Napster making US comeback

Napster, the one time free music sharing site which was sued out of existence by record companies, is making a comeback in the United States.

In 2011, when streaming service Rhapsody bought Napster, it kept the Rhapsody name for America but other countries used the better-known Napster moniker.

Rhapsody was one of the first subscription music streaming services, starting in 2001 as Listen.com. It says it has 3.5 million global subscribers in 34 countries.

Now, Rhapsody is reviving the Napster name in America, rebranding its music streaming service in the hope it can take on Spotify and Apple Music. It is the plan of new CEO Mike Davis who noticed that its subscription figures rose 36% in 2015.

Davis says, “We’re proud of the product innovations we’ve introduced that connect music fans with each other to discover new music they love.”

He adds, the company intends to create more “experiences and partnerships that increase the amount of music people emotionally connect and listen to around the world.”

A specific date for the name change is still not known. But there’ll be no changes for Rhapsody’s current subscribers.

“No changes to your playlists, favourites, albums, and artists. Same music. Same service. Same price. 100% the music you love,” the company reassured.

Napster was co-founded by college student and computer programmer Shawn Fanning, his investor uncle John Fanning, and businessman Sean Parker (who later became Facebook’s first President) as a peer-to-peer file sharing service which allowed music fans to download for free.

Launched in June 1999 after they borrowed $50,000, it had 80 million registered users at its peak, mostly college students. Napster created a whole new thinking among music consumers where music was expected to be free. It cost record companies millions in lost dollars.

A series of high profile court cases bankrupted the company in July 2001. Its assets were bought by other entities, including German media firm Bertelsmann for $85 million, which it later sold to US electronics retailer Best Buy for US $121 million. Rhapsody acquired it five years ago and turned it into a legal music streaming service outside North America.

The Napster rebranding is going to “streamline” the company, which apparently includes shedding staffers and closing its San Francisco office.

Davis admitted, “As part of our plan to better position Rhapsody/Napster for long-term profitability and accelerated growth in a competitive global market, we have a new, streamlined structure for the company that unfortunately impacts a number of positions across our global offices.”