2017 has been an incredible year for streaming music around the world. According to the IFPI’s 2017 Global Music report, 112 million global users of paid streaming subscriptions drove streaming revenue growth by 60.4% last year.
That’s why we’re excited to share that we’ve teamed up with our friends at Rakuten to bring the hottest sounds from global independent artists to music fans in the world’s second largest music market, Japan. Starting today, we’ll deliver song playback and curated playlists to Rakuten Music, with a total of over 20 million songs to be added by the fall. We’re also working on other collaborations to enhance the features on the Rakuten Music service.
“We’re seeing the emergence of a new era of on-demand streaming in Japan,” Brian Ringer, Napster Chief Technology Officer, said. “Today, we’re excited to partner with Rakuten, a world-class brand, to extend the Napster experience into Asia and bring the Japanese music community access to over 20 million tracks through our partnership with Rakuten Music.”
This partnership is part of Napster’s ongoing commitment to supporting all artists, big or small. By teaming up with Rakuten, we will introduce music from millions of independent artists to a whole new audience in Asia.
“We’re excited about collaborating with Napster to enhance our on-demand music streaming service in Japan,” said Naho Kono, managing executive officer of Rakuten, Inc. and head of the company’s e-commerce business. “By expanding our offering with music from Napster’s diverse catalog, we aim to give Rakuten Music subscribers the opportunity to find and enjoy new music from around the world.”
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