The US bit of Napster has launched that previously reported 'music destination' site - an advertising funded website designed to introduce people to the wider Napster offer. The new service kind of pitches Napster against the open-access music platforms run by Yahoo and MSN and, in the US, AOL, in that punters can enjoy content without subscribing or buying a-la-carte tracks. Visitors to the site can listen to tracks on demand, for free, up to five times each via a stream. While the new service may in itself prove to be a revenue stream for Napster, through ad and sponsorship sales, a key aim of the new site is to introduce music fans to the enormous catalogue of music available via Napster, and to then upsell those fans a Napster subscription package, giving people unlimited access to tracks.
Launching the new service, Napster boss Chris Gorog, speaking at the MusEXPO event in Hollywood, said the Napster destination site was "the least restrictive, on-demand, unlimited access music experience in the legal world", adding: "starting today, anyone can simply log on to Napster.com - and with no credit card, no commitment, no payment whatsoever, and no software download - listen directly from the web to over two million major label and indie tracks on-demand."