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Rhapsody Goes Platinum

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Rhapsody has cemented its position as the largest premium subscription music service in the United States with the announcement today that it has surpassed the one million paying subscriber milestone. On the heels of its ten-year anniversary, Rhapsody is delivering more music-averaging more than 10 million songs a day-to more music lovers than ever before.

“We’ve accomplished quite a bit over the past decade, so it’s no small statement to say that 2011 was probably our biggest year yet,” said Jon Irwin, president, Rhapsody. “I told our team that when we topped one million paid subscribers, I’d shave my head… it was probably the best free haircut I’ve ever had.”

In addition to surpassing the one million mark, it’s been a noteworthy year for Rhapsody, which launched a new, social music experience in September, completed an acquisition of Napster November 30 and celebrated its 10th anniversary in early December.

Rhapsody’s ongoing commitment to accessibility has also helped create separation in the space. Now available on more devices (60+) than any other subscription music service, Rhapsody has shown that access beyond the PC is a premium feature consumers are willing to pay for, as demonstrated both by subscriber growth and usage. 2011 was the first year that a majority of the playback came on a device other than a PC-40 percent of which was mobile–a trend that’s expected to continue.

Partnerships with companies such as MetroPCS, which bundles Rhapsody with its prepaid unlimited text and data plans, continue to introduce Rhapsody to new consumers who value having their music on the go.

What’s next for Rhapsody?

“The next frontiers for subscription music are the living room and the car,” said Irwin. “Consumers will be able to enjoy Rhapsody from even more connected audio and video systems, as well as other platforms and distribution channels-at home, in the car and everywhere in-between, domestically and abroad. This has been an incredible year, marked by several notable achievements, and we’re entering 2012 with big plans to bring music to even more people, in more places.”

2011 Rhapsody Milestones

1/07/2011: Verizon Wireless announces Rhapsody will ship on its LTE devices, with integrated billing

3/1/2011: MTV and Rhapsody launch the “60-Day Free-For-All,” giving new subscribers two months of free music and the largest free music promotion of its kind

3/18/2011: Rhapsody hosts Rhapsody Rocks Austin, with Deerhunter, Kurt Vile, Ty Segall, Small Black and Glasser at SXSW

3/31/2011: Rhapsody hires Rob Harvilla, former Village Voice music editor, as managing editor of The Mix

3/21/2011: Rhapsody launches on Windows Phone 7

7/11/2011: Rhapsody announces 800,000 subscribers

8/17/2011: Rhapsody announces partnership with MetroPCS for Rhapsody Unlimited Music

9/14/2011: Rhapsody announced remixed and remastered social Web experience

9/22/2011: Rhapsody launches in Facebook Music

10/3/2011: Rhapsody announces acquisition of Napster

12/7/2011: Rhapsody celebrates its 10-year anniversary with a concert with Built to Spill in Seattle

12/22/2011: Rhapsody surpasses one million paying subscriber milestone

Rhapsody to Acquire Napster

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Rhapsody, the nation’s largest premium on-demand music service, today announced that it has signed an agreement with Napster, a unit of consumer electronics retailer Best Buy Co., Inc. Under the terms of the agreement, Rhapsody will acquire Napster subscribers and certain other assets, and Best Buy will receive a minority stake in Rhapsody. The transaction is expected to close on or around November 30, 2011.

 ”This deal will further extend Rhapsody’s lead over our competitors in the growing on-demand music market,” said Jon Irwin, president, Rhapsody. “There’s substantial value in bringing Napster’s subscribers and robust IP portfolio to Rhapsody as we execute on our strategy to expand our business via direct acquisition of members and distribution deals.”

The transaction will combine the subscriber bases of the two largest premium on-demand music services in the United States, and will allow Rhapsody to further enhance its product line to deliver even more value to its members.

“Rhapsody has demonstrated that it has what it takes to build a profitable business in the increasingly competitive on-demand music market,” said Chris Homeister, senior vice president and general manager of entertainment for Best Buy. “We are confident they are the right partner to provide Napster’s existing subscriber base with an immersive digital music experience moving forward.”

“This is a ‘go big or go home’ business, so our focus is on sustainably growing the company,” said Irwin. “We’re excited to welcome Napster music fans to the best on-demand music experience anywhere. Our new members will have more places to connect to the music they love and to discover new favorites, guided by Rhapsody’s rockstar editorial team and the tastes of other Rhapsody members via our innovative social features.”

To learn more about Rhapsody, please visit www.rhapsody.com/plans . You can also follow Rhapsody on Twitter and Facebook.

Rhapsody Crosses 800,000 Subscriber Milestone

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Rhapsody, the leading premium, on-demand music service today announced it has crossed the 800,000 subscriber milestone and now offers more than 12 million tracks to its increasingly active membership base.

“Consumers are more enthusiastic than ever about on-demand music,” said Jon Irwin, president, Rhapsody. “The fact that we have added more than 150,000 members since becoming an independent company in April, 2010–a number that we believe exceeds the lifetime total of all new U.S. competitors combined–speaks volumes about the strength of the Rhapsody service and the value it brings to our members.”

Rhapsody cast the mold for the subscription music business, in 2001.   Since becoming an independent company in 2010, Rhapsody embraced an ambitious mobile apps strategy that has generated off-the-charts usage and brought on-demand music to the most powerful and personal media device: the mobile phone. The Rhapsody app continues to win awards and consistently outranks all competitors in the iTunes App Store, Android Market and Amazon App Store. Nearly 40 percent of streams today are over mobile devices, a trend that is climbing steadily.

“It’s clear that a premium, on-demand digital music service brings a ton of value to consumers and we have proven that a successful business can be built on this model over time,” said Irwin. “We believe the freemium model is not sustainable at current content cost structures. Companies with tremendous resources have come and gone, but Rhapsody’s focus on building long-term value is what has set us apart and contributed to our longevity. Consumers love the ability to listen to any song, as often as they like, in any order, anywhere on any device.  The more they embrace a true on-demand experience, the more they will become aware of the shackles of free music services.”