Napster gained reputation over 25 years in the past by permitting customers to obtain MP3 songs totally free. At its peak in February 2001, it had an estimated 80 million users.
After authorized challenges, Napster shut down in July 2001. In 2016, it was reborn as a music streaming service that supplied entry to over 110 million songs for $11 per thirty days and paid artists and songwriters over $1 billion in royalties.
Now, a brand new purchaser goals so as to add one other dimension to Napster, increasing it from a music streaming service to a digital actuality platform.
3D know-how firm Infinite Actuality acquired Napster on Tuesday for $207 million. The acquisition positions Napster to turn into greater than only a music streaming service — it could now additionally revenue from the metaverse, the 3D digital area accessed by way of a digital actuality headset just like the Meta Quest 3 or Apple Vision Pro.
Underneath the Napster identify, Infinite Actuality plans to create 3D areas, or digital rooms inside the metaverse, the place Napster artists can host digital concert events or listening events for his or her followers and just about promote merchandise.
Infinite Actuality, which is valued at $12.25 billion, was interested in Napster’s official licenses for tens of millions of songs and its identify.
“I feel there is not any higher identify than Napster to disrupt,” Infinite Actuality CEO John Acunto told CNBC.
Digital concert events have already been occurring within the metaverse by way of apps like Meta’s AmazeVR Concerts, although Napster has not hosted digital occasions but.
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Napster launched in 1999 and shortly grew to become the primary file-sharing service to achieve a major person base. Napster confronted authorized bother when the band Metallica sued the company in 2000 for copyright infringement and won, main the corporate to shut down its file-sharing operations.
As a music streaming service, Napster has lagged behind rivals like Spotify and Apple Music. In response to Music Ally, Napster had round one million month-to-month energetic customers on the finish of 2020. As compared, Spotify ended 2020 with 345 million month-to-month energetic customers.
Infinite Actuality was based in 2019 and raised $3 billion in January from nameless traders. In the identical month, the corporate acquired the digital buying platform Obsess for an undisclosed sum.
