Napster Is Doing AI Music Now — And Still Taking Shots at the Major Labels

Three weeks after abruptly shutting down its user-scarce streaming service, the current incarnation of Napster is launching a new AI music app — even as it continues to face a lawsuit from Sony Music over allegedly unpaid royalties. “ We don’t think that the future of music involves the labels anymore,” Napster CEO John Acunto tells Rolling Stone. “I just think they’re dead.”The Napster app, available today for iOS and Android, adds a personality-heavy chatbot layer onto a prompt-driven music-generation format that should be otherwise familiar to users of services like Suno. The company boasts more than 15,000 AI personas, all powered by Google’s Gemini, and they hope consumers will think of their approach as “jamming” with “AI artists.” “What we’re trying to do is create more of an experience,” says Napster CTO Edo Segal. “The human experience of interacting with other parties, and a kind of multi-turn creation process, in the same way that humans jam and create stuff together.” In contrast to the original Napster’s defiance of copyright law, the company promises that they’ll be licensing “ethically trained,” copyright-friendly music-generating models.For Napster, music is now just one piece of a much larger operation. The brand was acquired last March for $207 million by Infinite Reality, a metaverse and AI firm that has since pushed into new territory, including an AI concierge kiosk called Station and a $99 holographic display, Napster View, that projects the company’s AI companions from atop a MacBook. Napster also encourages users to make an AI clone of themselves and chat with that instead via Napster View; Segal says you’ll eventually be able to use your digital double as a music collaborator too. 

The relaunch arrives amid considerable turbulence for the company. A promised $3 billion funding round fell through last year after the investor apparently vanished; the company has described itself as a “victim of misconduct” and says it is cooperating with law enforcement. Meanwhile, in its lawsuit, filed in August, Sony Music alleges $9.2 million in unpaid royalties, claiming that Napster continued streaming Sony’s catalog even after a licensing agreement was terminated in June 2025. SoundExchange also sued the company over royalties, and at least half a dozen other labels and distributors have complained publicly about missing payments.

CEO John Acunto spoke with Rolling Stone about the app, the state of the company, and more. (This conversation has been condensed for readability.)

Do you have plans to compensate the major labels for the streaming royalties you owe them?
When we acquired Napster, we acquired all kinds of problems, including the major-label relationships. We at some point look to repair the relationships with major labels. But I think major labels have been a suppressant and a problem in people owning their content, owning their data, and I think they’re continuing to be a suppressant. So we just don’t really have an interest in having a relationship with them. We don’t think that the future of music involves the labels anymore.

I hate to say this, because the problems that we have with the labels came with the acquisition. But I see nothing that tells me that the major labels want to do anything but control and use data that is not really from their creation. The old label model is dead. I think we’ve seen that with TikTok and other distribution platforms — Instagram — that are doing a much better job at distributing and getting the public aware of music than labels ever have in this new digital age. I just think they’re dead.

On our platform, when you create the music yourself, you actually own what you created… Major labels have been out of that game for a very long time. They’re just cherry-picking individuals to take advantage of, quite frankly. What are they bringing to the table, right? Other than whatever’s left of radio. Are you gonna get a Target CD deal? Are you gonna sell a couple of albums? 

What is the role of music within Napster going forward? What percentage of the company’s time and energy will be put towards music, versus all these other things you’re working on?
I would say that music is a big part because it’s a part of our culture. We really see music as a core way to connect with audiences around the world. 

But something like Napster View or Station — that’s not a music product.
It’s not a music product. No, not at all. And a lot of our products aren’t music products.

So it’s of spiritual importance to the company, but direct music products are going to be one of many approaches, it’s fair to say?
It is fair to say. It’s a way for us to continue to connect to audiences and introduce it to many different communities globally.

What is the value of Napster’s brand outside of music?
You remember Napster. We all were a part of that whole world. If you recall, the core of Napster was that I would buy my CD in the store with all 27 tracks on it — I only wanted one, by the way — and then I would load that in my computer and I wanted the right to share the things that I owned. I owned it, I bought it, and I felt like I had a right to share it. Napster was attempting to help protect data. The core of our business is truly protecting and preserving data.

The question that we have for our customers is: if you are typing into ChatGPT today, they know everything. They know who you are. They know where you work. You are not owning any of the data that you’re getting for the research on that. Our pretext for everything is that we are building a platform where our customers own the data, own the content, and own the experience.

At the bigger level of AI, the discussion that’s not happening is: We are hearing so much about the power of machines, but who’s empowering the humans? If you don’t own the data, then you don’t own anything as mankind. Just like [the original] Napster, we’re trying to bring back that discussion. Because if we continue to just give away to the machines — I share the sentiment that this gut scraping of intellectual property is disgusting. This gut destruction of not caring about IP is disgusting. We should be caring about what people own, how they own it.

These big titans are expecting us to give away our value as humans. And yes, we’re an underdog, and yes, we understand the challenges that we face, but there is no better vessel of a brand to deliver that same argument as what Napster delivered when they said, “Hey, if I buy a CD and I put it in my computer and I own the computer, and then I want to share that with a friend — why can’t I?”

Do you have an update on your funding situation? Obviously there was a big issue with a funder who fell through. Are you solvent without additional investment?
We aren’t making any public comments on that. What I can say is that we stand by the statements that we did make, that we feel that we’ve been victimized, and obviously we are working our way through that. But we’re very much active. As I’m sure you may have seen, we took home some awards at CES [for Napster View]. We just had a big announcement with Lenovo in the Middle East. We are continuing to execute and deliver on the business plan.

You used the term “underdog.” Suno has a first-mover advantage and a significant user base, and they’ve struck a deal with Warner. The labels are going to be putting their muscle behind Suno and Udio. How do you compete?
That’s a very IBM move, right? You’ve now allowed the major labels to figure out how they’re going to own the data, own these things. This is the opposite of what we want to do. I want you — literally you — to own your data, own the content that you create. I don’t want to be attached to some executive that thinks that you’re good so he can give you a crappy deal, so you get an advance of money you gotta pay back.

What we continue to see are people taking old business models and trying to attach them to new things, and that’s just not how it works. I can’t have a horse and buggy in a car. 

Your music app is centered around users interacting with AI characters. Why did you think that was the way to go?
It’s not the way, it’s a way. It’s about creative expression. And who owns that? It’s about putting a face to your creativity. There’s been apps around for a long time where you can change your voice and Auto-Tune. Now you can sit and allow someone else to deliver your creative thoughts. You don’t need to be an engineer. You don’t need studio time. It’s all about creative expression.

We need as mankind to own our ideas and then follow up with that ownership by how we turn those ideas into innovation. If you ask me 20 years from now, “John, what is the most valuable thing today?” I’m going to answer data. And you’re going to agree. So when do we start sending the message out that data matters? When do we start sending the message that your idea is your ownership, that is your IP? That’s the message that we want to deliver using that Napster vessel. We’re being true to the brand.

From Rolling Stone US.