In A Massive Twist, NAPSTER Is Apparently The Highest Paying Music Platform

Napster getting sued into bolivian and filing for bankruptcy basically solved nothing for the music industry. It's like when the CIA assassinates a drug lord, terrorist leader etc etc. It's a PR win but 500 other things were there to take it's place. For me and a lot of others, Limewire slid right on in and took over without the slightest hiccup. Well, sure, There were a lot of computers deep fried by viruses and there were at least 50 songs I downloaded labeled something like boulevard_of_broken_dreams.mp3 that turned out to be an intentionally mislabeled Soulja Boy songs, but that was just part of the fun! Point is, Napster going down didn't stop the P2P game at all. 

The music industry uniting around Napster's demise only for them to be their highest paying platform is a hilarious irony. Especially when you look at those other rates. Spotify and Apple Music are two of the most-used platforms and they're middle of the pack, but look at YouTube Music! they're paying $1 for every $23.50 that Napster pays! 

The part of this story that a lot of people are missing is that this isn't really Napster. After they got destroyed, their brand and logos were bought by another company, Roxio. They got sold again to Best Buy in 2008. Then they merged with Rhapsody in 2011, and Rhapsody later got phased out in favor of the Napster brand. They were sold again in 2020 to MelodyVR. So the brand, the nature and function of the service and basically everything else about Napster is gone. It's the same name, but that is basically it. 

I'm an adult now which means I'm a sucker and pay for music. But I'll never forget the Napster days and the 2 great influences Sean Parker added to cinema. The Social Network, and this great character: