'2006 Napster Awards' Honor Artists and Songs Played Most by Subscribers Revealing Substantial Disparity Between Fans' Buying and Listening Habits

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Napster(TM) (Nasdaq: NAPS), the pioneer of digital music, today announced the winners of the "2006 Napster Awards," the first awards to honor artists and songs for accomplishments in digital music. In contrast to other music industry awards, the Napster Awards are determined by the actual listening behavior of music fans who subscribe to Napster's industry-leading subscription service and play over one billion songs each year. Presented to the artists and songs that enjoyed the highest number of plays in the service between December 1, 2005 and November 30, 2006, the Napster Awards illustrate that there is a significant difference between the music that sells the most and the music that's played the most when fans are in an unlimited access music subscription environment.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20061219/LATU046 )

The 2006 Napster Award for "Most-Played Artist" went to singer-songwriter Jack Johnson, whose mellow acoustic grooves were a huge hit among Napster's half a million subscribers who played his music more than any other artist's. The Napster Award for "Most-Played Song" went to the pop/punk single "Dance, Dance" from Chicago's Fall Out Boy. Punctuating the difference between sales figures and subscriber plays, Jack Johnson, Napster's most played artist, was not recognized by the 2006 Billboard Music Awards which track sales and radio airplay and "Dance, Dance," Napster's most played song, was not among the top 10 tracks sold on iTunes in 2006.

Napster subscribers have on-demand, unlimited access to over 3 million full-length songs for one monthly fee without paying a dollar a track, so their listening activities are a measure of the songs and artists they actively chose to play most over the past year. Napster calculated the total number of plays of each song and artist in its vast catalog over the past year in each of the five countries where it offers its PC-based service to determine the recipients of the 2006 Napster Awards. Napster also created categories that go beyond the mainstream in order to reflect the diversity of music that fans chose when they had the freedom to discover, explore and enjoy without limits.

Underscoring that diversity and recognizing the importance of unsigned artists to Napster's subscribers, Napster is honoring Southern California Hip Hop artist Jadox for being the service's "Most Played Self Published Artist." Napster's massive database revealed that Scott Joplin was the most played artist whose last recorded release was the longest time ago, earning the ragtime legend a posthumous "Unstoppable Artist" award. Napster is also honoring the artist that had the most substantial increase in plays year over year with the "Breakout Artist" award, earned this year by digital phenoms Arctic Monkeys.

"The Napster Awards provide insight into how music fans behave when they can listen to an enormous variety of music away from restrictive radio playlists, limited retail shelf space and 30-second clip, buck a track digital stores," said Chris Gorog, chairman and CEO of Napster. "When consumers are given unlimited access to music and are freed from having to pay for each individual song in order to hear it, it's interesting to see how this freedom changes what they want to actually listen to. We congratulate all of the 2006 Napster Award winners, and look forward to continuing to honor the music Napster subscribers enjoy playing the most."

Each Napster Award recipient will receive an impressive trophy featuring the infamous Napster Kitty(R) acknowledging their accomplishment. In celebration of the inaugural year of the Napster Awards, Napster is currently featuring a playlist which showcases many of the award-winning artists and songs on its Web site that U.S. music fans can stream for free at www.napster.com/free. As always, Napster subscribers in all territories can enjoy the playlist in CD-quality sound and on-demand through the Napster application. To learn more about Napster's subscription service, please visit www.napster.com.

