Napster. Now there’s a reputation you haven’t heard in a couple of years… or extra seemingly many years. Now, immersive net firm Infinite Actuality introduced it’s acquired the model for $207 million.
Having simply closed a $3 billion funding in January, Infinite Actuality says the Napster music streaming service will quickly embrace a “social music platform” that may embrace branded 3D digital areas for digital concert events and listening events.
Moreover, the corporate says Napster may even promote each bodily and digital merchandise, unique digital content material, and occasion tickets.
“By buying Napster, we’re paving a path to a brighter future for artists, followers, and the music trade at massive,” mentioned John Acunto, Infinite Actuality co-Founder and CEO. “This strategic transfer aligns with Infinite Actuality’s imaginative and prescient to guide an web trade shift from a flat 2D clickable net to a 3D conversational one – giving all creators fashionable instruments to higher interact, monetize, and measure their audiences.”
CEO Jon Vlassopulos, previously of Roblox, will proceed main Napster, noting he envisions a next-generation platform the place followers can work together with artists in 3D digital areas, making music consumption extra social and immersive.
Based in 2019, Infinite Actuality’s flagship product is iR Studio, an engine for constructing immersive web sites, replete with social digital environments and avatars. The corporate says WebXR is supported by iR Engine, nevertheless the hosted iR Studio device doesn’t have the function presently turned on. Nonetheless, it’s a risk Napster may help WebXR sooner or later, which suggests any VR headset able to utilizing a WebXR browser, though that is pure hypothesis at this level.
This isn’t the primary time the Napster model has modified palms since its 2002 chapter, which was resulting from its platform permitting for unlicensed P2P sharing of music, attracting the ire of rock band Metallica. Through the years, the corporate has been acquired by a laundry record of firms that hoped to leverage the model’s large enchantment, most lately turning the one-time music sharing platform right into a subscriber-based music streaming platform.
Curiously, Infinite Actuality additionally isn’t the primary XR-focused firm to buy Napster both. In August 2020, London-based digital live performance firm MelodyVR acquired Napster for $70 million, which hoped to carry immersive video concert events to VR headset customers. Previous to the Infinite Actuality acquisition, Napster’s most up-to-date proprietor was blockchain firm Algorand, which hoped to decentralize music.
