There are more changes afoot at streaming service Rhapsody: it is
rebranding as Napster in the US.
“No changes to your playlists, favourites, albums, and artists. Same music. Same service. Same price.100% the music you love. Stay tuned!” explained a short announcement (that was its entire text) on the company’s blog yesterday, complete with iconic headphoned-cat logo and the slogan ‘Napster is Coming’.
For those of us outside the US, of course, Napster has been here
constantly since its rebirth as a legal service back in 2003 after the
original filesharing service’s assets were bought by Roxio.
The rebranding comes shortly after Rhapsody appointed its new CEO, former
UMG exec Mike Davis. Earlier this month, the company laid off some of
its staff in what Davis described as a move to create “a new,
streamlined structure for the company”.
In March, Rhapsody’s co-owner RealNetworks revealed that the service’s revenues rose 16.4% to $202m in 2015, but that its losses increased by 66.3% to $35.5m that year.
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