Napster’s joint venture with Tower Records Japan – Napster Japan – is to shut down on 31 May, with the company saying the reason is its inability to switch to a DRM-free model there. Billboard suggests that Japanese labels are highly resistant to such a switch, but points out too that Napster Japan isn’t thought to have signed up significant numbers of subscribers. “One of Napster’s biggest problems was that major labels and certain major Japanese artists refused to license to them, resulting in the situation where their offer was not so satisfying to music fans,” says a source.
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