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Music streaming service Napster has employed Jon Vlassopulos as its subsequent CEO. The corporate additionally introduced a brand new funding spherical.
The funding quantity wasn’t disclosed, besides that it’s in eight figures. If you happen to’re like me, you is perhaps questioning why Napster continues to be alive after it obtained crushed by the music corporations a few a long time in the past. Now that’s a little bit of a story.
Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker began Napster as a digital audio streaming service in 1999. It grew to about 80 million registered customers who liked the concept of free music. Napster had greater than 100 million MP3 tracks at its top.
I amassed a fairly large assortment of my very own. However then the likes of Metallica, Dr. Dre, A&M Data, and the Recording Business Affiliation of America got here out one after the other towards Napster and sued the startup. In mid-2002, Napster declared chapter and I mentioned so lengthy to my free music.
However that wasn’t really the top. Roxio purchased the Napster model and logos and revived its Pressplay music service as Napster 2.0. In 2008, Greatest Purchase purchased Napster. In 2011, Greatest Purchase merged Napster with Rhapsody. By 2016, Rhapsody phased out its model in favor of Napster. Then it was offered in 2020 to VR live performance agency MelodyVR.
And in Might 2022, Napster was offered to Hivemind, Algorand, and an investor consortium. The traders on this new spherical embrace Hivemind, Algorand, SkyBridge Capital, Alumni Ventures, Borderless Capital, and G20 Ventures, which is able to speed up Napster’s Web3 initiatives. Brevan Howard Digital, Arrington Capital, and RSE Ventures are additionally among the many present traders of the music model.
“Napster all the time stayed at the back of my thoughts and it has by no means actually been improved upon as a result of it was this neighborhood,” Vlassopulos mentioned in an interview with GamesBeat. “The way in which that the music providers ended up have been extra commodity than neighborhood. In order that was my first contact level with the model. It then obtained added to the service that you could be bear in mind Rhapsody service that RealNetworks had, which was really the primary streaming service earlier than Spotify. So then, Rhapsody grew to become branded as Napster.”
Vlassopulos mentioned that the unique music service had DNA as a music disrupter.
“It”s been operating alongside for various years as one of many Spotify rivals. And it has modified fingers a few instances,” he mentioned. “Now it’s a streaming music service with 100 million tracks obtainable all over the world.”
Napster gives streaming music to Sonos and different providers. It has lots of direct licenses with indie musicians. Vlassopulos mentioned the brand new firm has new ambitions because of its deep-pocketed Web3 traders and others.
“At Roblox, we created a brand new music trade within the metaverse,” he mentioned. “With Web3, there’s a large alternative for revolution, and a altering of the guard that we had just like 20 years in the past. Like we did on Roblox, followers need to join with the artists they love and be in a neighborhood.”
He isn’t disclosing a lot about that Web3 technique simply but, besides that it’s a hybrid Web2 and Web3 alternative.
Vlassopulos, the previous vice chairman and world head of music at Roblox, is credited with constructing the gaming platform firm’s music initiatives and bringing artists into the metaverse by way of interactive, immersive, and hyper social experiences.
“In our early discussions with Jon, we rapidly realized his imaginative and prescient of constructing a contemporary, new, and social on-line music service centered round connecting artists and followers in new methods, and leveraging Web3 expertise, aligns completely with the place we see Napster heading,” mentioned W. Sean Ford, CEO of Algorand, in an announcement. “We imagine Napster is the right model and platform to guide the subsequent technology of the music trade that goes past streaming or avatar-driven digital concert events. Jon’s sturdy connectivity with the music trade and huge expertise will give us the required management to make this a actuality.”
Due to Vlassopulos’ efforts, Roblox music experiences reached over 100 million followers and set the usual for digital concert events and music worlds that enable followers to take part within the artistic course of together with their favourite artists.
“It’s an honor to tackle this position and I’m thrilled to guide an organization with such a wealthy historical past within the music trade. With the arrival of Web3 expertise, we now have an unprecedented alternative to attach artists and followers in new, modern methods whereas additionally making the fan expertise extra enjoyable and social and creating new income streams for artists,” mentioned Vlassopulos. “I’ve spent the final three years working arduous to determine new, artistic, and industrial alternatives for artists within the metaverse and I’m trying ahead to working alongside the wonderful Napster workforce, our present and future companions, labels, artists,
publishers, manufacturers, and startups to deliver mainstream followers to Web3.”
Napster can be launching Napster Ventures which is able to give attention to fostering, investing in, and buying one of the best Web3 music startups.
“We’re excited for Napster to be a central participant within the music Web3 ecosystem,” mentioned Matt Zhang, founder and managing accomplice of Hivemind, in an announcement. “We stay up for rallying all of the wonderful
innovation that has occurred up to now so we will all collectively drive mainstream adoption of Web3 expertise for the music trade.”
Algorand, in partnership with Napster, can be launching an artist growth fund designed to assist artists navigate and achieve success in Web3. The fund will spend money on artists to assist help the advertising and launch of the Web3 artist initiatives globally.
Vlassopulos has been a serial entrepreneur, senior government, established investor, and thought chief within the music, gaming, and leisure house for the previous three a long time. After beginning his profession as a DJ, he then labored for BMG and Bertelsmann in Hong Kong, Tokyo, and New York within the late 90s the place he led a lot of their early digital initiatives and investments, together with engaged on the unique Napster 20+ years in the past, earlier than becoming a member of AT&T Wi-fi the place he launched the primary cellular music service within the US, and launched the primary cellular apps for a lot of main world manufacturers.
After AT&T, he ran the Digital and Branded Leisure divisions at Endemol, a number one world TV manufacturing firm earlier than turning into the CEO of Skyrockit, an award successful cellular leisure advertising and promoting company, with purchasers like vitaminwater, GAP, Virgin Cellular, and Clinique.
In 2019, Vlassopulos joined Roblox as Vice President and World Head of Music as the corporate sought to be the chief in constructing metaverse live performance experiences. Throughout his tenure, Jon created Roblox’s music technique from scratch and led the corporate’s initiatives and partnerships by establishing strategic, long-term relationships with report labels, publishers, administration corporations, companies, artists, manufacturers, and music startups from all over the world.
“Napster has all the time been on the forefront of music tech and a key accomplice in serving to us ship Sonos Radio to music followers all over the world,” mentioned Ryan Myers, basic supervisor of Sonos Radio, in an announcement. “We’re excited in regards to the information unveiled right now and stay up for working with Jon and his workforce within the months forward.”
Over time, Napster has paid out billions of {dollars} to the music trade, and so it has a observe report, Vlassapulos mentioned. And so a number of artists and firms and types need to accomplice with Napster, he mentioned.
He thinks that digital concert events the place hundreds of individuals collect in on-line experiences can be a part of the brand new music metaverse platforms. However the firm nonetheless has lots of work to do to determine all of it out.
The corporate has about 150 individuals in London, Seattle, Germany, France, and Brazil. The primary job is to double down on how Napster is a music neighborhood, Vlassopulos mentioned.
“There’s an trade alternative to construct one thing materials and we may have the potential to be a pacesetter for the subsequent period,” he mentioned.
Vlassopulos mentioned the corporate will use the funding spherical to evolve. The corporate will construct on companies primarily based on music and pitch them to its hundreds of thousands of followers who use Napster to take heed to music. And Napster will broaden music into the Web3 house and assist it turn into each extra modern and mainstream, he mentioned.
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