Rhapsody soars past a million paying customers, president Jon Irwin shaves his head in celebration
Whatever Spotify can do, Rhapsody can do better? Not quite, but it's getting there. While the former cruised past 2.5 million paying customers last month, Rhapsody has just announced that it has "gone platinum." It's now serving a cool million paying subscribers, right on the heels of its ten-year anniversary. The company's delivering around ten million songs per day, while making itself available on over 60 devices. What's next? Well, president Jon Irwin has to grow his locks back (seriously!), and we're guessing it'll try to lock down a few more carrier partnerships as the months drag on. When pinged for comment, Billy Corgan said: "I'm on vacation."
Show full PR text
Rhapsody Goes Platinum
Over One Million Paying Subscribers are Listening to Unlimited Music with the #1 Premium Music Service in the Country
SEATTLE-December 22, 2011-- Rhapsody has cemented its position as the largest premium subscription music service in the United States with the announcement today that it has surpassed the one million paying subscriber milestone. On the heels of its ten-year anniversary, Rhapsody is delivering more music-averaging more than 10 million songs a day-to more music lovers than ever before.
"We've accomplished quite a bit over the past decade, so it's no small statement to say that 2011 was probably our biggest year yet," said Jon Irwin, president, Rhapsody. "I told our team that when we topped one million paid subscribers, I'd shave my head... it was probably the best free haircut I've ever had."
In addition to surpassing the one million mark, it's been a noteworthy year for Rhapsody, which launched a new, social music experience in September, completed an acquisition of Napster November 30 and celebrated its 10th anniversary in early December.
Rhapsody's ongoing commitment to accessibility has also helped create separation in the space. Now available on more devices (60+) than any other subscription music service, Rhapsody has shown that access beyond the PC is a premium feature consumers are willing to pay for, as demonstrated both by subscriber growth and usage. 2011 was the first year that a majority of the playback came on a device other than a PC-40 percent of which was mobile--a trend that's expected to continue.
Partnerships with companies such as MetroPCS, which bundles Rhapsody with its prepaid unlimited text and data plans, continue to introduce Rhapsody to new consumers who value having their music on the go.
What's next for Rhapsody?
"The next frontiers for subscription music are the living room and the car," said Irwin. "Consumers will be able to enjoy Rhapsody from even more connected audio and video systems, as well as other platforms and distribution channels-at home, in the car and everywhere in-between, domestically and abroad. This has been an incredible year, marked by several notable achievements, and we're entering 2012 with big plans to bring music to even more people, in more places."
2011 Rhapsody Milestones
1/07/2011: Verizon Wireless announces Rhapsody will ship on its LTE devices, with integrated billing
3/1/2011: MTV and Rhapsody launch the "60-Day Free-For-All," giving new subscribers two months of free music and the largest free music promotion of its kind
3/18/2011: Rhapsody hosts Rhapsody Rocks Austin, with Deerhunter, Kurt Vile, Ty Segall, Small Black and Glasser at SXSW
3/31/2011: Rhapsody hires Rob Harvilla, former Village Voice music editor, as managing editor of The Mix
3/21/2011: Rhapsody launches on Windows Phone 7
7/11/2011: Rhapsody announces 800,000 subscribers
8/17/2011: Rhapsody announces partnership with MetroPCS for Rhapsody Unlimited Music
9/14/2011: Rhapsody announced remixed and remastered social Web experience
9/22/2011: Rhapsody launches in Facebook Music
10/3/2011: Rhapsody announces acquisition of Napster
12/7/2011: Rhapsody celebrates its 10-year anniversary with a concert with Built to Spill in Seattle
12/22/2011: Rhapsody surpasses one million paying subscriber milestone
