Does anyone remember back in the good old days when Napster was nothing more than a couple of a naughty college boys “fighting the power” of the music industry? Yes, way back in the 90s, Napster was the “bad boy” online application that established businesses both resented and feared. So have they been able to keep up this bad boy, outsider image in the new millennia? Not exactly…
Beginning sometime in November, Napster Inc. will start offering “Napster Mobile” to AT&T wireless network subscribers. Customers will be able to download songs over the air from a huge variety of over 5 million tracks.
Yes, it you read that right. Napster, the former feared and hated adversary of big business everywhere, has just inked a deal with perhaps the oldest of the old guard, AT&T. Strange bedfellows indeed.
But it’s a brave — and some would say sad — new world out there, and Napster Inc. appears to be chasing consumers with all the verve of a Fortune 500 corporation. The Napster deal with AT&T is all the more striking when you consider the company began with two friends in a college dorm room helping friends to share music files online.
But the new Napster — Napster Inc. — has virtually nothing in common with its earliest beginnings. Instead of “fighting the power,” Napster now seems hell-bent on “becoming the power.” And the new agreement with AT&T could be just the kind of savvy corporate deal to make that happen.
Under the terms of the new agreement, AT&T customers will have access to five downloadable music tracks per month for the price of $7.49. Another option allows single song downloads for the set price of $1.99 per song. In addition, AT&T users will be offered five songs free upon signing up with the new Napster Mobile.
AT&T vice president Mark Collins says that the new agreement “reinforces AT&T’s leadership in providing the industry’s largest mobile music platform.” The company already has an agreement in place with Apple to use its iTunes music download service, and a separate agreement with eMusic, which claims to be the world’s largest independent music distributor, with over 2.7 million titles in its inventory.
Adding Napster downloads to these previous agreements helps solidify AT&T’s dominance in the mobile music marketplace. The company has even convinced pop group Matchbox Twenty to debut its new album on the new Napster Mobile service.
This type of aggressive promotion bodes well for the new AT&T-Napster Mobile agreement and is sure to keep shareholders happy. The Rebel Napster of the ’90s may be long gone, but the new Napster’s mission statement appears to be, “if you can’t beat them–join them.”
Related Internet Directory Categories:
