Nina Protocol Launches Revenue Share System That Pays Fans for Music Discovery
10 October 2025 - Press releaseMusic platform Nina Protocol today launched Community Revenue Share, a system that pays fans directly when they help artists sell music. For the first time, listeners, curators, and tastemakers can earn money for the music discovery and sharing they already do.
Artists set the price for their music on Nina. A $1 fee gets added to the artist's price. When someone buys music on Nina, the artist keeps 100% of what they set and the $1 fee gets split evenly and transparently between the platform and the community members who helped make that sale happen.
For example, when an artist sells 1,000 downloads on Nina, a Community Revenue Share pool of $1,000 is generated. $500 goes to community members, including the users that either were the first to purchase, curated the playlist where the release was found, shared the link or invited the artist/purchaser to the platform. The other $500 goes to the platform.
When fans promote artists they love, they get paid for results. As an artist's community grows, more people have a sense of ownership and investment in an artist’s success.
Nina built the system on blockchain infrastructure to handle instant payments. All payouts are immediate and verifiable through Solana. Traditional payment systems make small, frequent payments expensive and slow. Blockchain solves that technical problem.
"Legacy platforms treat community as a marketing channel to be exploited. We see community as the core of music's value, and Community Revenue Share makes that value tangible," said John Pollard, COO of Nina Protocol. “This is about technology serving culture, not the other way around.”
Nina uncovers how music gets shared and purchased, giving artists data on which fans drive sales. Artists can use that information to identify their most effective advocates and reward them directly.
Nina developed Community Revenue Share with input from Merlin members participating in the Merlin Connect initiative, such as Armada Music, EMPIRE, Epitaph Records, Mad Decent, Ninja Tune, and Polyvinyl.
“Independent music has always thrived on word-of-mouth and community" said Jeremy Sirota, CEO of Merlin. “Through Merlin Connect, we’re backing Nina as it cultivates genuine fandom: where artists build sustainable careers, fans share in the upside, and communities can grow around great music.”
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