LimeWire Partners up With Universal Music Group to Launch Music NFT Marketplace

LimeWire announced its first big agreement with Universal Music Group (UMG) to make digital music collections available to a larger audience.

A Major Music Label Partnership

Digital music sharing services are making a comeback, except this time they’re in Web3 format. LimeWire, which unveiled its Algorand-based marketplace in March, revealed on Tuesday that it had signed big label Universal Music Group to its platform.

Artists signed to Universal Music Group, and its many imprint labels will be able to distribute tokenized digital collectibles through the planned LimeWire marketplace thanks to the global agreement. Some of Universal’s imprints include Interscope and other record labels like Def Jam and Motown, as well as Geffen, Republic, EMI, and Virgin.

Universal Music Group’s lineup includes such renowned artists as Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, The Rolling Stones, U2, BTS, Chris Stapleton, The Weeknd, Abba, and Elton John, among others. This agreement does not necessarily imply that any of these artists will release NFTs via LimeWire, but they will have the potential to do so.

LimeWire Rises as a Music NFT Marketplace

LimeWire will be resurrected as a music NFT marketplace that emphasizes music-related assets, such as music tracks, musician artwork, and collectibles from musicians. Serial tech entrepreneurs Paul and Julian Zehetmayr bought the dormant P2P music sharing service last year and announced their Web3 plans in March.

LimeWire disclosed in April that it had secured $10.4 million in a token sale spearheaded by Kraken Ventures, Arrington Capital, and GSR, with involvement from other entities such as Crypto.com Capital and artist Deadmau5’s 720Mau5 fund.

LimeWire intends to begin its “official launch campaign” at the end of this month and then open the marketplace shortly after, as stated in the announcement of the token sale. An NFT serves as a proof of ownership for digital resources such as digital artwork, music files, and collectibles.

Algorand is a proof-of-stake blockchain network described as a competitor to Ethereum, the dominant platform for NFTs and decentralized apps. It was announced last week that Napster had been purchased by Algorand and Hivemind, a Web3 investment company, with the goal of creating a new streaming music platform for Web 3.

NFTS Are Reshaping the Music Industry

NFTs have entered or will infiltrate all spheres of life and all industries, including the music industry, where artists have already begun to disrupt a power balance that has long been in the hands of everyone but the artist. NFTs can open doors for global superstars and subterranean grafters alike, and this has already occurred.

This isn’t Universal’s first foray into the Web3 realm. A Gorillaz-inspired virtual band based on Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs was unveiled by UMG’s 10:22PM label last November. The band will play in different metaverse realms and will also sell its own NFTs.

Warner Music Group, on the other hand, teamed up with metaverse game The Sandbox in January. The label, which represents musicians such as Lizzo and Ed Sheeran, will create a virtual space within The Sandbox‘s game environment and perform concerts there.