Best Buy, Napster partner on promotions

Digital music provider Napster has teamed up with Best Buy to enlist new subscribers.

Under the terms of the deal, announced Thursday, Best Buy will promote Napster through in-store marketing and media advertising. It will also launch a co-branded version of the music service to be sold online through Bestbuy.com.

In return, Best Buy will get stock of Napster parent Roxio worth up to $10 million over the term of the multiyear agreement. The two companies will finance marketing activities jointly.

The retail chain will feature Napster products in its brick-and-mortar stores and demonstrate the service through interactive kiosks throughout the nation. Napster will also support Best Buy's artist promotions.

Napster, which started as an unauthorized song-swapping Web site, has transformed into a legal service offering music downloads for a monthly fee. Recently it started giving away MP3 devices to anyone who subscribes for a full year. Other players in the field, like Apple's iTunes, have also announced marketing promotions with various consumer brands.

"Napster's compatibility across many of the digital music devices, hardware and software platforms that Best Buy offers, coupled with the exciting opportunities to offer exclusive content, will create very compelling customer solutions in digital music," Scott Young, vice president of digital entertainment for Best Buy, said in a statement.