????Rhapsody開創了付費音樂訂閱服務的先河，現在理所應當站在聚光燈下享受萬眾矚目的禮遇。唱片公司和消費者都已徹底接受了它的商業模式。可是，Rhapsody卻成了一位失意者。

????十年前，在線音樂服務Napster和席卷全球、毫無節制地非法音樂共享嚇壞了音樂產業，Rhapsody趁勢確立了其市場地位，成為首家重要的付費音樂服務。但現在，它卻被Spotify奪去了風頭。這家公司位于歐洲，擁有相似的商業模式。上周，在舊金山召開的Facebook公司 f 8開發者大會上，占據了講臺中央是Spotify，而不是Rhapsody。會上，馬克?扎克伯格發表了萬眾矚目的主題演講，Spotify的首席執行官丹尼爾?艾克成為他邀請上臺的第一位貴客。兩人大肆吹噓了新型社交媒體平臺音樂的諸多特性，隨后，扎克伯格播放了一個幻燈片，展示了其他在線音樂領域的其他合作伙伴，Rhapsody也位列其中。但它僅僅是一晃而過，很可能是后來臨時才增補進去的對象。

????Rhapsody受到的這種怠慢是在音樂產業持續變化的背景下出現的。今年早些時候，尼爾森唱片市場調查公司（Nielsen SoundScan）稱，2010年，美國音樂銷量總體下滑了2.4%。但是數字音樂銷量反而上升，而且基于訂閱的服務表現出穩定增長的態勢。市場研究公司ABI預計，到2016年，全世界將有1.61億人通過手機獲取音樂，與今年的590萬人相比增長明顯。美國唱片工業協會（Record Industry Association of America）稱，2010年在線音樂訂閱銷售收入達到了2.01億美元。盡管Rhapsody在這個行業擁有十年的先發優勢，但它卻突然發現，自己得拼盡全力去追趕一家新晉公司大步流星的步伐。這到底是怎么回事？

????Rhapsody之所以落得今天的結局，可能僅僅是因為當年它太過于超前了。在云服務這一概念，更別說這個說法還沒開始流行很久以前，它就已經在倡導將音樂存儲于云中了。這么做的后果，用位于南加州的音樂資訊網站Digital Music News創始人保羅?雷斯尼科夫的話說就是，大家往往聽不進去，還覺得困惑撓頭。此外，該公司還經歷了好幾輪錯綜復雜的轉型。2004年，它先是被RealPlayer播放器制造商RealNetworks公司（RealNetworks）收購；三年后，又被剝離出去，成為傳媒巨頭維亞康姆（Viacom）的合資公司。去年4月，它又將自己重新命名為Rhapsody國際公司（Rhapsody International）。

????這家公司屬于私營性質，并未公布其財務數據。但它號稱擁有80萬名每月付費10美元的訂戶。它的競爭對手Spotify則擁有140萬名美國用戶，《公告牌》雜志（Billboard）援引一位消息人士稱，其中約17萬人每月支付4.99美元或9.99美元的訂費。

????盡管Spotify優勢在握，但Rhapsody并未就此臣服。Facebook大會召開期間，它借勢發布了一項為期30天的會員免費試用服務，并推出了新的戰略：押寶手機。它的應用軟件可讓用戶有權獲得公司擁有的1,300萬首歌曲。當我們坐在舊金山的一家咖啡店里時，公司總裁喬恩?歐文本人就在用自己的手機挑選音樂，興奮之情，溢于言表。他打開了數張專輯和多個播放列表，包括英國歌手阿黛爾的《19》以及“少女之歌”（Chicksongs）。后者是一個由用戶創建的播放列表，完全由歌名是女性名字的歌曲構成。他指出，用戶在手機上消費的歌曲要比在電腦上多出30%。

????歐文從來就不是所謂的“免費+增值”（freemium）商業模式的擁躉。但他承認，Rhapsody的免費試用實際上就是用戶在一定的限制下（這里就是時間限制）可以體驗該產品。他特別強調，這和競爭對手提供的服務有所不同。相比之下，Spotify的免費版是有廣告贊助的，僅限于電腦使用，而且六個月后可聽歌曲的數量就會受到限制。此前，Rhapsody也曾嘗試過這種策略，向用戶提供兩周以及60天的免費試用期。但這兩種方式都要求用戶提供信用卡信息，讓很多人打消了注冊的念頭。

????目前還不清楚Facebook對這家公司會產生什么影響。不久，Facebook 的8億名活躍用戶就能實時發布自己正在聽的歌曲，好友們通過Facebook的音樂服務合作伙伴立刻就能同步分享這些音樂。這一新功能將帶來龐大的訪問量，但也同時將使競爭進一步加劇。歐文認為，在這場Facebook用戶的爭奪戰中，規模較小的供應商，如Mixcloud和Rdio最終將會被淘汰出局。歐文還認為，這個體制對擁有最多現成用戶的服務商有利，從而幫到Rhapsody。他說：“我們的一大現成優勢在于，在按需供給的音樂領域，Rhapsody是目前規模最大的一家。”

