Sophia Michaels
The peer-to-peer filesharing service – a direct rival of the even more famous Napster – dominated the MP3 download market, at one point reaching 50 million users worldwide.
Source: Unsplash
But things came to a sudden halt in 2010 when the U.S. federal court shut the website down after a huge legal battle.
13 years later, however, LimeWire fans have a reason to celebrate. The service is now being resurrected as a Web3 service on the blockchain with a brand-new tokenized offering available to online users.
Here’s a rundown of how the new-look LimeWire will work.
What is Web3?
Web3 is an umbrella term to describe the next phase of the internet that is supposed to provide a more open and decentralized version of the web. It’s built upon blockchain technology that allows for secure peer-to-peer transactions and data sharing without the need for intermediaries.
Far from it being a futuristic version of the web, Web3 technology is already here. Decentralized finance (DeFi) involves the creation of decentralized financial applications that enable users to lend, borrow, and trade without the need for third-party companies. In gaming, Web3 powers decentralized gaming platforms and virtual worlds that let players earn cryptocurrency for their in-game activities. Oneprovider, Ruby Play, awards players tokens each time they play one of their online casino games regardless of whether they win or not.
With such a wide range of online industries open to Web3 right now, it’s no surprise that filesharing companies like LimeWire have decided to get in on the action. The new-look version has finally been revealed, but it probably looks vastly different to what you remember.
The new-look LimeWire
Perhaps the most significant thing to note about the new LimeWire is that it has been reborn as an NFT marketplace and subscription-based platform for content creators, artists, and brands.
The brand rights were acquired by Austrian brothers Julian and Paul Zehetmayr, who saw the potential ofNFT culture during the initial NFT boom. The new LimeWire aims to provide a platform and framework for direct fan membership, helping content creators build recurring revenue streams while giving fans access to exclusive features, private communities, and direct communication with the artists and brands they support.
LimeWire’s relaunch in mid-2022 as a marketplace to buy, sell, and trade digital collectibles has now evolved into a fully-fledged membership platform. Through blockchain technology, the platform makes exclusive content and assets ownable and tradeable, allowing fans to participate directly in the success of the creators they support.
The LMWR token
Of course, the new-look platform wouldn’t be Web3 without a specialized token. For LimeWire, the Zehetmayr brothers opted to move away from NFTs and recentre on crypto by offering a community token that would fund the new LimeWire platform and act as the lifeblood of the ecosystem.
The LMWR token is an Ethereum-based ERC-20 utility token designed to be of benefit to holders while enhancing the user experience across the platform. The LMWR public sale, which launched on May 2, 2023, disseminated one billion tokens to Web3 community members and general investors. The token will likely be of value and significance in everything LimeWire does from here on out, especially when it comes to the fan-artist economy.
Investing in LMWR when it becomes tradable on various crypto exchanges could be a good move for enthusiasts who want to be part of the blockchain-powered inner circle of LimeWire participants.
However, those who are sceptical of yet another legacy brand being resurrected in Web3 might prefer the classic crypto strategy of waiting and watching.
The return of Napster?
LimeWire isn’t the only old-school MP3 downloader making a comeback: its old rival Napster has also made the news recently with a similar plan.
In 2020, the file-sharing start-up was sold to virtual reality firm MelodyVR and again last year to Hivemind and Algorand. Hivemind is in the crypto space and bought Napster with the intention of bringing the brand to Web3. The company has published a Litepaper outlining its plans to apply Web3 technology to its existing business and millions of users in order to improve how music makers, rights holders, and fans can interact. Napster will be a big part of this, and the company also announced that the Napster Innovation Foundation will issue $NAPSTER tokens on the blockchain.
Emmy Lovell, interim CEO of Napster, said in an interview that blockchain tech makes immediate sense for the music industry and that Web3 offers a chance to deepen, extend, and improve the music ecosystem.
If it comes to fruition, then we could have both MP3 giants back with us in Web3 form before long as the digital shift helps old favorites come back into the limelight.
