The famous file sharing network known to everybody as Limewire has decided to move into the legal music business as well creating an online music store which is called Limewire Store. The store will allow users access to over 500,000 MP3 downloads and none of them are from major music labels. All of the music is from unsigned artists, small labels allowing it and from new talent. The store isn’t going to feature your normal set-up of music that you would typically expect. Instead it will be mainly a place for finding new talent and music you can connect to. A lot of unsigned artists are very talented and I think this will be a great way for them to finally broadcast themselves over the internet which is widely popular all across the world. Having access to putting their music on websites like the Limewire Store can only bring them new fans and exposure which is ideally what new and upcoming artists are looking for.

For those of you who prefer to listen to mainstream music then you may want to stick with Limewires file sharing application as that’s the only place you will find music from the mainstream artists. The file sharing network is on a very thin line of being illegal and that is why I think Limewire has decided to go with a store now as well offering customers legal downloadable music. For the major record labels to sign with Limewire Store for distribution most people feel Limewire will first need to block out the illegal music currently being spread across their network of file sharing downloader’s. If they can manage to clean up that network then I could imagine many labels would start signing with them.

The Limewire store offers pay per track as well as monthly subscriptions. If you go the route of downloading by track you will pay anywhere from $.30 to $.99 per song. If you subscribe to the monthly subscription plans then you can choose from one of these, either $10 for 25 songs per month or $20 for 75 songs per month. The Limewire store has a lot smaller selection the most of it’s competition though and it could hurt them in the beginning until they add to there song list. There pricing is comparable with there competition though which is a plus considering there a more known name in the industry. The Store is only accessible for people living in the US though right now but I’m sure they’ll expand that in the near future by adding new countries to the list.