The Seattle based digital music service provider Rhapsody has just surpassed the one million mark for paying subscribers in the U.S..
With its latest achievement it becomes the most popular subscription service in the country. Rhapsody just turned a decade old this month.
Rhapsody gives their subscribers the ability to listen to as much music as they want for a monthly service fee of $10 on all devices or $5 for computers only. They also offer a free trial period for individuals who would want to test their services.
The company’s current subscriber count stands at about 800,000 for several years. But upgrades on their features gave the business a new lease on life.
Last August, they began to be bundled into cellphone plans for Android users on MetroPCS. This includes unlimited data, talk, text and music for only $60 a month.
Rhapsody purchased Napster from Best Buy last October thus increasing their subscribing base.
They are facing having competition in Spotify. A Sweden based music service company that has 2.45 million paying subscribers throughout the globe. The latter opened its doors to the U.S. market last July.
John Irwin, the President of Rhapsody, said “at this scale with what we believe is a sustainable business model.” He also added that rival Spotify’s growth comes at a price due to its extended free trial period on computers in the U.S.. Though it brings a lot of revenue due to advertising, but they pay a hefty price in music royalty.
“The weight of the costs for the free music they’re giving to people to get them to convert is clearly dominating their income statement,” Irwin said. “I don’t have that expense line item that they have.”
Irwin also stated that Rhapsody is keen on growing use on mobile devices. The market for mobile listening is bigger than those who listen to their computers.
The company is also eying expansion in internationally.