????實際上，Rhapsody一直在鐵桿樂迷中頗為成功。在Facebook上，也能找到一大批用它分享音樂的忠誠聽眾。市場調研公司NPD Group的數據顯示，Rhapsody的用戶在CD和數字音樂下載服務上最舍得掏腰包。NPD公司的消費者和零售市場研究員拉斯?克魯普尼克稱：“Rhapsody是真正為核心音樂用戶服務的。”吸引偶爾使用的樂迷可能有難度。“問題在于要努力將現有的80萬名訂閱用戶壯大到800萬名。”他補充說。

????Spotify顯然是個可畏的強敵。它已從包括硅谷的凱鵬華盈風投公司（Kleiner Perkins）這樣的知名投資機構募得了上百萬美元。而且它已獲得了消費產品生產商夢寐以求的人氣和增長動力。當然，這種局面不會一成不變。更有可能的局面是，這兩家公司繼續鏖戰，直至分出勝負。現在，既然Rhapsody的商業模式已經得到廣泛認可， 它要做的就是找到辦法，與采取了相同模式的強敵一決高下。

????譯者：清遠

????For all its work in pioneering paid music subscriptions, Rhapsody should be enjoying a moment in the digital limelight right now. Record companies and consumers alike have overwhelmingly accepted its business model. Instead, Rhapsody is the underdog.

????Rhapsody established itself as the first important paid music service a decade ago, after Napster and a worldwide binge of illegal file sharing spooked the music industry. But now it is being outshined by Spotify, a European-based rival with a similar business model. It was Spotify, not Rhapsody, at center stage last week at Facebook's f8 developer's conference in San Francisco. Spotify CEO Daniel Eck was Mark Zuckerberg's first guest during the widely watched keynote. After the two touted a slew of new social music features, Zuckerberg flashed a slide featuring other online music partners, Rhapsody included. It appeared so briefly it could have been an afterthought.

????The slight comes amid continued change for the music industry. Earlier this year, Nielsen (NLSN) SoundScan reported that overall U.S. music sales were down 2.4% in 2010. Digital sales were up, however, and subscription-based services appear poised for growth. Research firm ABI projects that by 2016 some 161 million subscribers will be accessing music from their mobile phones around the world, up from just 5.9 million this year. Online subscriptions revenues were about $201 million in 2010, according to the Record Industry Association of America. Despite a ten-year head start in that very business, Rhapsody suddenly finds itself trying desperately to catch up to the momentum of a glitzy newcomer. What happened?

????Rhapsody may simply have been ahead of its time. It advocated storing music in the cloud long before the idea, let alone the term, was in vogue. The result, according to Paul Resnikoff, founder of the Southern California-based Digital Music News, was often clunky and confusing. The company also underwent multiple convoluted transformations. In 2004, it was acquired by RealNetworks (RNWKD) and spun off again three years later as a joint venture with Viacom (VIA). Last April, it rebranded itself as Rhapsody International.

????The company is private and does not release its financial numbers, but it says it has some 800,000 subscribers paying $10 a month. Rival Spotify has 1.4 million U.S. users, about 170,000 of which pay either $4.99 or $9.99 a month, according to a source cited by Billboard.

????Rhapsody hasn't taken Spotify's ascendency lying down. On the fringes of Facebook's conference, it revealed a new 30-day free trial membership offer and, with it, a new strategy: an emphasis on mobile. Its app gives users access to the company's 13 million songs and, as we sit in a San Francisco café, president Jon Irwin sifts through music on his phone with a palpable excitement. He opens up a number of albums and playlists, including "19" by Adele and "Chicksongs," a user-created playlist consisting entirely of songs whose titles are a female name. Users consume 30% more music on mobile devices than on desktops, he notes.

????Irwin has never been a fan of the so-called "freemium" business model. But he admits that Rhapsody's free trial is exactly that: a taste of the product with certain restrictions -- in this case, a time limit. He stresses that it is different from competitors' offers. By comparison, Spotify's free version is ad supported, restricted to desktop usage and caps the number of song plays after six months. Rhapsody has tried the tactic before, offering two-week and 60-day free trials. Both required users to submit credit card information, deterring many from signing up.

????It's not yet clear how Facebook will impact the company either. Its 800 million active users will soon be able to post what songs they are currently listening to while friends will be able to listen instantly via partnering music services. That could provide a huge swell of traffic, but also sharpen competition. Irwin believes smaller providers, such as Mixcloud and Rdio, will eventually fall to the wayside in the battle for Facebook's users. Irwin thinks the scheme will favor the services with the most existing customers, helping Rhapsody. "One advantage that we have right out of the gate is that, in the on demand music business, Rhapsody is by far the largest," he says.

????Indeed, Rhapsody has been a success with diehard music fans and could find itself with a legion of devoted listeners sharing music on Facebook. According to the NPD group, Rhapsody users spend the most money on physical CDs and digital downloads. "It's really for the hardcore music user," says Russ Crupnick, a consumer and retail market researcher with NPD. Hooking casual fans may be harder. "The problem is trying to turn their 800,000 subscribers to 8 million," he adds.

????It's clear that Spotify is a formidable foe. It's raised millions from prominent investors including Silicon Valley's Kleiner Perkins. And it's got the hype and momentum consumer product markers crave. That could change, of course. More likely is that the two services continue to battle it out. Now that its model has been widely accepted, Rhapsody has to find a way to deal with tough competitors that have adopted it too.