Napster to be relaunched.
Rhapsody, the subscription-based music streaming service, is doing the unthinkable, once again.
In 2001, the service was called Listen, operating from Listen.com.
By 2011, the company had already rebranded as Rhapsody, using the generic domain Rhapsody.com; that same year it acquired Napster, a relic of the 1990’s that was once associated with pirated mp3 files.
In an effort to attract more users to its services, Rhapsody is now dropping its brand and becoming Napster.
Are you shocked yet?
The latter, appears to be a more familiar name; from a domain investing standpoint, that’s a positive re-enforcement of brandable domains.
While generic terms can acquire a secondary meaning and become strong brands – hello, Apple – they can also get lost among the generic meaning of their own brand.
Napster will definitely resonate well with those of us who “traded” mp3s in the 1990s, and the millennials who seem to prefer catchy brand names over generics.
Time to party like it’s 1999! 😀
Disco is not dead