Anyone old enough to remember the file-sharing boom of the early 2000s will remember Napster. It’s the music-sharing platform that broke the Internet, violated copyright laws, and got sued, only to have Spotify, Apple, and others resurrect its core idea.
Now Napster is back, and instead of just sharing music, it’s about creating and collaborating using AI. The new Napster app for iOS and Android (or via the canvas) relies entirely on AI-generated content and real-time creation tools.
You can think of Napster as a kind of hub for all things audio. It offers music, podcasts, AI-powered wellness experiences, and what the company calls “collaborative creation.”
“Napster was born to push boundaries and we continue to do so,” said John Acunto, CEO of Napster. “We see this as a statement that the era of passive consumption is over.
Fans aren’t here to feed off a playlist. “They are here to co-create, merging their identities with AI artists in real time and shaping the soundtrack of a new era.”
How to use the new Napster
Without traditional record labels involved, Napster is certainly pushing the boundaries of music once again. However, it enters a space already occupied by established companies like Suno, which arguably offer more granular tools for creating AI-generated music and are also generating a lot of backlash against the concept as a whole.
The good thing is that it’s certainly easy to make music with the new Napster. Once you load the app, you’ll be asked to select an AI collaborator to help you create music. Each AI mentor represents a different genre: hip-hop, rock, country, pop, indie, etc.
Simply select your music mentor and then enter the type of music you want to create. The app will then generate tracks for you. From that moment on you will no longer have any real control over the sound of the music.
I downloaded the Napster app and asked one of their AI music collaborators, @nyx Nina Jenkins, their hip-hop music specialist, to help me create something with a “Bristol, UK sound, like Massive Attack.” After a few seconds, bristol nightsMy 3:07 minute AI creation was done and ready to share. There was even a video of Nina rapping, although she didn’t lip sync to the song. The app has also generated some similar tracks to listen to.
They all sounded dour and pessimistic as desired, but a little soulless and boring, a little too perfect but still quite pleasant to listen to, which is a well-known criticism of most AI-generated music.
Since the songs used “Massive Attack” and “Bristol” as lyrics, I don’t think Napster really understood anything about the classic British band or the ’90s Bristol trip-hop scene.
And the artists?
This isn’t the first time Napster has ventured into AI. Last year, the company launched a hardware product called Napster View AI, which brings holographic AI experts to your desktop to help you solve any problem you’re working on. And if you use the new Napster app through the macOS app, you can interact with music experts on a second dedicated screen using Napster View hardware.
The conversational AI video companions in the Napster app are a nice touch and make music creation more collaborative. However, given the backlash against AI music from mainstream artists, it’s unclear how Napster’s new direction will affect anyone who remembers its heyday in the early 2000s. Still, it’s sure to appeal to a younger audience.
Whether this will be enough to make Napster relevant again remains to be seen. For older listeners, the brand still carries the baggage of lawsuits, backlash and a music industry that once disrupted it.
For younger users, none of this really matters. For them, Napster is not a warning; It’s just another creative platform in a world where music is something you generate, remix and share in real time and doesn’t involve real artists.
If the original Napster sought to wrest control from the industry, this new version is betting that the next revolution will also be about wresting control from the artist.
