Napster—remember that blast from the past? Well, it’s making a comeback, thanks to Infinite Reality, an immersive web company that just scooped up the Napster brand for a whopping $207 million.
Earlier this year, Infinite Reality wrapped up a massive $3 billion investment round, fueling its ambitions to revamp the Napster music streaming service. The plan? Transform it into a “social music platform” where you’ll find branded 3D virtual spaces perfect for virtual concerts and listening parties. But that’s not all—in the mix is a marketplace featuring both physical and virtual merchandise, exclusive digital content, and tickets to events.
John Acunto, Infinite Reality’s co-founder and CEO, had this to say: “With Napster under our belt, we’re charting a new course for artists, fans, and the entire music industry. This strategic acquisition gels with our mission at Infinite Reality to shift from a flat, 2D web to a dynamic, 3D web that provides creators with cutting-edge tools to engage, monetize, and understand their audiences better.”
The familiar name of Jon Vlassopulos, who previously worked with Roblox, continues steering the Napster ship. He’s excited about crafting a next-gen platform where fans can connect with artists in immersive 3D environments, making the music experience more communal and engaging.
Infinite Reality, born in 2019, has its flagship product iR Studio, an innovative engine for crafting immersive websites filled with social virtual environments and avatars. Although the iR Engine supports WebXR, their current iR Studio tool hasn’t activated this feature yet. There’s buzz that Napster might venture into WebXR territory eventually, offering VR headset users an enhanced experience, though that remains to be seen.
It’s intriguing how the Napster brand keeps bouncing around post its early 2000s bankruptcy, which happened after the platform infamously enabled unlicensed P2P music sharing, drawing the ire of Metallica back in the day. Over the years, Napster’s appeal tempted numerous companies, transforming it into a subscription-based music streaming service along the way.
Interestingly, Infinite Reality isn’t the first XR-focused player to snag Napster. Back in August 2020, MelodyVR, based in London, picked it up for $70 million with dreams of delivering immersive video concerts to VR users. Before this latest acquisition, Napster was under the wing of blockchain company Algorand, which aimed to decentralize the music scene.
