The music-sharing pioneer that started it all sold for $207 million

In 1999, the world of music was very different. Listening to music meant dusting off your cassette player or buying a new Discman. Then, Napster happened. It changed the way people consume music forever. The free service pioneered peer-to-peer music sharing and streaming well before iTunes or Spotify.       

The service didn't last very long, shutting down in 2001 amid ongoing legal battles, but ended up doing what music labels were reluctant to do - start a conversation about digital content sharing. It shook the music industry awake and forced them to deal with the inevitable transition to digital. 

The brand has now been sold off to Infinite Reality - a technology company focusing on "Immersive 3D interfaces," among other buzzwords you may have heard recently, like AI and metaverse.  

The company's CEO, John Acunto, told CNBC they plan to use the Napster branding in the "streaming space" to "create spaces for music." Napster also holds a sizeable amount of licenses for music tracks. 

Acunto said this version of Napster will "disrupt legally," and facilitate "crazy environments that are really only limited by their imaginations." The idea is to create a shared space in the metaverse where influencers, artists, and fans build communities dedicated to the music they like.   

Calling it "Clubhouse times a trillion," this version of Napster will be a tamed beast, ironically confined by the same corporates it once inspired to "disrupt."