The ones with 9 lives- The reinvention of Napster and NotJustOk.com

“When the going gets tough, the tough reinvent.” “To win at life and to win in this competition, you have to be willing to die a thousand deaths and be born a thousand times” — RuPaul

When we talk about the revolutionization of the music industry, the mention of Napster is inevitable. Napster created a whole new and exciting experience for music lovers and also ruffled a couple of feathers in the music industry. The journey of Napster stands as an intriguing reflection of the digital music industry.

The Evolution of Napster.

The arrival of Napster in 1999 marked the emergence of a decentralised peer to peer (p2p) sharing of music over the internet. Napster allowed users to share electronic copies of music stored on their computers.

At a time when people only had access to MP3s ripped from their CDs, cassette tapes and vinyl records the emergence of Napster was the closest they were to a wide array of songs like streaming services give today.

Napster’s illegal operations  were eventually shut down in 2001 due to the lawsuit by the Recording Industry Association of America(RIAA), an association which represents the interest of music labels and artists.  RIAA filed a lawsuit against Napster for the unauthorised distribution of copyrighted songs.

Over the years, Napster’s reinvention can be likened to a sequel with different chapters, with each chapter being more intriguing than the former. Napster, through mergers,  acquisitions, rebranding, expansions and partnerships has constantly revamped its operations.

From Napster 1.0 the original illegal file sharing platform, there was the invention of Napster 2.0 the legitimate streaming service. According to real networks, Napster started 2020 with over 3 million users across four continents with 90 million licensed tracks 

Napster 2.0 offers a subscription service and a free trial subscription for non customers which allows unlimited plays for up to 30 days or up to 400 plays over a more extended period. The platform served 10.8 billion streams in 2019 with annual revenues of $113 million

At the end of 2020 it had only 1.2 million monthly active users. A visible challenge with Napster 2.0 was its inability to compete with the likes of spotify and Apple music.

2022 ushered in Napster 3.0 when the company was sold once again to a pair of companies from the web3 sector called Hivemind and Algorand. The plan is to launch as a decentralised music first ecosystem to the benefit of fans, music makers and right holders. Napster has now taken a step into the metaverse by partnering with a tech firm called TerraZero. 

This partnership which was announced in 2024 is aimed at creating virtual hangouts for artists on Napster where fans will be able to chat, stream music and watch virtual performances. Napster is also launching an artist development fund to help artists become involved in web3.

The introduction of music blogs in Nigeria.

While we had platforms like Napster change the game of music consumption globally, Napster wasn’t directly influential in certain regions of the world such as Nigeria. However, its indirect impact cannot be denied. A notable example of Napster’s indirect impact is the introduction of Music blogs.

Music blogs such as Jaguda.com,360Nobs.com, NotJustOK.com, Tooxclusive.com, Naijaloaded.com, 9jaflaver.com infiltrated the Nigerian music industry from 2007 marking a historical moment. Prior to this time, artists had to distribute their music physically with the main distribution hub being the Alaba international market. The method of distribution was not only cost intensive, it was also largely characterised by piracy.

These blogs hosted songs which gave the public access to permanently download copyrighted songs most of which were hosted without permission. These blogs were used by artists to promote their content but there was no revenue coming in from these blogs. Hence, artists were giving away free downloads of their songs in exchange for the popularity of the songs and reaching a wider range of targeted audience.

These blogs were heavily influential for about a decade in the Nigerian music industry. They were identified as the main platforms through which music was released and consumed. Slowly, these blogs started losing that power with the rise of streaming platforms in Nigeria. 

With these streaming platforms, artists had control unlike what was attainable with the music blogs. Artists were also paid for the streams so it was very convincing to move on from these blogs.

The acts of these blogs were also largely illegal, although this had not been expressly stated in the Nigerian copyright Act(1999), many intellectual property enthusiasts and scholars had constantly kicked against this illegal hosting of copyrighted songs. However, the New Copyright Act(2022) signed into law March 17, 2023 includes it as a form of infringement.

Since the heavy decline in the relevance of music blogs, very few of them have made any attempts to stay afloat. Most of them are still operating with the same business models which the world seems to have moved on from while some simply don't exist anymore.

The evolution of NotJustOk.com.

Noteworthy is the striving efforts of NotJustOk.com in reinstating its relevance in this fast paced environment. At the time when blogs were very influential, NotjustOk could easily be described as one of the most popular and commendable blogs due to its number of users and the amount of traffic it generated. The blog boasts of over 1.2 million viewers per month from 183 countries. It also won several awards as the blog of the year and music website of the year.

The feats of this blogs are indeed remarkable as it has constantly reinvented itself to fit the demands of the industry, an attribute which can be strongly compared to Napster.

Today, NotjustOk has reinvented itself as a music streaming service called Mino Music and a music distribution and publishing service called NotJustOk distribution.

However, although NotjustOk’s reinvention is commendable, its ability to compete and survive with the big names in the industry now becomes a point of concern. Now we have the likes of Apple music, Spotify, Youtube music, Boomplay etc. taking over the music streaming game and the likes of ONErpm, Platoon, The Orchard etc. taking over the music distribution game what are the chances that Mino Music or NotJustOk distribution will be able to float in this environment?

The Juxtaposition

Great similarities can be drawn from the rebirth of Napster and NotJustOk.com. They placed music fans and lovers as priority, making sure that music was accessible. These two platforms have both had their share of widespread usage  under the operations that weren’t exactly the most legal. 

They also have had their fair share of legal but mid tier reinvention due to the inability to effectively compete with the rest in the game. Napster 2.0 is a streaming service which irrespective of its interesting business model was not revolutionary enough to cause a stare in the music industry like Napster 1.0 did. Same can be said about NotJustOk, white it is surviving quite fairly it’s impact can be rightly described as being subpar compared to the impact it had previously.

Napster’s introduction of Napster 3.0 might just be its groundbreaking re-entry into the industry because it dares to enter a space that has been greatly untapped in the music industry.

In this ever changing environment powered by the internet, online experiences are becoming more realistic. Web3 and metaverse technologies come with a disruptive model moving to transform how we engage our favourite artists. An immersive experience that promises new ways we consume music through virtual performances, virtual merch sales, virtual artists, music NFTs etc.

MTV video awards have now introduced a “Best Metaverse Performance” category launched at the 2022 VMAs, the first award was won by K-pop Blackpink

Although NotJustOk has not made any public statement indicating that there are plans of them venturing into the Web3 space, with their history of being risk takers with a strong inclination towards staying afloat and reinventing themselves to reflect the realities of the music industry, it is not improbable that this is a plan in motion for the company.

Conclusion

The music industry is a fast paced environment and it only benefits the risk takers who are willing to evolve. At the introduction of Napster in 1999, other platforms imitated their model however, many of them have gone into extinction today. Same can be said about many of the music blogs who were in competition with NotJustOk.

Objectively, the metaverse may or may not be the future of the music industry but it is certainly a beneficial and progressive step worth taking for those bold enough to challenge the heavy dependence on the music streaming system, a system which cannot be described as fully rewarding for all the artists because just like the era heavily influenced by music blogs, most artists have had to rely on performances as a major source of income.