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Digital
Digital expansions: Rhapsody, Spotify, Rdio
By Andy Malt | Published on Monday 14 January 2013
US-based streaming music service Rhapsody will launch in sixteen European territories this spring, according to Gigaom, who seemingly got this nugget of info from the digital music company’s top man Jon Irvin at last week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
Rhapsody already operates in the UK and Germany under the Napster brand, which it acquired in 2011. It’s not clear whether those services will be rebranded as Rhapsody as part of the company’s wider European expansion plans, but that would be logical. The Napster name was phased out in the US after Rhapsody’s acquisition.
Elsewhere, both Spotify and Rdio are planning Japanese launches in the next few months, according to music business website McClure Music. There has been talk of Spotify Japan since last October, but this report seems to suggest Rdio is busy putting in place the deals required for a Japanese launch too.
While the digital market is somewhat behind the West in Japan, local team Sony did launch its Music Unlimited subscription service in the country last July.
