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NAPSTER RESPONDS TO BRISK CHRISTMAS SALES WITH NEW PRICING STRATEGY
Every track in Napster’s 1 million-strong catalogue reduced in price to 79 pence Follows unprecedented high Napster sales over the Christmas period and comes as the company prepares to launch portable subscription service Napster To Go LONDON - (January 12, 2005) - Napster UK, Ltd. a subsidiary of Napster, Inc. (Nasdaq: NAPS), is to reduce the price of its entire music catalogue of over 1 million tracks by 20%. In response to record sales at Napster.co.uk over the Christmas holiday Napster is immediately implementing a more aggressive pricing strategy and reducing its price structure. From January 12, all albums will cost £7.95 to purchase, while individual tracks will cost 79 pence when bought by Napster subscribers or purchased with Napster Pre-Paid Cards and Online Music Vouchers across the Dixons Group chain, TM Retail and Post Office stores. The 79 pence price point will be extended to non-subscribers in the coming days. Further immediate price reductions can be enjoyed on bulk purchases with Napster Track Packs - now priced at £33.99 for 50 (68 pence per track), £17.99 for 25 (72 pence per track), and £10.99 for 15 (73 pence per track). The price cuts come as Napster prepares this quarter to launch its portable subscription service Napster To Go - offering subscribers the chance to listen to their choice of over 1 million tracks on any compatible MP3 player, all for a low monthly fee - with no cost per song. "With Napster clearly on its way to success we wanted to further fuel our growth with more attractive pricing and create an even broader appeal to music fans," said Leanne Sharman, Napster vice-president and UK general manager. "By dropping our store prices in preparation for the launch of Napster To Go we are able to offer UK music fans an unbeatable proposition - their choice of how they want to consume music online - via downloads, subscription, or portable subscription - all at low cost and integrated into the most feature-rich and community focused digital music environment in the world. Now is also the perfect time for everyone who received a new PC or MP3 player at Christmas to feed their gigabytes of storage with music from Napster’s massive library." Napster 2.0 Launched in the UK on May 20, Napster offers access to over one million tracks and a wide range of value-added community features at a cost to subscribers of £9.95 a month. Alongside the subscription service, Napster Light offers music fans an a la carte download store. After downloading the free Napster jukebox at www.napster.co.uk, Napster subscribers can listen to the world’s largest digital music catalogue on demand, and download any track they choose onto the hard drives of up to three PCs and listen offline - to save bandwidth while they surf, or for convenience when on the go. Over 20 interactive advert-free Napster radio stations allow listeners to see which song is coming next, skip forward or jump back - with favourites easily added to their Napster library with one click. Napster can even build subscribers their own custom radio station on the fly simply on the basis of selecting three songs. Napster’s rich community features allow subscribers to browse each others’ play lists and even share songs among other Napster users. Subscribers can also listen to and save full-length songs taken from the past 40 years of Official Charts Company UK charts, and can purchase and burn tracks for as little as £0.68 per song when they buy multiple tracks. If UK music fans elect not to become a subscriber, by downloading Napster for free at www.napster.co.uk, they can still purchase tracks any time they want for £0.99 and albums for £7.95 after listening to free 30-second samples of the Napster UK library. At no cost, Napster Light™ users can organise their entire music collection in Napster by using the ripping software in the Napster jukebox to take tracks from CDs they already own to play on Napster, import MP3s into their Napster Library, or transfer tracks they’ve bought to a wide range of portable devices. Napster Light also offers consumers free access to their own Napster Inbox; and the chance to sample the OCC UK charts. About Napster Napster, the world’s biggest brand in digital music, is a subscription service that enables fans to access the world’s largest and most diverse online collection of music and experience the largest number of features. Napster subscribers have more ways to discover, share and acquire new music and old favorites with community features like the ability to email tracks to friends and browse other members’ collections. Subscribers to Napster can listen to full-length songs from every major record label and hundreds of independents on demand and transfer songs to their favourite Napster To Go™ compatible MP3 player for a low monthly fee. Napster also offers Napster Light, a "lighter" version of the service for those who just want to purchase songs and albums a la carte. Napster is headquartered in Los Angeles. Copyright © 2005 Napster, LLC All rights reserved. Napster, the Napster logo, Napster To Go, and Napster Light are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Napster, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks used are owned by their respective owners. Napster contact: Adam Howorth Communications Director Tel: +44 (0) 207 1017281 adam.howorth@napster.co.uk
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