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

By Admin

30 Jan, 2026

From Streaming Shutdown to AI Rebirth

Just three weeks after shutting down its underused streaming service, Napster has re-emerged with a bold pivot: an AI-powered music creation app for iOS and Android. The move signals a dramatic shift in strategy and ideology at a time when the company is still facing legal battles with Sony Music over alleged unpaid royalties.

Napster CEO John Acunto isn’t mincing words. “We don’t think that the future of music involves the labels anymore,” he tells Rolling Stone, calling the traditional label model “dead.”

Jamming With AI Artists

The new Napster app blends prompt-based music generation with a personality-driven chatbot experience. Powered by Google Gemini, the platform offers more than 15,000 AI personas, encouraging users to think of the process as “jamming” with AI artists rather than issuing cold commands.

According to CTO Edo Segal, the focus is on interaction and collaboration a multi-turn creative flow that mirrors how humans actually make music together. Unlike the original Napster era, the company says these AI models are “ethically trained” and designed to be copyright-friendly.

Ownership Over Everything

A central theme in Napster’s relaunch is ownership. Acunto repeatedly stresses that when users create music on the platform, they own what they make an explicit contrast to major-label contracts. In his view, labels have shifted from nurturing artists to “cherry-picking” data and controlling distribution, while platforms like TikTok and Instagram now do a better job of breaking music globally.

For Napster, this philosophy extends beyond music. Acunto argues that data not machines is the most valuable asset of the future, and that creators must own their ideas, content, and digital identity rather than surrendering them to platforms like ChatGPT.

A Brand Bigger Than Music

Napster today is part of a much larger ecosystem. The brand was acquired for $207 million by Infinite Reality, which has expanded into AI concierges, holographic displays like Napster View, and self-cloning AI avatars. Users can even create a digital double of themselves eventually capable of collaborating on music.

These experiments underline Napster’s broader ambition: music is culturally core, but it’s only one piece of a multi-product, AI-driven future.

Legal Trouble and Financial Uncertainty

The relaunch comes amid serious turbulence. Sony Music claims $9.2 million in unpaid royalties, alleging Napster continued streaming its catalog after a licensing agreement ended in June 2025. SoundExchange and other distributors have raised similar complaints. On top of that, a promised $3 billion funding round collapsed last year after an investor reportedly vanished.

Despite this, Acunto says the company remains active and solvent, pointing to awards at CES and a recent partnership announcement with Lenovo in the Middle East.

Competing Without the Labels

Facing rivals like Suno, which has label backing including Warner, Napster is deliberately taking the opposite path. Acunto rejects label partnerships outright, arguing they recreate old power structures in a new technological wrapper “a horse and buggy in a car.”

Instead, Napster is betting that creators want control: control over data, ownership of output, and freedom from traditional gatekeepers.

Back to Its Roots With AI

In many ways, this reboot echoes Napster’s original provocation. Two decades ago, it asked why people couldn’t share music they owned. Today, it’s asking who owns data, ideas, and creativity in the age of AI.

Whether this underdog strategy can survive legal pressure and fierce competition remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: Napster is once again challenging the music industry’s foundations this time with AI at the center of the fight.