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