The LimeWire brand, once synonymous with file-sharing in the early 2000s, has transformed into an AI-powered content publishing platform.
In 2021, brothers Julian and Paul Zehetmayr acquired LimeWire’s intellectual property, rebranding it as a blockchain-focused project. Under their ownership, LimeWire has leveraged blockchain technology to bring its updated vision to life.
The company’s newly unveiled AI Music Studio enables users to create tunes using generative AI tools and publish them on the same platform, as announced on Tuesday.
LimeWire ensures that such content becomes ownable and tradeable through blockchain technology, enabling creators to monetize it via an ad-revenue share program.
“All content pieces created in the LimeWire AI Music Studio are minted either on Polygon or on Algorand,” LimeWire co-CEO Julian Zehetmayr informed Blockworks in an email. “Creators can simply select which chain they or their communities prefer.”
The Zehetmayr brothers purchased LimeWire’s intellectual property in 2021. In April 2022, the company raised about $10 million, emphasizing its focus on launching a music-focused digital collectibles marketplace to significantly lower barriers to entry into the world of NFTs.
LimeWire’s NFT marketplace went live in 2022, and its public LMWR token sale concluded in June.
The company’s decision to allow creators to choose which blockchain to mint content on aligns with LimeWire’s historical multi-chain approach. In a June 2022 blog post, LimeWire stated that while the majority of its platform NFTs would be minted on Algorand, it would use the Ethereum blockchain for specific invite-only collections.
LimeWire introduced its creator studio with image generation capabilities in August, announcing that it would mint content to the Polygon blockchain. The following month, it acquired the image generation platform BlueWillow.
“As music continues to evolve, so does our dedication to providing aspiring musicians with cutting-edge tools that empower and amplify their artistic expression,” co-CEO Paul Zehetmayr stated in a press release.
