LimeWire is being revived as an NFT marketplace

The music sharing site, popular in the early 2000s for finding illegal downloads, has been bought by two Austrian entrepreneurs.

Brothers Paul and Julian Zehetmayr have acquired the LimeWire website and are set to relaunch it as a music-focussed NFT marketplace this May. The P2P platform was renowned for finding illegal downloads of often mis-tagged MP3s.

Though it’s not affiliated with the former music-pirating platform, the pair are hoping to capitalise on the millennial nostalgia for LimeWire. In an interview Julian said: “it’s a very iconic name. Even if you look on Twitter today, there’s hundreds of people still being nostalgic about the name. Everybody connects it with music and we’re launching initially a very music-focused marketplace, so the brand was really the perfect fit for that with its legacy.”

The advisory board includes management for Wu-Tang Clan and H.E.R., and the Zehetmayr brothers have shared that 10 mainstream artists have agreed to offer exclusive NFTs on LimeWire already.

Unlike most NFT marketplaces, which trade exclusively in cryptocurrency, the relaunched LimeWire will also reportedly accept U.S. dollars. There’s currently a waitlist to be notified about its launch.

The earlier iteration of LimeWire shut down in 2010 after its creator Mark Gorton was charged with copyright infringement.