Following its acquisition of the Napster company in the US last year, Rhapsody has formally taken over the international branch of the old Napster business, giving it a foothold in the European market for the first time.
The move will mean Napster users in the UK and Germany will be migrated over to the Rhapsody platform in March, though for the time being the service will still use the Napster name over here, meaning the brand – once attached to the legendary P2P service, but since 2003 to a somewhat lacklustre if legit subscription music service – will live on. In the US the Napster platform was totally rolled into Rhapsody, so that the Napster name is no longer used there.
In the short term the move should not affect the operations of Napster in the UK and Germany, with staffers there becoming Rhapsody employees.
Rhapsody boss John Irwin told reporters: “The acquisition of Napster and its subscriber base in the UK and Germany gives us an ideal entry to the European market. Through the benefit of scale, the strength of our editorial programming and strategic partnerships, we can now bring the Napster service to even more consumers on a variety of platforms”.
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