SoundCloud acquires Nina Protocol months after its shutdown

SoundCloud announced Wednesday that it has acquired Nina Protocol, a decentralized platform that let independent artists sell music directly to fans while keeping 100% of their revenue. The financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, and it’s also unclear whether any of Nina’s team will join SoundCloud; neither company has responded to a request for further comment.

The deal is SoundCloud’s first acquisition since its 2022 purchase of AI music company Musiio, made to help improve music discovery, and the company says it signals a continued push beyond music hosting into building a broader platform for independent artists. As part of the acquisition, SoundCloud will take ownership of Nina’s editorial archive and genre map, which it says preserves Nina’s collection of music journalism, artist features, and cultural commentary, and will help surface emerging artists, scenes, and music to more listeners.

“[Nina Protocol] built an incredible platform by putting independent artists, scenes, and communities first, and our priority is to honor what they’ve created, while carrying that mission forward,” SoundCloud CEO Eliah Seton said in a statement. He added that the two companies will work to help more independent artists build deeper relationships with fans, find new ways to earn, and access the tools they need to grow sustainable careers on their own terms.

The acquisition comes just months after Nina announced on May 28 that it would shut down, saying it had been unable to establish a sustainable business model. Founded in 2021 by independent musicians Jack Callahan, Mike Pollard, and Eric Farber, Nina Protocol let artists run their own digital storefronts without relying on traditional streaming platforms. The service ran 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 is offering a migration tool to transfer their work to its platform, along with a complimentary SoundCloud Artist subscription through the end of the year that includes monetization features and audience-growth tools.

Why it matters

The deal gives SoundCloud a ready-made archive of independent-artist content and discovery tools as it pushes beyond hosting, while offering Nina’s artists continuity after their platform couldn’t sustain itself on its own.