The music industry made around $7.1bn from streaming subscriptions in 2018, according to industry body the IFPI. That was 32.9% year-on-year growth, with subscriptions generating 37% of global recorded-music revenues. […]
Tag: Napster
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Napster wants to power more music-streaming services in Asia
Napster remains a consumer-brand streaming service, but the company’s energies are focusing ever-more keenly on its B2B business, and ‘powered by Napster’ services launched by brands and other partners. Now […]
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Napster signs Univision deal as financials show 2018 profit
Streaming service Napster has a new B2B partnership to shout about: with Hispanic-focused media company Univision in the US. It’s focused on a newly-revamped version of Univision’s music app Uforia, […]
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Rhapsody to pay up to $10m in songwriter-lawsuit settlement
It wasn’t just Spotify facing the prospect of class-action lawsuits from songwriters over streaming royalties in recent years. Rhapsody (now operating as Napster) was also on the wrong end of […]
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RealNetworks doubles its stake in Napster for up to $40m
RealNetworks has announced that it has doubled its stake in music-streaming service Napster to 84%, after agreeing a deal with co-owner Columbus Nova Technology Partners. RealNetworks is paying $1m in cash up-front, […]
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Napster revenues still falling but service remains profitable
Technology firm RealNetworks has published its latest quarterly financial results, and that means we have some new numbers for Napster, the streaming service in which it retains a stake.
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Napster revenues down, but unlike music-streaming rivals it’s profitable
Music-streaming service Napster is on track to record a net profit in 2018, despite its revenues having dropped by nearly 28% since the company’s peak in 2016.
Napster recorded net profits of $4.4m and $2.1m respectively in the first two quarters of this year, although its $76.5m revenues for the first half of 2018 compare to $106m in the comparable period in 2016.
This is based on Music Ally’s analysis of figures provided by technology firm RealNetworks in its own quarterly and annual financial results.
RealNetworks owns a 42% stake in Rhapsody International Inc, having launched Rhapsody as a joint venture with MTV Networks in 2007, before spinning it off as an independent company in 2010.
Rhapsody bought Napster in 2011 from its previous owner, US retailer Best Buy, operating it outside the US while retaining the Rhapsody brand in the US – until 2016, when the latter was rebranded as Napster.
RealNetworks publishes quarterly financial metrics for the streaming service, as a result of its stake: revenues and profit/loss figures, although not any metrics for Napster’s subscribers.
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Napster revenues are down by nearly 18% year-on-year
Music-streaming service Napster saw a notable year-on-year decline in its revenues last quarter, according to its latest financials. The company’s revenues dropped from $44.1m in the second quarter of 2017 to $36.2m in the second quarter of 2018, according to figures shared by RealNetworks, which retains a 42% stake in Napster’s parent company Rhapsody International.
What’s more, in Q2 2016 Napster’s revenues were $53.5m, so they’ve dropped by just under a third in the last two years. On the plus side, Napster is now a profitable music-streaming service (and how often do we get to write that sentence?). In the second quarter of 2018 it recorded an operating profit of $3.9m and a net profit of $2.1m, compared to losses of $4.8m and $7.7m respectively in Q2 a year ago.
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Napster is profitable… but its revenues are falling
A profitable pureplay music-streaming service? Don’t fall off your chair in wonder at the thought. Napster is the company in question: it reported a net profit of $4.4m for the first quarter of 2018, compared to a net loss of $5.6m in the corresponding quarter of 2017.
That’s the good news, but now for the not-so-good news: Napster’s revenues also fell fairly sharply year-on-year. The streaming service generated $40.3m of revenues in Q1 2018, down 15.1% from the $47.5m it reported for Q1 2017. These figures come from the latest quarterly financial results of RealNetworks – published in early May – which continues to hold a 42% stake in Rhapsody International Inc, which now does business as Napster.
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Napster boss: ‘Even a 20% slice of a $20bn market is a $4bn market…’
Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon and YouTube may hog many of the streaming headlines, but Rhapsody International / Napster is still going as a global streaming service too.
Its president and CEO Bill Patrizio outlined the company’s strategy, in a keynote session at the Midem conference today. He was interviewed by Midia Research MD Mark Mulligan.
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Music-streaming trends, from A&R to global/local evolution
At today’s Midem conference in Cannes, a pair of afternoon sessions at the event’s ‘Streaming Summit’ focused on some of the evolving trends around the music-streaming world.
The first explored the question of whether streaming services are “the new A&Rs”, with a sparky (if, unfortunately, all-male) panel including Epidemic Sound CEO Oscar Hoglund; Playground Music Scandinavia A&R / label manager Patrik Larsson; 7digital deputy CEO Pete Downton and Mom + Pop Music co-president Thaddeus Rudd.
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Napster appoints Bill Patrizio as president and CEO
Streaming service Napster has a new, permanent boss. Bill Patrizio is no stranger to the company though: he was named as interim CEO in May 2017, while retaining his position as president of consumer media at RealNetworks – which continues to hold a stake in Napster.
“He has led a resurgence of the company in its new partner-oriented focus,” said co-chairmen Rob Glaser and Jason Epstein in a statement. “Bill has a track record of resilience and operational success, and a passion for the industry that will lead Napster forward into its next phase of innovation and growth.”