It’s not often that a brand that’s been shut down for more than a decade is able to successfully launch a comeback, especially when that brand is associated with a form of technology that has been out of vogue for years.
Yet that’s exactly the pivot planned by the new owners of LimeWire. The top peer-to-peer file-sharing site in the world - until it was shuttered by the courts for copyright infringement - LimeWire is now partnering with energy-efficient blockchain firm Algorand and is planning to relaunch as a brand-new NFT marketplace.
“If you look at bitcoin, all the exchanges are making it really easy to buy, trade and sell bitcoin. There’s no one really doing the same in the NFT space,” said LimeWire Co-owner Julian Zehetmayr. Anticipating a wave of nostalgia for the brand in the coming years, Zehetmayr and his brother Paul purchased LimeWire in 2021. They said they planned to relaunch LimeWire as a platform for buying and trading music-related NFTs, including digital merch and limited-edition recordings.
Although the new LimeWire is still in its early stages, the Zehetmayr brothers have been getting ready for its return for the last several months. In addition to future VC fundraises held as soon as later this year, there may also be a sale of a LimeWire token that will allow investors some measure of control over the company’s policies and music catalog.
