Telefónica and Rhapsody International join forces to become a significant global force in digital music.
- Deal presents opportunity to expand global footprint of Rhapsody’s Napster music service throughout Latin America and Europe.
- Telefónica’s Terra subsidiary will replace its Sonora music service
with Napster, providing customers with access to millions of tracks
worth of new musical content for the same price or less.
- Telefónica Digital to gain an equity stake in Rhapsody International.
Telefónica Digital and Rhapsody International
today announced a wide-ranging strategic agreement to take a leading
place in the fast growing streaming music market. The agreement is one
of the largest of its kind in digital music in terms of global reach and
customer base. It paves the way for Napster,
a Rhapsody owned brand, to enter the Latin America market via the
transfer of the hundreds of thousands of existing customers of the
Sonora music service. Telefónica,
which gains an equity stake in Rhapsody as part of deal, will also now
be able to offer bundled Napster music services to its hundreds of
millions of subscribers across its global footprint.
The market for streaming music services has exploded in recent years.
Rhapsody pioneered this market, introducing the first music subscription
model in 2001, and continues to innovate through its product and
strategic partnerships.
Napster music service enters Latin America
As part of the agreement, customers of Sonora, the subscription music service provided by Telefónica subsidiary, Terra, will have their music service migrated to Napster from November 1st.
Sonora is one of the largest subscription music services in Latin
America with customers in Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru and
Mexico. Starting in Brazil, Terra customers will be offered the
opportunity to switch to the Napster music service for the same price or
less than they currently pay for Sonora and gain access to millions of
new music tracks in the process.
Rhapsody has established an office in Sao Paulo to support this deal and future commercial launches throughout Latin America.
Leading subscription music service to Telefónica customers
With consumers increasingly opting for the convenience and flexibility
of subscription-based music services, this partnership enables
Telefónica operating businesses in Europe and Latin America
to deliver the Napster premium music service, with unlimited access to
over 20 million tracks and custom curated editorial content, to their
customers across a wide range of mobile and connected devices. More
details of individual product launches will be unveiled by operating
businesses closer to commercial launches.
Firefox OS
Following the successful launch of Firefox OS
devices in Europe and Latin America, Rhapsody has already delivered a
dedicated Napster Music Service for the platform, available to download
from the Firefox Marketplace.
As Telefónica launches in more markets, including Brazil and three
other Latin America countries during Q4, it will look to pre-load
Napster on devices sold.
Commenting on the partnership, Stephen Shurrock, CEO of New Business
Ventures at Telefónica Digital said, “Whether through the O2 Arenas or
services such as Sonora, we have long believed that music is an
important way of engaging with customers. As demand for streaming music
services takes off, our Rhapsody partnership will allow us to deliver a
compelling music proposition to our customers, leveraging Napster’s
heritage, brand and strong position in this market.”
“At Rhapsody, we have a rich history of providing music lovers instant,
anywhere, anytime access to an unlimited catalog of music,“ said Paul
Springer, senior vice president and global head of product for Rhapsody.
“We value product innovation and partnerships, and you’ll see both
through this Telefonica relationship. As global smartphone usage
continues to rise, particularly in Latin America, we are thrilled to put
more music in the hands of music fans across the globe.”
About Telefónica Digital
Telefónica Digital is a global business division of Telefónica. Its
mission is to seize the opportunities within the digital world and
deliver new growth for Telefónica through research & development,
venture capital, global partnerships and digital services such as cloud
computing, mobile advertising, M2M and eHealth. It is also driving
innovation in over the top communications under a new umbrella brand
called TU and in Big Data through Telefónica Dynamic Insights.
Telefónica Digital will deliver these new products and services to
Telefónica’s 316 million customers as well as entering new markets. It
is headquartered in London with regional centres in Silicon Valley, Sao
Paulo, Spain and Tel Aviv. Axismed, Eleven Paths, giffgaff, Jajah, Media
Networks Latin America and Terra are all managed under the Telefónica
Digital umbrella.
To sign up for news alerts and read commentary on Telefónica Digital, visit www.Telefónica.com/digitalhub and track them on Twitter @tefdigital.
US:
Elizabeth Gordon
House Communications
Tel: +408.840.9883
UK:
Nick Wilkins
Tel: +44 771 2020937
About Rhapsody International
Rhapsody International is parent company of leading streaming music
services, Rhapsody and Napster. Initially launched in December 2001,
Rhapsody is the original streaming music service that gives members
unlimited on-demand access to more than 20 million songs, whether
they're listening on a PC, laptop, Internet connected home stereo or TV,
MP3 player or mobile phone. In December 2011, Rhapsody International
acquired Napster International. Rhapsody International is headquartered
in Seattle, with offices across the U.S. and Europe. Rhapsody and the
Rhapsody logo are registered trademarks of Rhapsody International Inc.
Follow @Rhapsody on Twitter and keep up with the latest on the Rhapsody Facebook page.
About Napster
Napster is one of the world’s leading premium subscription digital
music services. Owned and operated by U.S.-based Rhapsody International
Inc., Napster combines the iconic history of one of the most
recognizable digital music brands in the world with the vast experience
and technological platform of the first subscription music service,
Rhapsody. Napster offers one of the world’s most comprehensive online
music collections and provides access to your music anywhere, via
hundreds of devices. Rhapsody, Napster, and their respective logos are
trademarks or registered trademarks of Rhapsody International Inc. For
more information, visit www.napster.com.
Contacts:
Jessica Abramson, Rhapsody International, jabramson@rhapsody.com, 206-979-0914
Laura Morarity, For Rhapsody International, lmorarity@webershandwick.com, 206-576-5578
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