Napster names ex-Roblox music exec as CEO

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Music streaming service Napster has hired Jon Vlassopulos as its next CEO. The company also announced a new funding round.

The funding amount wasn’t disclosed, except that it is in eight figures. If you’re like me, you might be wondering why Napster is still alive after it got crushed by the music companies a couple of decades ago. Now that’s a bit of a tale.

Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker started Napster as a digital audio streaming service in 1999. It grew to about 80 million registered users who loved the idea of free music. Napster had more than 100 million MP3 tracks at its height.

I amassed a pretty large collection of my own. But then the likes of Metallica, Dr. Dre, A&M Records, and the Recording Industry Association of America came out one by one against Napster and sued the startup. In mid-2002, Napster declared bankruptcy and I said so long to my free music.

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But that wasn’t actually the end. Roxio bought the Napster brand and logos and revived its Pressplay music service as Napster 2.0. In 2008, Best Buy bought Napster. In 2011, Best Buy merged Napster with Rhapsody. By 2016, Rhapsody phased out its brand in favor of Napster. Then it was sold in 2020 to VR concert firm MelodyVR.

And in May 2022, Napster was sold to Hivemind, Algorand, and an investor consortium. The investors in this new round include Hivemind, Algorand, SkyBridge Capital, Alumni Ventures, Borderless Capital, and G20