Is Napster making a comeback?
Once an infamous and illegal file-sharing service, the company has long been a legitimate online music store, albeit not a very popular one. Having undergone a number of ownership changes over the years, Napster merged with Rhapsody back in 2011 and, according to new data released by the company, is enjoying a bit of a resurgence.
The past 12 months have been the fastest growth period in Rhapsody’s 13-year history, with both services reaching a combined 3m subscribers, marking a 50pc jump.
“This is not without some extreme change in our industry,” said Rhapsody in a news post. “The entrance of new competitors makes us even more confident that we were onto something when we built the first streaming music service back in 2001.”
Interestingly, the company has reported high levels of growth in nations it said have traditionally been ‘hotspots’ for music piracy. 100,000 new customers have been added in Italy, while Colombia and Brazil are Rhapsody’s fastest-growing markets.
Spotify remains the industry’s leaders with 20m paid subscribers and 75m active users.
