Rhapsody has always been music streaming's quiet competitor. They were among the first to the party, but have since have avoided splashy moves – no big ad campaigns or free music listening. Instead, they forged telecom partnerships both in the US and overseas, and continued to improve their offering. With more than 2 million subscribers and no revenue draining free tier, Rhapsody and their international brand Napster's slow and steady strategy apparently is working well enough that it was time to bring in a CEO.
The company has been without a CEO since a 2013 executive shake up. Yesterday, Rhapsody named David Hose, who has served as an adviser and investor to a number mobile and music companies, as interim CEO.
Here is the official announcement:
In 2014, the subscription music idea that Rhapsody pioneered finally went mainstream, embraced by both customers and competitors. It’s been a watershed year for the model, and for music.
Over the next year, we see an opportunity to bring our music services –Rhapsody and Napster– to an even wider audience of music lovers around the world. We’re excited to have David Hose join our team, and guide us in aggressively pursuing this opportunity and reinforcing Rhapsody’s position as the world’s second-largest player in subscription music.
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