core: Last.fm integration errors

The problem

I get a lot of errors regarding the last.fm integration in the log and it’s often slow to update.

Environment

• Home Assistant Core release with the issue: 0.112.2
• Last working Home Assistant Core release (if known): Unknown. It’s been like this as long as I’ve used it. At least 10 months.
• Operating environment (OS/Container/Supervised/Core): Supervised
• Integration causing this issue: Last.fm
• Link to integration documentation on our website: https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/lastfm/

Problem-relevant configuration.yaml

# Last.fm
sensor:
  - platform: lastfm
    api_key: !secret last_fm_api_key
    users:
      - tigattack
      - various
      - other
      - users

Traceback/Error logs

Logger: homeassistant.helpers.entity
Source: components/lastfm/sensor.py:90
First occurred: 7 July 2020, 18:36:51 (163 occurrences)
Last logged: 7 July 2020, 19:04:36

    Update for sensor.lastfm_tigattack fails
    Update for sensor.various fails
    Update for sensor.other fails
    Update for sensor.users fails

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/entity.py", line 272, in async_update_ha_state
    await self.async_device_update()
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/helpers/entity.py", line 466, in async_device_update
    self.update  # type: ignore
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/concurrent/futures/thread.py", line 57, in run
    result = self.fn(*self.args, **self.kwargs)
  File "/usr/src/homeassistant/homeassistant/components/lastfm/sensor.py", line 90, in update
    recent_tracks = self._user.get_recent_tracks(limit=2)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/pylast/__init__.py", line 2365, in get_recent_tracks
    params,
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/pylast/__init__.py", line 2797, in _collect_nodes
    raise e
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/pylast/__init__.py", line 2793, in _collect_nodes
    doc = sender._request(method_name, cacheable, params)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/pylast/__init__.py", line 1118, in _request
    return _Request(self.network, method_name, params).execute(cacheable)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/pylast/__init__.py", line 951, in execute
    response = self._download_response()
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/pylast/__init__.py", line 940, in _download_response
    self._check_response_for_errors(response_text)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.7/site-packages/pylast/__init__.py", line 970, in _check_response_for_errors
    raise WSError(self.network, status, details)
pylast.WSError: Operation failed - Most likely the backend service failed. Please try again.

Additional information

There are a lot of similar but slightly differing errors around the lastfm integration. The above is the most common. Please let me know if you’d like tracebacks from all of the other errors.