Napster is back (Picture: Spencer Platt/Newsmakers)

Napster: once synonymous with underage illegal streaming and made notable by Justin Timberlake, who played founder Sean Parker in blockbuster The Social Network.

But now Napster is back – and legal – and bosses say this particular streaming service is the one leading the way in a music revolution.

Gone are the days of cassette tapes, CDs, fat MP3 players that could hold only 10 songs. Now, music is consumed on devices holding thousands of tracks that still fit in your pocket.

Napster had a lot to do with shaping the current music scene, and the bosses have spoken exclusively with Metro.co.uk about how the site has morphed from an illegal download site to a top streaming service discovering some of the hottest artists.

One of the Napster founders Shawn Fanning (Picture: JOHN G. MABANGLO/AFP/Getty Images)

Thorsten Schlesche, Executive Vice President and General Manager for Napster Europe, told us: ‘We have been very disruptive to the music industry with the legacy of Napster and really changed the way people consume music and get music via the internet.

‘Even now via Napster we have been the pioneers for streaming as well. We definitely have been the first streaming service for a very long time.

‘There is a long history of pioneering, being the first, trying to change things and being disruptive. We definitely feel that this is a very good thing.’

Back in 1999, Napster was a revolution on the music scene as a peer-to-peer file sharing service, allowing people to pass around their favourite hits for free. All illegally of course.

Founded in the 90s by Shawn Fanning, John Fanning and Sean Parker (of JT fame), Napster ran on a premise that kids would share music from their MP3 players with one another using their software.

And they were right. Running between 1999 and 2001, the service at one point had 80 million users at its peak.

Napster founder Sean Parker, left, and Justin Timberlake, right, who played him in film The Social Network (Picture: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images/ Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images)

But in 2000, the site ran in to trouble, when rock band Metallica filed a lawsuit after they found a demo of their song I Disappear had been put on Napster ahead of it’s release.

Copyright complications had caught up with them.

Metallica (drummer Lars Ulrich, left, pictured) sued the site (Picture: JOYCE NALTCHAYAN/AFP/Getty Images)

After record labels also sued the site in another separate lawsuit, Napster was forced to shut down by a court order.

But its assets were liquidised after going bankrupt, eventually being bought by Roxio, an American software company, and then Best Buy, until Napster merged with Rhapsody – another online music store – in 2011.

Rhapsody subsequently phased out the Rhapsody brand in favour of Napster, and in a mission statement on their website said they were now ‘one big happy family’.

Now the service boasts an online music store, offline playlists and GIFs to create an interactive experience for listeners.

The new Napster home screen (Picture: Napster)

Although Ed Sheeran had credited the earlier service with providing a platform for people to hear his music – and his subsequent rise to success – Napster as a brand hasn’t always had the greatest reputation in the industry.

But bosses say that the software developed back then was the start of what we now call the streaming boom: with platforms like Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music copying this innovation in the way music is consumed.

Ed Sheeran has confirmed he's not quitting music after his Divide tour (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)
Ed Sheeran reckoned he wouldn’t be where he is today without Napster (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)

Although the Napster now is not the same as the original Napster – they’re different companies – there was a deliberate choice by bosses to keep the name and logo synonymous with fair dealing with artists.

Napster Executive Vice President Thorsten Schlesche said Napster was a ‘pioneer’ (Picture: Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

Thorsten said: ‘The company I’m working for today probably nothing in common with the former file-sharing platform we had as a brand.

‘But the brand is in common, the passion for music is in common but definitely we value our artists and we value music and we feel that the music industry and the artist should get the right compensation for what they are doing.’

So how are they different from players like Apple Music and Spotify who are currently dominating the streaming service field?

The answer is they’re not, really. But Napster don’t see that as a negative.

And he added any similarities between Napster, Apple Music and Spotify were deliberate (Picture: Mike FANOUS/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

Thorsten said: ‘I would say between all the streaming apps there is a lot of commodity – around 70/80% – but then there are small differences which really makes it key.

‘That’s not a bad thing because it gives customers the chance to experience music streaming services and getting used to certain behaviour and then amongst the services, choose the service that has the features that they love and want to use most.’

For Napster, music, and loving music is key.

Napster are back (Picture: Keyur Khamar/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Napster are back (Picture: Keyur Khamar/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

And although Napster are still growing as a brand in the UK, they hope that appreciation for music will dominate over short-term gains of getting music for free.

Thorsten concluded: ‘We’re still in a growth stage [in the UK]. We need a bigger partnership, but that’s something we’re hoping to announce this year.’

Looks like Napster is back, and back for good.

Be sure to watch our Facebook Live with Lewis Watson today at 1pm.

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