Napster, the music platform that provides users with the opportunity to digitally stream music and download playlists, has appointed a new LatAm vice president, Brazilian Marcio Kanamaru.
Aware of its competition, the platform, which is rivalled by younger digital music giants such as Spotify and Apple Music, has recently announced that it is currently adding 24,000 new tracks to its app every 24 hours.
The $9.99 per month competitive subscription, which places the platform on a par with its main rivals, allows users to stream unlimited music on-demand, discover music that friends are listening to, skip unlimited songs, in addition to offering a personalised radio service based on each individual user’s favourite music.
Newly-appointed Kanamaru will be tasked with leading Napster’s business development and growth strategy in Latin America, with his role set to encompass marketing, sales and operations.
Speaking to ZDNet about his new role, Kanamaru stated that his tasks will present “promising opportunities” for expanding the Napster client base and platform. “In addition to my passion for music, I am bringing extensive experience in B2B2C that will support us to deploy new revenue streams through important partnerships across the region,” he added.
His previous experience as Brazil country manager of data cloud app NetApp, at Intel Security, Dell and McAfee has earned him “outstanding leadership credentials,” says Napster CEO Bill Patrizio, who hopes that his “regional knowledge…will be critical to drive [Napster’s] continued success across Latin America.”
The Seattle-based platform, which was acquired by Rhapsody in 2011, hopes to have 900m subscribers between 2025 and 2030, whilst the most recently published subscribers statistics from 2015 stand at 3.5m.
In an incredibly competitive market, Napster hopes that its unique innovation will enable it to stand out from the rest.
“Because of the growth and the diversification, we believe other companies – other enterprises – who have a manifest destiny to participate in music, will find the music business attractive and will inevitably make choices about whether to build the business themselves or potentially partner,” CEO Patrizio told MIDiA Research managing director Mark Mulligan in a recent interview.
He also explained Napster’s ability to offer corporate partners a B2B white-label streaming service, suggesting that different pricing tiers may come into play in the future.
With Latin America a key focus area for the company, hopes will be pinned on Kanamaru, who will be based in São Paulo, to deliver.
