Los Angeles
– Chris Gorog said on Wednesday that he has stepped down as CEO of Napster, the
digital music service now owned by consumer electronics and media retail store
chain Best Buy (NYSE: BBY). The company’s president, Brad Duea, has
also been dismissed, and both positions have been eliminated by Best Buy.
Instead, Napster chief operating officer Christopher Allen will become the general
manager of Napster within Best Buy.
"I wanted to touch base to let you know that after ten
years of building Napster and Roxio as Chairman and CEO — I am stepping aside to
let Best Buy continue to develop Napster after acquiring the company in October
2008," Gorog wrote in a blog post.
Gorog said he has formed a new personal
company, Gorog.net, for "exploring new opportunities, building new
ventures and assisting others in doing the same in — entertainment, media and
technology."
Meanwhile, Napster separately announced on Wednesday the
release of Napster Access, a public API that lets consumer electronics and Web
developers integrate Napster content and services into their own products and
Web pages.
The API includes a la carte music purchasing, on-demand streaming of
9 million songs, radio stations, user-created playlists and Billboard charts.
Related Links:
http://blog.napster.com/napster/2010/01/a-note-from-napsters-ceo-chris-gorog.html
http://gigaom.com/2010/01/06/napster-ceo-and-president-dismissed-by-best-buy/
