Roxio owned Napster have beaten both of its arch-rivals, iTunes and Sony Connect, by being first to launch their digital download service in Europe. Napster yesterday went live here in the UK following a relatively low-key run up to launch, and will now be hoping to sign up as many members as possible before their competitors arrive.
The UK service is based very much on the platform which has been running in the US since last Autumn, but with UK specific content and catalogue. The service has two levels. The subscription model which gives consumers unlimited access to listen to any tracks on their PC with a per track charge for consumers who want to burn music to CD or transfer it to a portable music player. Then there is Napster Light, more akin to the iTunes model where consumers do not pay any subscription fee, but can only access 30 second previews of tracks, they must pay 99p to store the tracks on their PC or MP3 player.
The community access of the subscription model is important to Napster, who see themselves as much more than just an online retail outfit. The business model seems to rely on real music fans becoming hooked to the various content and community aspects of the platform, and therefore not shifting their loyalty to the cheaper pay-as-you-go services likely to be launched by all and sundry in the next year. In that regard the Napster top guard were dismissive of the decision by competitor OD2 (who run the Coke download service among others) to slash their prices this week.
On the community building aspect of their service, Roxio are keen to stress Napster's grass roots heritage. Of course Roxio's only real connection to the original and, dare we say it, legendary P2P network is that they bought the name, logo and URL in a back room liquidation sale after the major labels (BMG excluded) forced Napster into bankruptcy. But, to be fair, from what we see so far the new Napster have tried to create a service that offers much more than just basic downloading, and they have put a lot of energy into replicating certain features of the original P2P network - in particular the huge number of tracks available (currently 500K, with 200K more being added over the next month) and that aforementioned notion of community (members can recommend, champion and suggest tracks). The key difference, of course, is this time all five major record companies and the independent sector are all on board.
Announcing the UK launch in London yesterday, Napster president Brad Duea told reporters: "We have the largest database of music in the UK, while the community elements feel like the old Napster. But it is all done securely and reliably."
For the full low-down on Napster look out for an interview with Napster's UK General Manager Leanne Sharman in the CMU Weekly next week.