Features

30 more laid off at Napster

The Associated Press
Friday April 12, 2002

SAN JOSE — Troubled music-swapping service Napster Inc. laid off 30 employees in the third round of job cuts since October, the company said Thursday. 

In a statement, Napster chief executive Konrad Hilbers said the company remains committed to launching a revenue-generating, membership-based service but needs to further streamline its operations. 

“We have full confidence that our remaining team can provide the strategic know-how and technical guidance to effectively prepare for the launch of the new service,” he said. 

No date has been set for the launch, which originally was scheduled for last summer. The company is battling copyright infringement lawsuits and trying to reach licensing agreements with major record labels. 

It’s not clear how many employees remain at the private company. Last month, 10 percent of the work force was cut. In October, 16 employees were let go.  

Napster’s free online trading service, which allowed users to trade digital music files, has been offline since July.