Rhapsody International Celebrates Continued Growth In First Quarter Of 2014

Now available in 32 countries, Rhapsody and Napster are among fastest growing global streaming music services

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Apr 08, 2014, 09:01 ET

SEATTLE, April 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Rhapsody International, parent company of leading streaming music services, Napster and Rhapsody, today announced the services have grown the total paid global subscriber base by 63 percent year over year. In the first quarter of the year, Napster and Rhapsody are adding an average of 8,000 paid subscribers per day. Today, there are more than 1.7 million global subscribers to Napster and Rhapsody.

Napster and Rhapsody now operate in a combined 32 countries across the United States, Europe and Latin America most recently launching seven new markets across Latin America, including Uruguay, Ecuador, Panama, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Costa Rica.

"Our goal is to inspire a daily music habit by putting the right music within arms' reach for our subscribers. In less than one year, we've more than doubled our catalog size, expanded from three to 32 countries and launched several wireless carrier partnerships across Europe and Latin America," said Paul Springer, Rhapsody International's SVP Americas and Chief Product Officer. "In the coming months, we will continue to expand into new markets, further investing in localized content and differentiated product offerings."

Rhapsody and Napster subscribers are heavy mobile music listeners. Today, 80 percent of all subscribers listen to music on their mobile device and more than 60 percent users exclusively listen on their phones. This increasing shift toward mobile is a place that Rhapsody and Napster are innovating with new features and services that make it easier to collect and build community around music experiences within Napster and Rhapsody.

"We are focused on making Napster and Rhapsody the best service for music fans without interruption by advertising or commercials," said Springer.

Germany, France and Brazil are the fastest growing markets, but the US remains the largest. In the UK, 79 percent of subscribers are monthly active users. Globally, subscribers listen on average 10 hours of music per week, but in the US alone, Rhapsody subscribers are listening nearly 35 hours per month.

In less than a year, the global catalog size has surpassed 32 million tracks with nearly 30,000 songs being added daily. Some of the most popular songs and artists according to Rhapsody and Napster subscribers include:

Most popular songs:
Global: "Happy" by Pharrell Williams
US: "Dark Horse (featuring Juicy J)" by Katy Perry
UK: "Rather Be feat. Jess Glynne" by Clean Bandit
Germany: "Happy" by Pharrell Williams
Brazil: "Royals" by Lorde

Most popular artists:
Global: Eminem
US: Eminem
UK: Ellie Goulding
Germany: Marteria
Brazil: Jorge & Mateus

As Rhapsody International's global footprint increases, strategic partnerships remain a primary opportunity to introduce Napster to a wider audience. In February, Synchronoss and Napster announced a partnership to bundle Napster into its personal cloud solution, enabling carriers to offer a mobile-first global music sharing platform. Napster also recently expanded a partnership with Online Entertainment featuring BMW ConnectedDrive, which now brings direct access to Napster in select BMW models.

To learn more, customers can visit www.napster.com or in the United States www.rhapsody.com.

About Napster
Napster is one of the world's leading premium subscription digital music services. Owned and operated by U.S.-based Rhapsody International Inc., Napster combines the iconic history of one of the most recognizable digital music brands in the world with the vast experience and technological platform of the first subscription music service, Rhapsody. Napster offers one of the world's most comprehensive online music collections and provides access to your music anywhere, via hundreds of devices. Rhapsody, Napster, and their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Rhapsody International Inc. For more information, visit www.napster.com.

About Rhapsody
Rhapsody's leading streaming music services gives members ad-free access to more than 32 million songs. Whether they're listening on their phone, at home, at work, or in the car, Rhapsody goes where they go. Our expert team of editors creates a curated music experience that's easy for members worldwide to gather and enjoy new original content including videos, playlists, reviews, and radio stations -- anytime and anywhere. Follow @Rhapsody on Twitter and keep up with the latest on the Rhapsody Facebook page.

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SOURCE Rhapsody International