Napster UK touts TV, laptop promos

Branding excercise

By Tony Smith • Get more from this author

Posted in Financial News, 7th April 2005 11:52 GMT

Free whitepaper – Dell IT infrastructure services brochure

Napster UK announced a pair of promotional deals this week, one targeting TV viewers, the other notebook buyers.

British broadcaster Channel 4 has commissioned six 11-minute shows from producer Blaze TV which will go out from 16 April under the title Napster Live. Each programme will be dedicated to a specific artist or band, with two exclusively recorded songs, along with biographical details and interview material.

Confirmed acts include Garbage, Estelle and The Subways.

Alas, it's not a prime time broadcast - the shows go out after midnight as part of Channel 4's late-night 'yoof' programming. Still, it's a big start for Napster's plan to give its brand greater exposure to music fans.

The company's deal with Toshiba, announced today, targets a narrower audience. The notebook maker said it will pre-load Napster's jukebox software on its Satellite Pro L10, Satellite P30 and Qosmio F10 multimedia-oriented machines. A free 30-day trial of Napster's basic £9.95 monthly subscription package is included too.

Napster currently has more than 410,000 subscribers worldwide. The digital music company this week upped its Q4 FY2005 revenue forecast to $16.5-17.5m on the back of that user-base figure. ®