A peer-to-peer file sharing software, LimeWire which was shut down in 2010, is being revived and coming back to the internet by being launched as an NFT marketplace.
A pair of Australian entrepreneur brothers, Paul and Julian Zehetmayr have been buying various parts of LimeWire’s branding over the past year. They intend to use the nostalgia attached to the 2000’s software to market and relaunch it.
LimeWire was used to download and share music, video games and content for free. It lost a copyright infringement case against the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and was shut down in 2010. With no affiliation to its original team, its reboot will be launched as LimeWire GmbH.
The reboot will be launched as an NFT marketplace primarily focused on music. It will partner with the music industry and artists, who will be able to pre-sell music, backstage content, unreleased demos and digital merchandise. Buyers will be able to buy and trade these assets.
“We want to open up the gates for small, medium and big artists with a lot of moderation and curation,” Zehetmayr said.
The startup will also launch its own utility token which will be available via a private sale and will allow holders to vote on LimeWire’s policies and the artist selection. The content on the NFT marketplace will, however, not be sold through cryptocurrency primarily.
All the prices will be denominated in U.S. dollars, and payments will be accepted in crypto or fiat currency, facilitated by a partnership with blockchain payment firm, Warp. Bitcoin and Ether wallets will also be linked.
The new LimeWire team spread across Austria, Germany and the Uk, plans to launch its service in May, with a waitlist on its site for early access and onboarding a million users in the first year.
The trend of digitizing music continues, as global recording company Universal Music Group partners with an NFT platform Curio to launch NFT fan collections of its labels and artists.
