SoundCloud is acquiring decentralized music platform Nina Protocol months after it shut down

Soundcloud Announce Wed that he has acquired Nina Protocol, a decentralized music platform that has enabled independent artists to sell music directly to fans while keeping 100% of their revenue.

The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. It is also unclear if any members of Nina’s team will join SoundCloud. The company has not yet responded to a request for comment.

This deal is SoundCloud’s first acquisition since its founding Buy 2022 From AI music company Musiio to help improve music discovery. The deal signals that SoundCloud is continuing to expand beyond music hosting to a broader platform for independent artists.

As part of the acquisition, SoundCloud will take ownership of Nina’s editorial archive and Genre Map. This allows it to maintain Nina’s “rich collection of music journalism, artist features, and cultural commentary” and “help highlight emerging artists, scenes, and music to a greater number of listeners,” the company wrote in the blog post.

“(Nina Protocol) has built an amazing platform by putting independent artists, scenes, and communities first, and our priority is to honor what they’ve created, while moving forward with that mission,” SoundCloud CEO Elijah Seaton said in a statement. “Together, we will help more independent artists build deeper relationships with fans, open new ways to make money, and access the tools they need to grow their sustainable careers on their own terms.”

The acquisition comes just months after Nina Announce It will shut down its platform on May 28, saying it has been unable to create a sustainable business model.

Founded in 2021 by independent musicians Jack Callahan, Mike Pollard, and Eric Farber, Nina Protocol has offered artists a way to power their own digital storefronts without relying on traditional streaming platforms. The service was built on the Solana blockchain for fast, low-cost transactions and used Arweave for permanent, decentralized storage of music files and metadata.

For Nina Protocol artists, SoundCloud provides a service Migration tool To move their business to its platform. Additionally, artists will receive a free SoundCloud Artist subscription through the end of the year, which includes monetization features and audience growth tools.