LimeWire to Launch Legitimate Music Streaming Service

LimeWire has been pretty much left for dead after it lost a major copyright lawsuit brought against the company. The massive damages asked in the case pretty much meant the company was done for. Not so fast, though, while the peer-2-peer software is not looking forward to a bright future, the company is apparently planning a new music service in the ‘cloud.’

According to paidContent, the company, which had already stated its plans to make a comeback as ‘legit’ service, is dreaming big with a cross-platform legal music streaming and downloading service. The service would be subscription-based and would allow users to access their music on the desktop and also through dedicated apps on their mobile phones. A web-based player is also in the works apparently. The service would allow users to listen to the music in the cloud, but also to download any tracks they especially like.

That sounds a lot like most of the ‘new wave’ of music streaming services like Spotify, MOG, Rdio and so on. LimeWire’s huge advantage though, would be its massive install base. Its software is already present on millions of computers around the world and some of the users are paying for the Pro version. If only a fraction of those users convert to the new paid service, LimeWire would become a powerful player on the market.

But the biggest issue is still the record labels. Just winning the lawsuit probably hasn’t satisfied their, somewhat justified, thirst for blood in this case, and LimeWire is already facing other lawsuits. However, the company says it got the labels on its side or at least is in serious talks with them.

Considering that legitimate services have had a very rough time in getting the labels on board, Spotify still hasn’t been launched in the US despite having the four major record labels as stakeholders in the company, it would be surprising to see LimeWire succeed so easily. Still, the service is expected to launch sometime later this year.