A model that was notoriously linked to music piracy earlier than reemerging as a subscription music service has been offered to Infinite Actuality for $207 million.
The tech startup introduced Tuesday it had purchased Napster in hopes of reworking the streaming service right into a social music platform the place artists can join with followers and higher monetize off their work.
“The internet has evolved from desktop to mobile, from mobile to social, and now we are entering the immersive era. Yet, music streaming has remained largely the same. It’s time to reimagine what’s possible,” said Napster CEO Jon Vlassopulos in a weblog publish.
Amongst its plans to replace Napster, Infinite Actuality mentioned it’s going to create digital 3D areas that may enable followers to attend concert events, and provides musicians or labels the flexibility to promote digital and bodily merchandise. Artists may also obtain a wider vary of metrics and analytics to higher perceive the habits of platform customers.
“We will consider no higher use case for our expertise than placing it within the fingers of music artists who’re consistently pushing the boundaries of what’s attainable,” mentioned Infinite Actuality Chief Enterprise Officer Amish Shah.
Napster was launched in 1999 by Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker and rapidly turned the primary important peer-to-peer file-sharing software. It shuttered in early 2000s after the document business and common rock band Metallica sued over copyright violations. Rhapsody later purchased the model in 2011 and relaunched it as a music streaming service.
This story was initially featured on Fortune.com
