Napster, a division of Roxio, Inc. (Nasdaq: ROXI - News), today announced that the award-winning Napster 2.0 legal online digital music service went live at www.napster.ca for millions of music fans across Canada. The world's most recognized
brand in online music provides both an on-demand music subscription service
-- Canada's first -- and an a la carte music download store putting the power of choice in the hands of Canadian music fans.
Napster allows Canadian members to enjoy the nation's largest and most diverse online collection of music, featuring more than 300,000 tracks from the five major labels (BMG, EMI, Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Canada, and Warner Music Canada) as well as scores of independent labels, and offers such Canadian acts as Alanis Morrissette, Avril Lavigne, Diana Krall, Nickelback, Melissa Auf Der Maur and Thornley. To celebrate its official launch in Canada, Napster is offering all of Canada a free 7-day trial
to the service.
Napster and Molson, one of the world's largest and North America's oldest
brewers, simultaneously announced a multi-year mutually exclusive strategic
marketing alliance. As Molson's exclusive music service, Napster will provide
limited free access to the service for Molson Insiders.
"We are thrilled to offer Canadian music fans the most inclusive, exciting,
and diverse music experience available," said Brad Duea, president of Napster,
"and we have focused on making the first on-demand subscription service
in Canada reflect the unique and discerning nature of Canadian music tastes.
The Cat has skated up north and is officially ready to rock."
"Our Molson Canadian and Molson Dry brands are proud to be associated
with what is clearly the number one name in digital music," said Les Hine,
president, marketing, Molson Canada. "Molson has become known for creating
the most innovative music experiences for our beer drinkers, and being able
to introduce hundreds of thousands of our loyal consumers to Napster is another
first for both Molson Canadian and Molson Dry."
The launch of Napster Canada follows just one week after the debut of Napster's
UK service, solidifying the company's position as the world's most globalized
digital music service. Napster's Canadian team, some of which are located in
the Richmond Hill, Ontario headquarters of Roxio, will continue to strive to
maintain the service's distinctly Canadian personality.
After downloading the free Napster jukebox at www.napster.ca, for just CDN$9.95
a month Canadian subscribers, like their American and British counterparts,
can legally, safely, and easily download any track they choose onto up to three
PCs and listen to full-length songs on or offline to save bandwidth while they
surf or for convenience when on the go. Napster features ten interactive, commercial-free
radio stations designed specifically for the Canadian audience. Napster's rich
community features allow subscribers to safely browse each others' play lists
and even share songs among other Napster users. Subscribers can access Billboard
chart history and purchase individual tracks for as little as CDN$1.00 when
they buy Napster Track Packs.
For those who simply want to buy individual songs to burn to CD or transfer
to portable players, Napster Light offers free 30-second samples of the entire
catalog and the ability to purchase tracks any time they want for CDN$1.19 and
albums for CDN$9.95. Napster Light also offers consumers free access to Fuzz,
Napster's online magazine, and their own Napster Inbox.
All members can organise their entire music collection by using the ripping
software in the free Napster jukebox to take tracks from CDs they already own
to play on Napster. They can also import MP3s into their Napster Library or
transfer tracks they've bought to a wide range of portable devices.
About Napster
NapsterŪ, the world's most recognized brand in online music, is a subscription
service that enables fans to freely sample the world's largest and most diverse
online collection of music and experience the largest number of features. Napster
members have access to songs from all major labels and hundreds of independents
and have more ways to discover, share and acquire new music and old favorites
with community features like the ability to email tracks to friends and browse
other members' collections. Subscribers to Napster can listen to full-length
songs from every major record label and hundreds of independents on demand for
a low monthly fee. Napster also offers Napster Light, a "lighter"
version of the service for those who just want to purchase songs and albums
a la carte. Napster is a division of Roxio, Inc., (Nasdaq: ROXI - News), the
Digital Media Company, provider of the best-selling digital media software in
the world. Napster is headquartered in Los Angeles with additional offices in
London, Los Angeles, New York, Richmond Hill, ON, and San Diego.
Copyright (C) 2004 Roxio, Inc. All rights reserved. Roxio, the Roxio tagline
and Napster are registered trademarks of Roxio, Inc. or its subsidiaries in
the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks used are owned
by their respective owners.
For further information, please contact: Dana M. Harris of Napster, +1-310-281-5073,
dana.harris@napster.com; or Nancy Sullivan, +1-310-201-8899, nsullivan@rogersandcowan.com,
or John Conroy, +1-310-201-8878, jconroy@rogersandcowan.com, both of Rogers
& Cowan, for Napster.
Source: Napster
