Winamp has made this promise before. Back in 2018, the then-CEO told TechCrunch a completely rebuilt Winamp would arrive in 2019 with streaming built in. It never came. Now the company is announcing another comeback for 2027, this time with an actual streaming partner: Deezer.
The deal, signed July 1, pairs Winamp’s brand with Deezer’s white-label infrastructure and licensed music catalog. Winamp keeps its branding and the subscriber relationship. Deezer handles the back end and supplies the music. The new subscription-based app will support local files, podcasts, internet radio, and cloud libraries alongside the streaming tier. The classic desktop app stays alive too. Winamp claims it still has over 40 million active users worldwide, and the same Deezer subscription will be added to the original player after the new one launches.
For Deezer, this is a business necessity more than a nostalgia play. The company’s partnership subscription segment dropped to 3.1 million users in the first half of 2026, down roughly 800,000 year over year, after a bundling deal with Latin American retailer Mercado Libre wound down. Revenue from that segment fell 7.6 percent to 70.7 million euros. Deezer told investors in April that white-label deals are now a core priority. Recent signings include Telenor and French energy supplier EDF. Winamp is the biggest brand name yet to plug into that program.
So both sides need this to work. Winamp has no music licenses and no streaming infrastructure. Deezer needs partners to rebuild a declining revenue line. That’s the deal.
Still, questions remain. Winamp hasn’t said anything about pricing, supported platforms, or what “fundamentally different” actually means for users. No privacy disclosures. No data practices. Just a press release with a 2027 date and a promise of social features and customizable interfaces. We’ve heard that before too.