What a difference three years makes. Then, Napster was the dying king of the peer-to-peer music swap world it pioneered, sent to its grave by the music industry when a federal court held it broke copyright laws. Now, Napster is a year into its revival as a pay-per-download site and, as if to prove it's not going anywhere soon, they've opened their first "legitimate" site outside the United States, in Great Britain.
The new Napster –resurrected last year by Roxio, which bought the original Napster's assets in 2002 – has a deal with British-based EMI, plus BMG, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music International, and Warner Music International, to offer 500,000 tracks for sale in Britain now and rising to about 700,000 tracks within a month, according to several published reports.
"Napster, perhaps more than anything else, shows what the Internet can do," said Roxio chairman Chris Gorog announcing the British deals. "Napster invented online music – it set the bar. From our research we know that the original Napster user wanted instant access to a range of music and we have remained true to that."
Also this week, Napster announced an exclusive multi-year partnership with Dixons Group plc, a top European consumer electronics retailer, for a major Napster 2.0 promotion in all Dixons, PC World, Currys, and The Link stores in Britain beginning May 21.
"[We are] very pleased to bring the biggest name in online music to the biggest market in Europe," Gorog said. "The U.K. has made enormous contributions to popular music and, indeed, Napster's incredible catalogue, so it's great to share the excitement of the new legal version of the legendary Napster with all the music fans in the U.K."
British Napster users can download the free Napster jukebox for just £9.95 a month and download any track they want on up to three personal computers' hard drives to listen offline. Napster said 10 interactive, ad-free stations will let listeners see what comes next, skip what they may not like, or jump back to something they'd like to hear again, and add favorites to their Napster library with a single click.
British customers can also hear and save complete songs from the past 10 years’ worth of Official Charts Company British music charts and burn tracks for as low as £0.88 per track when they buy multiple tracks. Napster also said it can build their British audience custom radio stations "on the fly simply by selecting three songs they like."
"The UK will quickly discover why PC Magazine calls Napster 2.0 'the best online music service'," said president Brad Duea. "U.K. music fans can now download Napster 2.0 and enjoy the most exciting, comprehensive and immersive music experience available."