    Complete List of 2006 Napster Award Winners:
    Napster U.S.
    Most-Played Artist                       Jack Johnson
    Most-Played Song                         "Dance, Dance" by Fall Out Boy
    Most-Played New Artist                   Carrie Underwood
    Most-Played NapsterLive Session          Natasha Bedingfield
    Rising Star                              Arctic Monkeys
    Most-Played Self-Published Artist        Jadox
    Unstoppable Artist                       Scott Joplin
    Most-Played Cover Song                   "One" by Cowboy Junkies
                                             (originally performed by U2)
    Most-Played Alternative Artist           Coldplay
    Most-Played Alternative Song             "Dance, Dance" by Fall Out Boy
    Most-Played Blues Artist                 Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double
                                             Trouble
    Most-Played Blues Song                   "The Thrill Is Gone" by B.B. King
    Most-Played Christian Artist             Third Day
    Most-Played Christian Song               "Dare You to Move" by Switchfoot
    Most-Played Classical Artist             Andrea Bocelli
    Most-Played Classical Recording          "Time to Say Goodbye (Con Te
                                             Partiro)" by Andrea Bocelli
    Most-Played Comedy Artist                Weird Al Yankovic
    Most-Played Comedy Recording             "White & Nerdy" by Weird Al
                                             Yankovic
    Most-Played Country Artist               Rascal Flatts
    Most-Played Country Song                 "What Hurts the Most" by
                                             Rascal Flatts
    Most-Played Dance/Electronic Artist      Madonna
    Most-Played Dance/Electronic Recording   "Everytime We Touch" by Cascada
    Most-Played Folk Artist                  Damien Rice
    Most-Played Folk Song                    "The Blower's Daughter" by
                                             Damien Rice
    Most-Played Hip-Hop Artist               Eminem
    Most-Played Hip-Hop Song                 "Ridin'" by Chamillionaire
    Most-Played Jazz Artist                  Norah Jones
    Most-Played Jazz Recording               "Come Away with Me" by Norah
                                             Jones
    Most-Played Latin Artist                 Shakira
    Most-Played Latin Song                   "Whenever, Wherever" by Shakira
    Most-Played Pop Artist                   Jack Johnson
    Most-Played Pop Song                     "Move Along" by All American
                                             Rejects
    Most-Played R&B Artist                   Mary J. Blige
    Most-Played R&B Song                     "Unfaithful" by Rihanna
    Most-Played Reggae Artist                Sean Paul
    Most-Played Reggae Song                  "Temperature" by Sean Paul
    Most-Played Rock Artist                  Nickelback
    Most-Played Rock Song                    "Dance, Dance" by Fall Out Boy
    Most-Played World Artist                 Enya
    Most-Played World Song                   "Only Time" by Enya
    Napster U.K.
    Most-Played Artist                       Snow Patrol
    Most-Played Song                         "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley
    Most-Played New Artist                   Arctic Monkeys
    Most-Played NapsterLive Session          The Feeling
    Rising Star                              Infernal
    Most-Played Self-Published Artist        Suzanne Ciani
    Unstoppable Artist                       Frank Sinatra
    Most-Played Cover Song                   "One" by Mary J. Blige
                                             (originally performed by U2)
    Napster Germany
    Most-Played Artist                       Nelly Furtado
    Most-Played Song                         "No, No, Never" by Texas
                                             Lightning
    Most-Played New Artist                   Texas Lightning
    Most-Played NapsterLive Session          Akon
    Rising Star                              Chamillionaire
    Most-Played Self-Published Artist        Humberto y Sus Amigos
    Unstoppable Artist                       Elvis Presley
    Most-Played Cover Song                   "One" by Mary J. Blige
                                             (originally performed by U2)
    Napster Canada
    Most-Played Artist                       Coldplay
    Most-Played Song                         "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt
    Most-Played New Artist                   Gnarls Barkley
    Most-Played NapsterLive Session          Default
    Rising Star                              KT Tunstall
    Most-Played Self-Published Artist        David Barela
    Unstoppable Artist                       Johnny Cash
    Most-Played Cover Song                   "The First Cut Is the Deepest" by
                                             Sheryl Crow (originally performed
                                             by Cat Stevens)
    About Napster

Napster, the pioneer of digital music, offers the ultimate interactive music experience. With an expanding roster of offerings including free, Web-based music listening and sharing, subscription and portable subscription services, and an advanced mobile music platform, Napster creates better ways to discover, share, acquire and enjoy music -- anytime, anywhere. Napster is headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in New York, London, Frankfurt and Tokyo.

Copyright (C) 2006 Napster, LLC. All rights reserved. Napster and the Napster kitty logo are either trademarks or registered trademarks of Napster, Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are owned by their respective owners.

    Napster Contact:
    Dana M. Harris / Becky Farina
    Napster
    310-281-5000
    dana.harris@napster.com /
    becky.farina@napster.com

SOURCE Napster

CONTACT: Dana M. Harris, dana.harris@napster.com, or Becky Farina, becky.farina@napster.com, both of Napster, +1-310-281-5000 -0- Dec/19/2006 7:00 GMT

Last Updated: December 19, 2006 02:00 EST