US electricals giant Best Buy is to acquire online music business Napster for US$121 million (£67.3 million).

Best Buy said that Napster has “one of the most comprehensive and easy to use music offerings in the industry” and the deal will allow it to extend its appeal.

Best Buy chief operating officer Brian Dunn said: “This transaction offers Best Buy a recognised platform for enhancing our capabilities in the digital media space and building new, recurring relationships with customers.

“Over time we hope to strengthen our offerings to consumers, who we believe will increasingly seek devices and solutions that enable them to access their content wherever, whenever and however they want.”

Napster generated sales last year of US$127.5 million (£70.9 million) and made a loss of US$16.5 million (£9.2 million).

Best Buy said the deal includes “Napster’s 700,000 digital entertainment subscribers, its web-based customer service platform and innovative mobile capabilities.”