Socially distanced live music is starting to make a comeback, but MelodyVR have come up with a new way of doing things. The virtual reality gigs website, a newcomer on the scene, has profited out of the pandemic and just last night they confirmed that they had purchased Rhapsody International, which is better known as Napster. The streaming service was bought for $70 million (£53 million).
The deal promises “a truly next-generation music service” as they plan to offer a combined streaming and immersive live music service. Ultimately the intention is to bring together Napster’s library of more than 90 million tracks with MelodyVR’s catalogue of live performances.
MelodyVR say, “It’s incredibly exciting to be unifying complementary platforms and fantastic audiences, rooted in a love of music and a deep desire to offer the very best experience to artists, fans, the wider music community and brands.”
Recently, MelodyVR hosted ‘Wireless Connect’, a virtual, ‘360°’ version of the well-loved urban music festival. Their live performance credits range from Nelly, in the series ‘Live from LA’, to Panic! At the Disco at the London O2 Academy. Coming up, live music fans can enjoy a new collaboration with London’s iconic venue, Brixton Academy.
The way MelodyVR works is that it established safe studios in London and LA for these socially distanced gigs, and fans then paid to watch on their app, using VR headsets. You can even select where you’re ‘standing’ in the crowd.
Napster has had a complicated history. In the 1990s it was an illegal downloading platform, but lawsuits from the likes of Dr Dre and Metallica ensured that it filed for bankruptcy in 2002. Since then, it has been owned by Roxio, the electronics company Best Buy and most recently, the streaming service Rhapsody.
CEO of MelodyVR, Anthony Matchett, says that “For music fans today, live and recorded music are intrinsically linked. We are as keen to see our favourite artists perform live as we are to listen to their albums. Our purchase of Napster, one of the music industry’s original disruptors, is born out of our wish to deliver the world’s foremost music experience, available seamlessly across audio and visual media and in turn presenting a truly next-generation music service.”
The CEO of Napster, Bill Patrizio, had this to add: “This is a tremendous outcome for two organizations with complementary platforms and loyal audiences, and we could not be more excited to be moving forward as one company.”
MelodyVR sees this as an opportunity for greater connection between fans and artists in the future. Additionally, they expect to share more and more of what goes on behind the scenes and what it’s like to be an artist, therefore opening the music world up to music lovers from the comfort of their own homes.
