Napster is sold for 200 million – and becomes the Metaverse platform

The US start-up Infinite Reality is buying the music service Napster for 207 million US dollars. This was confirmed by both parties in a joint announcement. Infinite Reality wants to transform Napster into a kind of music metaverse.

In its announcement, Infinite Reality describes itself as "an innovation company driving the next generation of digital media and e-commerce through extended reality (XR), artificial intelligence (AI) and other immersive technologies." As part of this vision, Napster will evolve from a pure streaming service to a social platform.

"Social music platform"

As a "social music platform", Napster aims to set itself apart from the competition, writes Infinite Reality. For example, the company has the idea of building 3D rooms within Napster where fans can hang out and watch virtual concerts together. Other "immersive and community-based experiences" are also conceivable, writes Infinite Reality. The concept is reminiscent of "Fortnite", which is often described as the first gaming metaverse.

This similarity goes even further: Infinite Reality wants to expand Napster's merchandise business. In addition to physical merchandise, "digital merchandise" and "exclusive digital content" will also be sold. In other words: Infinite Reality wants to sell skins for digital characters for real money – Video game fans know this as microtransactions. Infinite Reality also promises to incorporate gamification elements into Napster to keep fan engagement high and encourage users to spend money.

Turbulent years

The Napster music service can look back on a long and turbulent company history. Founded in 1999, the platform was one of the most important music sharing platforms on the Internet black market for years before it was sued off the market. Napster's assets were eventually sold. This was followed by several attempts to re-establish the brand as a music streaming service – but Napster was unable to compete with the competition from Spotify, Apple Music and the like. The company has been sold on several times in recent years, most recently in 2020 to MelodyVR and in 2022 to the crypto companies Algorand and Hivemind.

"We are delighted that Napster will now become part of Infinite Reality, validating a new paradigm for music and media," said Algorand co-founder Steve Kokinos on the acquisition by Infinite Reality.

(dahe)