As we recently reported , music streaming service Rhapsody has acquired Napster International, allowing it to expand into the UK and Germany – its first European presence.
At Midem in Cannes today, I caught up with Rhapsody president Jon Irwin to find out how the company plans to differentiate itself from the competition in a highly competitive market. Rhapsody is pitching itself as a ‘premium’ paid service that offers exclusive editorial to help users discover new music. In a competitive market with the likes of Spotify, Rdio, Simfy and more all expanding rapidly though, will that be enough?
Irwin’s opinion on artists who criticize the lack of revenue they get from streaming music services is that services like Rhapsody are cannibalising piracy, not paid downloads and that incremental revenue from streams is a useful augmentation to traditional revenue.
You can listen to the full interview below.
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