Napster CEO: Streaming growth will bring “a great deal of diversification” in the future

Napster President and CEO Bill Patrizio gave a keynote talk at the Midem conference, offering his insights on the streaming service’s internal plans and the broader streaming economy. He acknowledged that the company didn’t plan to tackle the current market leaders head on, but noted that a small slice of a large pie still makes for a hearty dessert. “Even a 20% slice of a $20 billion market is a $4 billion market…and that’s what we’re going to focus on,” Patrizio said. He added that Napster would also continue pursuing other, innovative approaches to music, such as running streaming services for other brands and businesses.

“We think that’s an important area of growth for our business, and how we’ll continue to compete and be successful in the future,” Patrizio said. He also touched on the potential of other new technologies, such as 5G mobile connections or blockchain, to further expand what the streaming sector is capable of. He also predicted that the music business will evolve to offer more personalized experiences as a path to revenue.

“Today, there are about 175 million paying subscribers to music-streaming services,” he said. “The expectation is that this growth is going to continue well into the future… With that growth is going to come a great deal of diversification: of product, of consumer experience, new technologies bringing consumers new ways to engage with the artists.”

Here’s a snapshot of Napster’s current business statistics:

• More than 50 million tracks on the platform
• About 24,000 new tracks added per day
• 30 hours listening per month on average for users
• 200 million playlists created
• 500 million hours of music delivered in 2017