One of the most dramatic shifts to the music industry ever was the introduction of Napster in 1999. It let the genie out of the bottle in terms of piracy and showed that digital downloads and mp3s were the future for music labels, despite their loudest complaints. Though the founders Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker were hoping to see the company used by the music industry as a platform to distribute music, but they were quickly buried in lawsuits and shutdown. Eventually Napster came back as a legal streaming service, albeit as a small one, though it was bought by Rhapsody and folded in 2011. Now Napster is back and hoping to reclaim its former glory days, or at least a sliver of it, with a relaunch in Canada.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Napster will be offered with an immediate paywall of CAN$9.99 (US$7.65) per month. Users will have access to nearly 35 million songs for online streaming and offline playback. users can try the first three months for only CAN$1.
Napster was initially available in Canada for seven years up until it was purchased by Rhapsody in 2011 and then shut down by its current owner. It was available legally during that time.
Napster Chief Financial Officer Ethan Rudin believes that their move into Canada is being done right and is "customized specifically for Canadian music fans." "It was important to us that we enter Canada with a personalized music experience that has a complete catalogue of local, national and international artists," said Rudin in a statement.
Napster has already partnered with some big Canadian artists like Shawn Mendes and Alessia Cara to provide a local flavor to the service, while also offering "expertly-curated" playlists.
