​Universal Music Group artists will be able to release their own NFTs

What’s new? Universal Music Group (UMG), a music company, has entered into a partnership agreement with the LimeWire NFT marketplace. The deal will allow UMG label artists to issue their own non-fungible tokens.

LimeWire’s partnership announcement

What is known about LimeWire? Previously, the platform was a social network for sharing music. In April 2022, entrepreneurs Paul and Julian Zehetmayr bought out the project to repurpose it into an NFT music marketplace.

LimeWire already raised more than $10 million in investment from Kraken Ventures, GST, Crypto.com Capital, and others. The official launch of the marketplace should take place as early as the end of May 2022. On LimeWire, it will be possible to buy music and other collectibles in the form of NFTs.

“Together, we will focus on quality content, utility, and accessibility for the mainstream by offering unique NFT projects for artists and fans in a trusted environment,” the company’s statement says about collaboration with UMG.

What is known about UMG? It is the largest international music company with labels and recording studios worldwide. In 2020, UMG entered into a multi-year licensing agreement with the music streaming service Spotify, and in February 2022 it announced a partnership with the NFT marketplace Curio. Famous artists such as U2, Elton John, Lana Del Rey, The Weekend, Billy Eilish, and others work with UMG.

What happened before? In March, UMG bought an NFT from the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection for 125 ETH ($365 000 at the time of purchase). The token character would be used to create a member of the virtual Kingship group. The project’s manager Nicholas Adler stated that Kingship plans to hold online concerts at the metaverses, as well as release their own NFTs.

Streaming music service Spotify started testing NFT features on its platform. The company allowed musicians to promote their non-fungible tokens to Android users from the United States. DJ Steve Aoki and indie band The Wombats are taking part in the test.