Former Roblox head of music to launch Napster into the metaverse

pcgamesn.com:

A blast from the past makes a foray into the future as Napster, a company that paved the way for modern music streaming services, plans to dive headfirst into the metaverse. The pioneering music service kicked off its web3 journey with its recent move to bring former Roblox music lead Jon Vallapulos on as the company CEO. Vallapulos will use the expertise he gained working with the sandbox game to spearhead the company’s push into virtual concerts.

There’s no question that the music industry has struggled to figure out where the metaverse fits into traditional business models. With major record labels taking meticulous measures to exercise their rights to copyright strikes under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), many music companies have struggled to strike a balance between protecting the rights of the artists they represent and making music broadly accessible to the masses.

Perhaps it makes sense, then, for Napster to remerge as a web3 concert platform. The company earned its original reputation because it was a trailblazer within the music industry, relying on what could be considered ‘technical loopholes’ to democratise music streaming.

While avatar-based concerts won’t single-handedly resolve industry-wide issues with streaming music, it shows that those in the music business remain dedicated to figuring out how they can work within metaverse platforms such as Roblox and Fortnite to reach new audiences.

Fortnite popularized the idea of metaverse concerts in 2019 when it hosted an in-game performance featuring recording artist Marshmello. Since then, other artists that have embraced metaverse concerts include BLACKPINK, George Ezra, Travis Scott, Justin Bieber, The Chainsmokers, and Denzel Curry. Such