Napster originally announced its move into blockchain last June with a plan to launch a token using the Algorand blockchain
The streaming music variant of the famous Napster brand is taking its next step into Web3 with the purchase of startup Mint Songs.
Napster initially announced its move into blockchain in June 2022 with a plan to start a token using the Algorand blockchain. Now, Napster says the Mint Songs acquisition will be the base for the firm’s first Web3 offerings.
The co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Mint Songs, Garrett Hughes, will join Napster as an advisor.
As we looked for a partner that could take what we have built over the last two years and give artists a true marketplace for their assets where millions of fans are already active, it became abundantly clear that Jon and Napster have the vision to finally take Web3 music to the mainstream, Hughes said in a statement.
The new platform, according to Napster, will offer digital collectibles that focus on connecting artists with their fans by building a community around the artist and their music and permitting the artist to engage with their fanbase.
The aspiration is that we can bring this innovation to the mainstream and get consumers—regular fans—just doing it, Napster CEO Jon Vlassopulos told Decrypt. So it is nearly going back to that (point) where you had collectible downloads that were in short supply, and it just was not on-chain.
The purchase of Mint Songs is the first deal by the newly created Napster Ventures, which the firm says focuses on fostering, investing in, and acquiring the best Web3 music startups.
Napster was initially a P2P file-sharing platform focused on digital audio that brought about a firestorm online and in the media, causing congressional hearings on copyright and ownership in the digital age. Originally launched in June 1999 by Sean Parker—later the founding president of Facebook—and Shawn Fanning, the platform was inoperative by 2001 due to legal challenges aimed at the music-sharing service.
But while the P2P file-sharing technology was gone, the Napster brand lived on.
In 2011, Napster was acquired by Best Buy, which integrated it with its brand Rhapsody, which revived the brand in 2016. While some have written Napster off as a ‘zombie brand,’ Vlassopulos says the platform is anything but.
We have been in the market since the end of September, October, and we have had half a billion media hits—it has been nothing but positive in terms of the brand, Vlassopulos said.
Vlassopulos says that bringing Napster into Web3 is a great chance for it to be a disruptor once again.
We were the original disrupter—there is a feeling of ownership that we are coming back to disrupt again, he said. Napster has been around for 20 years and has generated more than a billion in revenue.
We are excited for Napster to be a central player in the music Web3 ecosystem, and acquiring Mint Songs is a huge foundational move, according to founder and managing partner of Hivemind Matt Zhang. The blend of Napster’s ongoing innovation that powers the platform at present, together with Mint Songs’ technology IP and expertise, will help drive Web3 innovation for the music industry.
Napster says it aims to combine Mint Songs’ technology into the Napster platform and roll out products and services already on the Mint Songs’ roadmap. Vlassopulos says the first iteration of the new Napster platform is set for release in Q2 2023.
