Happy LimeWire launch week! But don’t get it twisted: this is not the LimeWire from the turn of the century.
Since the early aughts, LimeWire has evolved with new ownership, a new team, and a new brand vision built as a digital collectible marketplace (NFTs). The fresh faces of the platform are brothers Julian & Paul Zehetmayr, two incredibly smart guys with exciting ideas. Together, they realized that LimeWire’s brand equity – built on the promise of peer-to-peer sharing back in 2000 – remains strong enough to make a positive impact on the music business of today by focusing on the missing monetary component. They want to “right this wrong” by helping to create the next generation of great music (and broader entertainment) companies.
LimeWire is uniquely positioned in this burgeoning marketplace. It is not directed at “crypto maxis,” instead opening up Web3 music for the masses through a focus on digital collectibles for mainstream fans and superfans of artists on the platform. Using the best of what Web3 has to offer – creator-direct-to-community sales; ownership of digital goods; utility; provenance and the ability for creators to collect royalties on secondary market sales (via built in smart contracts) – and a strong Web 2 sensibility in terms of UX/UI, and user friendliness, LimeWire plans to provide what other companies have not. It more closely resembles the iTunes store than OpenSea and has a blockchain partnership with Alogrand (which is currently doubling down on music), but also takes virtually every currency including credit cards and have also built cross-chain bridges, so if you desire you can still transfer to ETH or Polygon.
Though not completely a strictly DeFi/Web 3 play, I think we can alll get behind the idea of making NFTs more accessible to more and more people, opening up the funnel.
LimeWire is not an NFT platform, per se. It is simply a place to collect digital goods. One of the great Web3 debates is about whether art itself is the “utility,” or whether more is required for millions of fans to make their value judgments and jump in. LimeWire hopes to turn the experiential goodies – the Hypebeast-worthy exclusives, the behind-the-scenes content, the early access, the one of a kind items/experiences and limited edition collectibles, etc – into stronger emotional connections and heightened engagement.
Best practices are heading in this direction. Over time, surrounding music NFTs with these types of experiences and this type of utility will become required to make an impact. That’s the philosophy of LimeWire 3.0
Welcome to the music NFT space, LimeWire. We are honored to be trusted advisors and to see your vision come to life!
In other news, I’ll be speaking at the National Independent Venues Association’s inaugural conference on Monday in Cleveland. This is an important meeting of independent minds at a crossroads moment for live performance.
Then, on July 20th, I’ll be doing an Ocean Side Chat at the first ever Hamptons Tech Week.
And in the vein of oversharing, today is my birthday! A beautiful day to reflect and rejoice. Apologies in advance for any delayed replies. I appreciate this community so much.
Also published on Medium.