetches and parses web pages with retry logic