LimeWire Resurfaces Over a Decade After Shutting Down as a Music-Based NFT Curator

For the many who may be wondering what happened to LimeWire, its evolution into an NFT music marketplace may be the last thing on their mind. Following its resurgence in March, when Austrian entrepreneurial brothers Julian and Paul Zehetmayr purchased the rights to the LimeWire name, and after its partnership with Universal Music Group in May, LimeWire is now reborn as a complete NFT marketplace designed specifically for music-based digital collectibles.

LimeWire's new identity launches officially on Wed. June 6, which the company announced via Twitter, highlighting the debut of music-themed NFT projects from the likes of Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker, Dillon Francis, Nicky Jam, Gramatik, Elijah Blake, and more. Hosted on LimeWire.com, the full breadth of the new guise for LimeWire is showcased in full, with the first official NFT release set for July 7 featuring Grammy-award-winning producer 7 Aurelius.

Nearly 12 years prior, LimeWire was shut down by a New York federal court following an embattled four years with the music industry. LimeWire was founded in 2000 by a former Wall Street trader, Mark Gorton, whose confidence in the underlying idea of file-sharing outweighed its inevitable downfall. On its newfound identity, Gorton is "not thrilled," telling TorrentFreak in March that LimeWire's resurgence "creates confusion and falsely uses that brand that we created for purposes it was never intended."

Utilized most prominently by those trying to skirt paying exorbitant music fees, LimeWire's file-sharing underbelly allowed users to download free music and movies with relative ease. At the time of the shuttering announcement, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) relayed that LimeWire was responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue to the music industry. In May 2011, the firm settled at $105 million with the RIAA.

Now it is setting its sights on the metaverse and digital assets based entirely on the Ethereum blockchain. Of major importance to the brand is its so-called "LimeWire Originals," a limited collection of 10,000 newly minted NFTs, which will come resplendent with several additional features on top of the digital art piece. Such extras include token rewards, early access to new NFT drops, and invite-only access to major music events.

In the interest of drawing more users to the platform, LimeWire is doing away with the necessity of utilizing a cryptocurrency wallet for NFT purchases and instead is opting to allow consumers to buy their digital collectibles using credit cards. LimeWire will also handle all NFT gas fees, and the additional payments made on top of the purchase due to computational energy used in the transaction.

LimeWire Originals themselves act similar to Bored Ape Yacht Club collectibles, allotting special access to the LimeWire community while also acting as a pseudo investment into the brand itself. The Originals by LimeWire will be released in stages and require consumers to join a waitlist before even allowing them an option to buy. A SouljaBoy NFT mint is set for tomorrow, July 7, with mint fees being entirely covered by LimeWire.