A blast from the past makes a foray into the future as Napster, the company that paved the way for today’s streaming music services, plans to plunge headlong into the metaverse. The pioneering music service began its journey online with the recent decision to appoint former Roblox Music Director John Wallapoulos as CEO of the company. Vallapoulos will use the experience he gained working on the sandbox game to lead the company’s move to virtual concerts.
There’s no question that the music industry is struggling to understand how the metaverse fits into traditional business models. While major record labels are taking careful steps to enforce their copyright infringement rights under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), many music companies are struggling to balance copyright protection. the artists they represent and the guarantee of wide accessibility of music for the masses. .
Perhaps then it makes sense for Napster to once again become the live Web3 platform. The company earned its early reputation for pioneering the music industry, taking advantage of what might be considered “technical shortcomings” to democratize music streaming.
While avatar-based gigs alone won’t solve industry-wide music delivery problems, they do show that music industry players are still interested in understanding how they can work on metaverse platforms like Roblox and Fortnite to reach new audiences.
Fortnite popularized the idea of metaverse concerts in 2019 when it featured an in-game performance with artist Marshmello. Since then, other artists who have performed in metaverse concerts include BLACKPINK, George Ezra, Travis Scott, Justin Bieber, The Chainsmokers, and Denzel Curry. Shows like this have become so commonplace that this year’s MTV Music Video Awards have an entire category dedicated to the best performances from the Metaverse.
As more and more artists fight to retain ownership of their music, it’s clear that the music industry’s historic approach to royalties and revenue reflects a very different era. Although less popular than rivals like Spotify and Apple Music, Napster is the only music streaming service that owns the direct rights to all independent labels, according to Forbes.
In addition, these metaverse concerts can help artists increase their profits through the sale of digital products. These items are also much cheaper to manufacture and distribute than physical goods.
Napster must be innovative if it can attract Vallapoulos, whose former official title on Roblox was vice president and global head of music. Vallapoulos has hosted virtual Roblox concerts from some of the biggest names in the music industry, including Twenty One Pilots and Lil Nas X.
It appears that Napster plans to incorporate avatar concerts into its overall strategy. The private company is now owned by two web3 organizations: Hivemind, which helped get the defunct music streaming service Limewire rebooted as an NFT marketplace, and Algorand, which develops infrastructure for blockchain and cryptocurrency platforms.
“I thought about how antisocial and uninteresting streaming services were, so when I was offered one to innovate, it was really hard to turn it down,” Wallapoulos told Forbes.
Roblox users looking to get their metaverse music fix can check out our September Roblox Music Codes to play tracks from their favorite artists in-game. You can also check out our list of Roblox Promo Codes for September to customize your avatars with free materials. Use them in the best Roblox games of 2022, including games like Adopt Me! and jailbreak.
Source : PC Gamesn
