Why Napster, Music’s Original Disruptor, Will Never Die
That’s right, Web 1.0 veterans: Napster is alive.
Nearly three decades after the peer-to-peer file-sharing site forever altered the music industry and was subsequently sued into oblivion, Napster — now a legal streaming platform with a modest 1 million active users as of 2020 — was just bought by XR company Infinite Reality for $207 million.
The natural question, after learning that Napster still exists, is why it still exists despite its infamous history. The answer seems to be that the company’s reputation as one of the original internet-age “disruptors” remains alluring and inspiring to later generations of self-fashioned industry-shaking ventures. Infinite Reality is just the latest tech company to acquire Napster with a desire to transform it into a 21st-century music trailblazer, and the timing couldn’t be better.
While Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker’s original site shuttered when Napster filed for bankruptcy in 2002, the brand has taken on many forms — and just as many owners — between then and now.
Software company Roxio first rebooted the platform as an iTunes rival, even launching a Napster MP3 player with Samsung, to little avail. Best Buy tried to do the same in 2008, before selling it to music streamer Rhapsody in 2011, which rebranded it in 2016 into the Napster we know today.
The last five years have arguably been the most interesting ones in Napster’s afterlife. MelodyVR, a British startup that took off during the pandemic by putting on VR-friendly live concerts, acquired Napster for $70 million in 2020 in hopes of transforming the platform into a hub for both passive music listening and immersive experiences.
But less than two years later, Napster was sold once again to Web3 acolytes Hivemind Capital Partners and Algorand. The former resurrected fellow aughts file-sharing site Limewire as an NFT store that same year and thus had similar plans for retooling Napster for the Web3 age, here with the help of blockchain. But that vision didn’t come to pass, which led to the Infinite Reality deal last week.
Napster’s timeline of owners reads like a grab bag of companies spanning several eras of tech. But the throughline for all these names, including Infinite Reality, is the desire both to live up to Napster’s legacy and to do something bold, whether that be entering a new market, sparking a new trend or subverting the status quo.
For better or worse, the music industry as we know it today was formed in the shadow of sites like Napster. While a company such as the RIAA may associate Napster with theft, these tech shingles see a name that represents Silicon Valley-esque ideals: innovation, revolution and throwing out the old for, if not something better, then at least something new.
Infinite Reality is adding the likes of virtual concerts and fan events alongside Napster’s existing streaming platform, resulting in a more active user experience than what a typical music DSP provides and giving artists more ways to engage with and monetize their fanbase.
The plan may not be as novel as the MP3, but Infinite Reality’s version of Napster can potentially capitalize on major trends already taking shape. For one, virtual concerts are gaining interest as the XR industry grows: Fortnite has hosted numerous concerts featuring animated avatars of artists including Ariana Grande and Metallica, while Sabrina Carpenter streamed a concert in the metaverse last summer.
A YouGov survey in 2023 also found that 28% of VR users reported attending virtual live performances, making it the third-most-common activity behind playing video games and watching movies.
For another, Infinite Reality’s aim to gear Napster to music fans who want a more immersive and active music listening experience puts the platform squarely in the “superfans” arms race happening across the music industry. From the Big Three labels investing in paid superfan platforms to Spotify developing a subscription tier for superfans, 2025 is already looking to be an inflection point for restoring the monetary value recorded music has lost in the digital age.
While Napster competing to fix a problem it helped create is sardonically poetic, if a little funny, given that most of these superfan services are still in development, Infinite Reality has a head start, as it’s already crossed the hurdle of running live virtual experiences.
The timing is also ideal in terms of fan interest in virtual concerts: Luminate’s “Music 360” survey found that U.S.-based music superfans, as with other music-related activities, are more open than the general population in attending virtual concerts, with 33% even saying they’d prefer a virtual concert over an in-person one.
Still, the results do suggest it will take more than just airing a concert in VR to win over fans; for instance, 53% said they would lose interest in a virtual performance sooner than an in-person show. At the same time, incorporating over-and-above features such as an artist meet-and-greet or a song-request tool could be effective ways to bring in viewers and keep them invested.
Napster originally caught on not just because it was free. It was easy for average Joes to use even before internet proficiency was common. And despite myriad attempts to reinvigorate it, Infinite Reality has the best chance to see it through if it can indeed deliver an immersive, unique and bug-free experience.
Time will tell if Napster can seize the superfan market and reclaim its title as a thorn in the labels’ side or if Infinite Reality will pass on the onus to yet another ambitious entity.
