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home about/contact Digital Audio Insider is David Harrell's blog about the economics of music and other digital content. I write from the perspective of a musican who has self-released four albums with the indie rock band the Layaways. My personal website has links to my LinkedIn and Google+ pages and you can send e-mail to david [at] thelayaways [dot] com. Support If you enjoy this site, please consider downloading a Layaways track or album from iTunes, Amazon MP3, Bandcamp, or eMusic. CDs are available from CD Baby and Amazon. links music/media/tech: Analog Industries Ars Technica AppleInsider Brad Sucks Blog Broken Record Digital Music News Duke Listens Future of Music Coalition Blog Hypebot LA Times Technology Blog The ListeNerd Medialoper Mediashift MP3 Insider Music Ally Music Machinery Music Think Tank MusicTank The Music Void New Music Strategies Online Fandom Pakman's Blog RAIN Rough Type RoughlyDrafted Swindleeeee TuneTuzer Virtual Economics economics/markets: The Big Picture Core Economics Freakonomics The Long Tail Marginal Revolution The Undercover Economist mp3/music: 17 Dots 3hive Fingertips Shake Your Fist Sounds Like the 80s Unleash the Love archives January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 March 2007 April 2007 May 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 February 2009 March 2009 April 2009 May 2009 June 2009 July 2009 August 2009 September 2009 October 2009 November 2009 December 2009 January 2010 February 2010 March 2010 April 2010 May 2010 June 2010 July 2010 September 2010 October 2010 November 2010 December 2010 January 2011 February 2011 March 2011 April 2011 May 2011 June 2011 July 2011 August 2011 September 2011 October 2011 November 2011 December 2011 January 2012 February 2012 April 2012 May 2012 June 2012 August 2012 October 2012 November 2012 December 2012 January 2013 February 2013 March 2013 June 2013 August 2013 February 2014 March 2014 September 2014 December 2014 March 2015 October 2015 November 2015 December 2015 October 2016 May 2017 |
September 19, 2006 Napster News, Profits from Breakageby David Harrell Napster News, Profits from Breakage Napster is in the news today after announcing it has hired UBS to help evaluate third-party interest and/or strategic alliances. I didn't realize (or maybe I had just forgotten) that Napster (NAPS) is a public company until I did a little research on the firm last week to respond to a comment to this post. Which means that all the details about the firm's finances are available in its public SEC filings. According to its most recent 10K filing, Napster's online subscription service itself generated more than $25 million in gross profits for the fiscal year ending March 31, after royalty payments, bandwidth, hosting, etc. And Napster managed to increase its subscriber base to 606,000 as of March 31, 2006 from 412,000 as of March 31, 2005. But Napster is spending a TON of money to acquire those subscribers ($51.7 million in sales and marketing), and for R&D ($13.1 million) and administrative costs ($20.8 million). All of which adds up to a net loss of nearly $55 million on sales of $94.7 million for the 2006 fiscal year. (Today's press release talks about annual revenues and Napster's strong cash reserves, but doesn't mention how much money the firm is losing each year.) I didn't see any specific stats in the filings regarding subscriber retention/churn. That seems to be a (the?) key factor for any potential profitability for Napster. As long as it has to spend so much to maintain its subscriber base, profitability seems unlikely. There was one very interesting tidbit in the firm's most recent 10Q quarterly filing, though. Those pre-paid cards are turning out to be very profitable because some purchasers never get around to using them: Revenues from prepaid cards and promotions are deferred and then recognized as (i) tracks are downloaded by the end users, (ii) if redeemed for a subscription, over the subscription period or (iii) when Napster has no further obligation to provide services or refund the associated prepayments ("prepaid card breakage"). As of June 30, 2006, we have not had sufficient historical experience to estimate prepaid card breakage rates, so we recognize prepaid card breakage when our obligation to honor the redemption of the prepaid cards or promotions has legally expired. During the first quarter of fiscal 2007, based on the resolution of certain legal restrictions associated with previously sold prepaid cards, we recognized $2.2 million of prepaid card breakage, of which $1.9 million relates to cards that were subject to expiration based on their term prior to 2007 but had other legal restrictions that precluded our recognition of revenue. The remaining $300,000 was related to cards that expired during the first quarter of fiscal 2007.I wonder if such "breakage" might turn out to be a profit center for the other subscription services and online stores. tags: Napster UBS link 1 comments e-mail listen to the Layaways on Spotify Follow @digitalaudio Tweet More Digital Audio Insider: Newer Posts Older Posts |
Subscribe: RSS Feed Add this blog to Del.icio.us, Digg, or Furl. Follow David Harrell on Google+. The Digital Audio Insider Twitter feed: Digital music jobs: Looking to hire? Looking for a job? Check out the digital audio insider job board. Popular Posts A Long Tail Experiment By the Numbers: Using Last.fm Statistics to Quantify Audience Devotion Lala.com Owes Me Sixty Cents An Interview with Jonathan Segel of Camper Van Beethoven Price Elasticity of Demand for McCartney Sony and eMusic: What I Missed The Digital Pricing Conundrum series: Part One Part Two Part Three Part Four THE LAYAWAYS Out Now -- "Maybe Next Year" -- The New Holiday Album: "This is a sweet treat, deliciously musical without being overbaked for mass media consumption." -- Hyperbolium "Perfect listening to accompany whatever holiday preparations you may be making today." -- Bag of Songs O Christmas Tree - free mp3 lyrics and song details Away In A Manger - free mp3 Download from eMusic, iTunes, Amazon MP3, or Bandcamp. Listen to free streams at Last.fm. "...about as melodic and hooky as indie pop can get." -- Absolute Powerpop "Their laid-back, '60s era sounds are absolutely delightening." -- 3hive "...melodic, garage-influenced shoegaze." -- RCRD LBL Where The Conversation Ends - free mp3 January - free mp3 Keep It To Yourself - free mp3 Download from eMusic, iTunes, Amazon MP3, or CD Baby, stream it at Last.fm or Napster. "The Layaways make fine indie pop. Hushed vocals interweave with understated buzzing guitars. The whole LP is a revelation from the start." -- Lost Music "Catchy Guided by Voices-like rockers who lay it on sweetly and sincerely, just like Lionel Richie." -- WRUV Radio Silence - free mp3 lyrics and song details The Long Night - free mp3 Download from eMusic, Amazon MP3, or iTunes, stream it at Last.fm, Napster, or Rhapsody. "These are songs that you want to take home with you, curl up with, hold them close -- and pray that they are still with you when you wake up." -- The Big Takeover Let Me In - free mp3 Ocean Blue - free mp3 Download from eMusic, Amazon MP3, or iTunes, stream it at Last.fm, Napster, or Rhapsody. More Layaways downloads: the layaways website |