napster

Napster has once again hired UBS to seek out a buyer for the troubled company.

Music service Napster is showing more cracks. It's subscriber level dropped in Q2 to 708,000 from 760,000. Now the company has reportedly killed its Napster on Campus program.

In this USA Today article about Rhapsody's new plan of attack for its subscription service, JupiterResearch's David Card predicts subscription revenue will grow 20% per year for the next five years, and Rhapsody will still be the #1 service. That would put consumer spending at $600 million in 2012.

Napster's Q1 2008 earnings release was filled with bad news. The company's number of paid subscribers dropped 6.8% from Q1 to 708,000. Net revenue of $30.3 million was down both sequentially and year-over-year. Net loss was down slightly both sequentially and year-over-year.

Universal Music Group (UK and Ireland) and British Sky Broadcasting, the satellite television operator that also offers broadband Internet access, will launch by the end of the year an unnamed venture that will offer music subscriptions to Sky customers.

Bloomberg's Don Jeffrey has an excellent article on Napster's low stock price and financial woes. The company's market cap is so low -- currently about $18 million less than its cash holdings -- that it has become a prime target for a takeover.

The AP has settled its legal dispute with The Drudge Retort, but Rodgers Cadenhead, proprietor of that social-network news site, says the larger issue of bloggers using the AP's copyrighted content, is unsettled and "headed for a Napster-style battle on the issue of fair use."