Nearly three decades after the peer-to-peer file-sharing site forever altered the music industry and was subsequently sued into oblivion, Napster — now a legal streaming platform with a modest 1 million active users as of 2020 — was just bought by XR company Infinite Reality for $207 million.
The natural question, after learning that Napster still exists, is why it still exists despite its infamous history. The answer seems to be that the company’s reputation as one of the original internet-age “disruptors” remains alluring and inspiring to later generations of self-fashioned industry-shaking ventures. Infinite Reality is just the latest tech company to acquire Napster with a desire to transform it into a 21st-century music trailblazer, and the timing couldn’t be better.
While Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker’s original site shuttered when Napster filed for bankruptcy in 2002, the brand has taken on many forms — and just as many owners — between then and now.
Software company Roxio first rebooted the platform as an iTunes rival, even launching a Napster MP3 player with Samsung, to little avail. Best Buy tried to do the same in 2008, before selling it to music streamer Rhapsody in 2011, which rebranded it in 2016 into the Napster we know today.
The last five years have arguably been the most interesting ones in Napster’s afterlife. MelodyVR, a British startup that took off during the pandemic by putting on VR-friendly live concerts, acquired Napster for $70 million in 2020 in hopes of transforming the platform into a hub for both passive music listening and immersive experiences.
But less than two years later, Napster was sold once again to Web3 acolytes Hivemind Capital Partners and Algorand. The former resurrected fellow aughts file-sharing site Limewire as an NFT store that same year and thus had similar plans for retooling Napster for the Web3 age, here with the help of blockchain. But that vision didn’t come to pass, which led to the Infinite Reality deal last week.
Napster’s timeline of owners reads like a grab bag of companies spanning several eras of tech. But the throughline for all these names, including Infinite Reality, is the desire both to live up to Napster’s legacy and to do something bold, whether that be entering a new market, sparking a new trend or subverting the status quo.
For better or worse, the music industry as we know it today was formed in the shadow of sites like Napster. While a company such as the RIAA may associate Napster with theft, these tech shingles see a name that represents Silicon Valley-esque ideals: innovation, revolution and throwing out the old for, if not something better, then at least something new.
Infinite Reality is adding the likes of virtual concerts and fan events alongside Napster’s existing streaming platform, resulting in a more active user experience than what a typical music DSP provides and giving artists more ways to engage with and monetize their fanbase.
The plan may not be as novel as the MP3, but Infinite Reality’s version of Napster can potentially capitalize on major trends already taking shape. For one, virtual concerts are gaining interest as the XR industry grows: Fortnite has hosted numerous concerts featuring animated avatars of artists including Ariana Grande and Metallica, while Sabrina Carpenter streamed a concert in the metaverse last summer.
A YouGov survey in 2023 also found that 28% of VR users reported attending virtual live performances, making it the third-most-common activity behind playing video games and watching movies.
For another, Infinite Reality’s aim to gear Napster to music fans who want a more immersive and active music listening experience puts the platform squarely in the “superfans” arms race happening across the music industry. From the Big Three labels investing in paid superfan platforms to Spotify developing a subscription tier for superfans, 2025 is already looking to be an inflection point for restoring the monetary value recorded music has lost in the digital age.
While Napster competing to fix a problem it helped create is sardonically poetic, if a little funny, given that most of these superfan services are still in development, Infinite Reality has a head start, as it’s already crossed the hurdle of running live virtual experiences.
The timing is also ideal in terms of fan interest in virtual concerts: Luminate’s “Music 360” survey found that U.S.-based music superfans, as with other music-related activities, are more open than the general population in attending virtual concerts, with 33% even saying they’d prefer a virtual concert over an in-person one.
Still, the results do suggest it will take more than just airing a concert in VR to win over fans; for instance, 53% said they would lose interest in a virtual performance sooner than an in-person show. At the same time, incorporating over-and-above features such as an artist meet-and-greet or a song-request tool could be effective ways to bring in viewers and keep them invested.
Napster originally caught on not just because it was free. It was easy for average Joes to use even before internet proficiency was common. And despite myriad attempts to reinvigorate it, Infinite Reality has the best chance to see it through if it can indeed deliver an immersive, unique and bug-free experience.
Time will tell if Napster can seize the superfan market and reclaim its title as a thorn in the labels’ side or if Infinite Reality will pass on the onus to yet another ambitious entity.