In the later half of 2008 Rhapsody saw paying users of its music subscription service jump from 600,000 to 750,000. The company attributes the jump to increased promotion from MTV and Verizon as part of its combined Rhapsody America launch. It also absorbed an undetermined number of Yahoo Music subscribers during the same period.
Whatever the reason for the jump, these are some of the best numbers ever for a music subscription service and while far from definitive, offer some hope for a format that has struggled to gain traction. 1.225 million more subscribe to Real's free radio streams and another 875,00 subscribe through various partnerships.
The music unit saw revenue increase 8% to $43.9 million in Q4, but the parent company saw a significant net loss of $240.5 million compared with net income of $2.7 million in the same quarter last year.
