Rhapsody nabs Napster

Music subscription service Rhapsody introduced Monday it was obtaining a familiar brand -- Napster, the peer-to-peer service that released music's online crisis within the late 1990's -- from Best To Buy. The deal weren't revealed. Large-box store Best To Buy acquired Napster 3 years ago for any reported $121 million. Under the agreement, Rhapsody will get Napster customers along with other assets, while Best To Buy will get a minority stake in Rhapsody. Released in 2001 by Viacom's RealNetworks unit, streaming service Rhapsody has become an indie operation that claims 800,000 having to pay customers within the U.S. Rhapsody is facing fresh competition from three-year-old Swedish streaming operation Spotify, which joined the U.S. market in This summer having a "freemium" service offering customers both free and compensated streams. Spotify claims a lot more than two million customers worldwide. Spotify's backers include Sean Parker, a vital player in the introduction of Napster. Rhapsody prexy Jon Irwin stated inside a statement, "There's substantial value in getting Napster's customers and robust IP portfolio to Rhapsody once we execute on our technique to expand our business via direct purchase of people and distribution deals." Founded in 1999, Napster was the most popular P2P network that first caused common online music piracy. It had been ultimately hounded bankrupt and into personal bankruptcy by an RIAA suit, but other sailing sites sprang up in the wake. Following a unsuccessful bid by Bertelsmann to get the website, Napster's assets were acquired by Roxio and, later, by Best To Buy. The mall store offered a hyperlink to Napster's 12 million-song catalog on its site. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com