> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.hypebot.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # How Rhapsody Re-Entered The Streaming Player Competition - URL: https://www.hypebot.com/how-rhapsody-re-entered-the-streaming-player-competition/ - Published: 2015-02-16T11:59:00.000Z - Updated: 2015-02-16T11:59:00.000Z - Description: Industry analyst Mark Mulligan who pens the Music Industry Blog shares how Rhapsody and its Napster brand are on the road back to becoming a real competitor in the crowded streaming music sector. - Author: Guest Author - Tags: Music Business, Streaming, " copyright infringement, Apple Inc., Digital audio, Initial public offering, music industry, PlayStation, Sony, Spotify, Streaming media, Subscription business model, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-01-21 10:28 [![Rhapsody_rhapsody_premiere_plus_streaming_service_702030_g1](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201b7c74de15f970b-150wi "Rhapsody_rhapsody_premiere_plus_streaming_service_702030_g1")](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e201b7c74de15f970b-popup?ref=hypebot.com) Industry analyst [Mark Mulligan](https://musicindustryblog.wordpress.com/about/?ref=hypebot.com) who pens the [Music Industry Blog](https://musicindustryblog.wordpress.com/2015/02/11/how-rhapsody-became-a-top-tier-player-again/?ref=hypebot.com) shares how Rhapsody and its Napster brand are on the road back to becoming a real competitor in the crowded streaming music sector. **Last week [Rhapsody](http://www.rhapsody.com/?ref=hypebot.com) announced reaching 2.5 million total subscribers across their unlimited and UnRadio offerings.** While not in the same scale as [Spotify](http://www.spotify.com/?ref=hypebot.com)’s 15 million, it nonetheless places Rhapsody as the fourth largest subscriber base globally and approximately 10% of the global total. Rhapsody spent most of the second part of the **2000’s treading water**, n**ever really able to break out of a solid niche of between 750,000 and 880,000 subscribers.** Rhapsody was doing its best to run a [sustainable business](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable%5Fbusiness?ref=hypebot.com) but because it wasn’t blowing vast amounts of cash on customer acquisition (either via marketing or having a free tier) it was seeing most of its new user growth cancelled out by churn. But even with this measured approach such is the nature of [digital music](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital%5Faudio?ref=hypebot.com) margins that it still lost money, lots of it. [![Unnamed](http://a1.typepad.com/6a016766638dee970b01b8d0d73fc9970c-150wi "Unnamed")](http://a1.typepad.com/6a016766638dee970b01b8d0d73fc9970c-popup?ref=hypebot.com) Enter investment firm Columbus Nova who acquired an undisclosed stake in Rhapsody in September 2013\. A reorg and a repositioning process followed paving the way for strong subscriber growth. Rhapsody had 1.5 million subscribers one year ago. If it continues to grow at its present rate it should hit 3 million by July this year. **And if it sustains that growth into the start of 2016 it could find itself the second biggest subscription service globally.** Current number two [Deezer](http://www.deezer.com/?ref=hypebot.com) appears to be slowing so 2nd place could be a realistic target for next year. Quite a turn around for a service that looked like it was falling by the wayside 5 years ago. Rhapsody created the streaming subscription marketplace. I remember back in the early and mid 2000’s when I was a [Jupiter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter?ref=hypebot.com) analyst, forever trumpeting the subscription model. In fact, along with my fellow Jupiter music analysts [David Card](http://davidcard.berkeley.edu/index.html?ref=hypebot.com) and Aram Sinnreich, we took a lot of flak for our forecasts that predicted subscriptions would be the future of digital music. Granted we made our bet the best part of a decade before the market transpired but Rhapsody was there in market doing pretty much what subscription services are doing today. **It deserves credit for having created a market and now once again for a newly found relevancy in the contemporary marketplace.** *Postscript: Intrigued I decided to look up one of my old Jupiter music forecasts to see how wrong I was and I had a nice surprise. In the 2007 Jupiter European Music Model I had European subscription revenue at €484.2 million by 2012\. The actual number was €420.2 million. That sound you can hear is me patting myself on the back.* Related articles [![](http://i.zemanta.com/noimg_43_80_80.jpg)](https://www.hypebot.com/what-500-million-and-jay-z-have-to-say-about-the-state-of-streaming-in-2015/)[What $500 Million And Jay-Z Have To Say About the State Of Streaming In 2015](https://www.hypebot.com/what-500-million-and-jay-z-have-to-say-about-the-state-of-streaming-in-2015/) [![](http://i.zemanta.com/noimg_122_80_80.jpg)](https://www.hypebot.com/sony-to-close-music-unlimited-partners-with-spotify-for-new-service/)[Sony To Close Music Unlimited, Partners With Spotify For New Service](https://www.hypebot.com/sony-to-close-music-unlimited-partners-with-spotify-for-new-service/) [![](http://i.zemanta.com/noimg_12_80_80.jpg)](https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2015/01/global-digital-music-market-projections-2015-2019-.html)[Global Digital Music Market Projections 2015 – 2019](https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2015/01/global-digital-music-market-projections-2015-2019-.html) [![](http://i.zemanta.com/noimg_39_80_80.jpg)](http://www.economist.com/news/business/21640357-authors-and-publishers-may-constrain-rise-e-book-subscriptions-spotify-books?ref=hypebot.com)[Spotify for books](http://www.economist.com/news/business/21640357-authors-and-publishers-may-constrain-rise-e-book-subscriptions-spotify-books?ref=hypebot.com) [![](http://i.zemanta.com/noimg_56_80_80.jpg)](http://www.geekwire.com/2015/rhapsody-tops-2-5m-subscribers-60-last-year/?ref=hypebot.com)[Rhapsody tops 2.5M subscribers, up 60% from last year](http://www.geekwire.com/2015/rhapsody-tops-2-5m-subscribers-60-last-year/?ref=hypebot.com)