The pioneer of digital music, today announced the winners of the "2006 Napster Awards," the first awards to honor artists and songs for accomplishments in digital music.
In contrast to other music industry awards, the Napster Awards are determined by the actual listening behavior of music fans who subscribe to Napster's industry-leading subscription service and play over one billion songs each year.
Presented to the artists and songs that enjoyed the highest number of plays in the service between December 1, 2005 and November 30, 2006, the Napster Awards illustrate that there is a significant difference between the music that sells the most and the music that's played the most when fans are in an unlimited access music subscription environment.
The 2006 Napster Award for "Most-Played Artist" went to singer-songwriter Jack Johnson, whose mellow acoustic grooves were a huge hit among Napster's half a million subscribers who played his music more than any other artist's. The Napster Award for "Most-Played Song" went to the pop/punk single "Dance, Dance" from Chicago's Fall Out Boy. Punctuating the difference between sales figures and subscriber plays, Jack Johnson, Napster's most played artist, was not recognized by the 2006 Billboard Music Awards which track sales and radio airplay and "Dance, Dance," Napster's most played song, was not among the top 10 tracks sold on iTunes in 2006.
Napster subscribers have on-demand, unlimited access to over 3 million full-length songs for one monthly fee without paying a dollar a track, so their listening activities are a measure of the songs and artists they actively chose to play most over the past year. Napster calculated the total number of plays of each song and artist in its vast catalog over the past year in each of the five countries where it offers its PC-based service to determine the recipients of the 2006 Napster Awards. Napster also created categories that go beyond the mainstream in order to reflect the diversity of music that fans chose when they had the freedom to discover, explore and enjoy without limits.
Underscoring that diversity and recognizing the importance of unsigned artists to Napster's subscribers, Napster is honoring Southern California Hip Hop artist Jadox for being the service's "Most Played Self Published Artist." Napster's massive database revealed that Scott Joplin was the most played artist whose last recorded release was the longest time ago, earning the ragtime legend a posthumous "Unstoppable Artist" award. Napster is also honoring the artist that had the most substantial increase in plays year over year with the "Breakout Artist" award, earned this year by digital phenoms Arctic Monkeys.
"The Napster Awards provide insight into how music fans behave when they can listen to an enormous variety of music away from restrictive radio playlists, limited retail shelf space and 30-second clip, buck a track digital stores," said Chris Gorog, chairman and CEO of Napster. "When consumers are given unlimited access to music and are freed from having to pay for each individual song in order to hear it, it's interesting to see how this freedom changes what they want to actually listen to. We congratulate all of the 2006 Napster Award winners, and look forward to continuing to honor the music Napster subscribers enjoy playing the most."
Each Napster Award recipient will receive an impressive trophy featuring the infamous Napster Kitty® acknowledging their accomplishment. In celebration of the inaugural year of the Napster Awards, Napster is currently featuring a playlist which showcases many of the award-winning artists and songs on its Web site that U.S. music fans can stream for free at www.napster.com/free. As always, Napster subscribers in all territories can enjoy the playlist in CD-quality sound and on-demand through the Napster application. To learn more about Napster's subscription service, please visit www.napster.com.
Complete List of 2006 Napster Award Winners:
Napster U.S. Most-Played Artist Jack Johnson Most-Played Song "Dance, Dance" by Fall Out Boy Most-Played New Artist Carrie Underwood Most-Played NapsterLive Session Natasha Bedingfield Rising Star Arctic Monkeys Most-Played Self-Published Artist Jadox Unstoppable Artist Scott Joplin Most-Played Cover Song "One" by Cowboy Junkies (originally performed by U2) Most-Played Alternative Artist Coldplay Most-Played Alternative Song "Dance, Dance" by Fall Out Boy Most-Played Blues Artist Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble Most-Played Blues Song "The Thrill Is Gone" by B.B. King Most-Played Christian Artist Third Day Most-Played Christian Song "Dare You to Move" by Switchfoot Most-Played Classical Artist Andrea Bocelli Most-Played Classical Recording "Time to Say Goodbye (Con Te Partiro)" by Andrea Bocelli Most-Played Comedy Artist Weird Al Yankovic Most-Played Comedy Recording "White & Nerdy" by Weird Al Yankovic Most-Played Country Artist Rascal Flatts Most-Played Country Song "What Hurts the Most" by Rascal Flatts Most-Played Dance/Electronic Artist Madonna Most-Played Dance/Electronic Recording "Everytime We Touch" by Cascada Most-Played Folk Artist Damien Rice Most-Played Folk Song "The Blower's Daughter" by Damien Rice Most-Played Hip-Hop Artist Eminem Most-Played Hip-Hop Song "Ridin'" by Chamillionaire Most-Played Jazz Artist Norah Jones Most-Played Jazz Recording "Come Away with Me" by Norah Jones Most-Played Latin Artist Shakira Most-Played Latin Song "Whenever, Wherever" by Shakira Most-Played Pop Artist Jack Johnson Most-Played Pop Song "Move Along" by All American Rejects Most-Played R&B Artist Mary J. Blige Most-Played R&B Song "Unfaithful" by Rihanna Most-Played Reggae Artist Sean Paul Most-Played Reggae Song "Temperature" by Sean Paul Most-Played Rock Artist Nickelback Most-Played Rock Song "Dance, Dance" by Fall Out Boy Most-Played World Artist Enya Most-Played World Song "Only Time" by Enya Napster U.K. Most-Played Artist Snow Patrol Most-Played Song "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley Most-Played New Artist Arctic Monkeys Most-Played NapsterLive Session The Feeling Rising Star Infernal Most-Played Self-Published Artist Suzanne Ciani Unstoppable Artist Frank Sinatra Most-Played Cover Song "One" by Mary J. Blige (originally performed by U2) Napster Germany Most-Played Artist Nelly Furtado Most-Played Song "No, No, Never" by Texas Lightning Most-Played New Artist Texas Lightning Most-Played NapsterLive Session Akon Rising Star Chamillionaire Most-Played Self-Published Artist Humberto y Sus Amigos Unstoppable Artist Elvis Presley Most-Played Cover Song "One" by Mary J. Blige (originally performed by U2) Napster Canada Most-Played Artist Coldplay Most-Played Song "You're Beautiful" by James Blunt Most-Played New Artist Gnarls Barkley Most-Played NapsterLive Session Default Rising Star KT Tunstall Most-Played Self-Published Artist David Barela Unstoppable Artist Johnny Cash Most-Played Cover Song "The First Cut Is the Deepest" by Sheryl Crow (originally performed by Cat Stevens) About Napster
Napster, the pioneer of digital music, offers the ultimate interactive music experience. With an expanding roster of offerings including free, Web-based music listening and sharing, subscription and portable subscription services, and an advanced mobile music platform, Napster creates better ways to discover, share, acquire and enjoy music — anytime, anywhere. Napster is headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in New York, London, Frankfurt and Tokyo.
Source: http://digital50.com
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