napster
Former Roblox Head of Music Jonathan Vlassopulos Joins Napster as CEO
Former Roblox vp and global head of music Jonathan Vlassopulos has joined Napster as CEO, the company announced Sunday (Sept. 25). Vlassopulos, who departed Roblox in April after three years, became known for shaping the company’s cutting-edge virtual concert strategy in the early days of the pandemic, with the platform hosting blockbuster virtual shows for artists including Lil Nas X, Tai Verdes, Twenty One Pilots and 24KGoldn. He also navigated Roblox through a rough patch after the company was sued by the National Music Publishers’ Association (NMPA) for copyright infringement in June 2021. The two parties settled the $200 million lawsuit three months later and launched talks for go-forward licensing deals. Vlassopulos joins Napster four months after the company — which began in 1999 as...
Corey Taylor on Lars Ulrich’s Napster Fight: “He Was So Right on So Many F**king Levels”
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-04-28T16:17:49+00:00“>April 28, 2021 | 12:17pm ET Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor has defended Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich for the latter’s infamous legal battle with file-sharing service Napster. In a new interview, Taylor said Ulrich “was so right on so many f**king levels” regarding the future of digital music and the compensation of artists. “I remember everyone giving him so much shit ’cause of that,” Taylor told Steve-O on the latter’s “Wild Ride!” podcast (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “It’s scary. And I wonder how many people look back and eat a little crow because of that… ‘Cause he knew — he knew that this was the direction we were going.” Related Video In May 200...
Napster Sold to Virtual Reality Concert App MelodyVR for $70 Million
Napster is on the move, again. London-based virtual reality concerts company MelodyVR announced on Tuesday that it is acquiring Rhapsody International, which operates as Napster, from its majority owner RealNetworks for the price tag of $70 million. MelodyVR, which operates an app specializing in live virtual reality music experiences, plans on combining with Napster to create the “first ever music entertainment platform which combines immersive visual content and music streaming,” said Anthony Matchett, MelodyVR’s CEO. The $70 million transaction is expected to close by year’s end and breaks down as $15 million in cash, $11 million in MelodyVR stock and the assumption of roughly $44 million in payments owed by Napster to various music industry entities. “For music&...
