ninaprotocol.com

https://www.ninaprotocol.com/

i'm curious about the uptake on this. it's like web3 bandcamp.

anyone using it?

what does web3 bandcamp mean?

or more precisely, what does web3 mean?

Oh god is this a blockchain thing

y

Weird, I was just looking at it again. I'm suuuper skeptical of anything blockchain-related, but it seems like you can use it without actually engaging with any of that (?). It seems very artist-forward and they have some good editorial, so I've been meaning to give it a chance.

yeah tbh it doesn't sound completely evil -- especially since you do not have to acquire any crypto afaict -- but as ever with blockchain/web3 I don't quite understand why it has to be so complicated lol as in:

What is a Wallet?

A wallet is a cryptographic keypair that you use to sign transactions and secure your funds on a blockchain. On Nina you can use extension wallets like Phantom, or use an email address to use a wallet via MagicLink.

When using an extension wallet it is very important to keep your seedphrase in a safe place.

I do have some questions about its future based on the faq:

How does Nina make money?

Nina is currently free to use. The platform covers all fees for uploads and transactions. The platform achieves this from an 18% interest sold to investors in 2022. We will be introducing a suite of paid tools that build on the current foundation you see today. The core offering of 100% of the sales price going to artists will always remain in place.

i think Jack Callahan (Callahan/Witscher) was involved in the creation of it.

and i understand a reflex against anything blockchain/crypto/nft, but as a technical non-expert here it seems like a good concept. and there are some interesting artists putting out releases on it. i just haven't seen much mention of it in from the people who i might expect to to.

and in terms of content, i'm now struggling to find those things. seems like a lot of random stuff.

seems like they jumped on the web3 bandwagon but quietly walked it back when it became too obviously cringe

most useful as a shortcut to the post tinymixtapes universe of internet art music which seems to be their specialty. discovered the deleted label thru them so any dryhurstcore guilt by association is forgiven, at least for now

I think there was at least one other of these that went nowhere (as far as i can tell)

i'm going to take all my CDs out of 20 milk crates in the garage this weekend and see if i can rewind my life back to 1996.

this sounds stupid as hell

speaking of editorial ... umm ... do they take pitches and do they pay?

ok i looked into it and it is indeed stupid as hell

I'm suuuper skeptical of anything blockchain-related, but it seems like you can use it without actually engaging with any of that (?).

they've abstracted it away as much as possible for the end-user but artists still get paid in cryptocurrency and you still have to deal with crypto wallets etc.

they're using a blockchain platform for storage (but strangely, only for the mp3s & artwork) which relies on typical cryptocurrency ponzi scheme economics that no one should go anywhere near. they do not explain how they're storing the lossless files (other than not on the blockchain storage platform) or how they're funding that - i'd assume just more traditionally and funded by their vc money, but it should be obvious why that's not a remotely sustainable model.

they've abstracted it away as much as possible for the end-user but artists still get paid in cryptocurrency and you still have to deal with crypto wallets etc.

ah yeah I only looked into the consumer side

they do not explain how they're storing the lossless files (other than not on the blockchain storage platform)

I think it does answer this?: https://help.ninaprotocol.com/hc/en-us/articles/14334451677335-What-is-Arweave

but artists still get paid in cryptocurrency and you still have to deal with crypto wallets etc.

I haven't tried it, but they say you can release music and get paid just using an email address and checking account ('magic wallet', idk).

I will say it’s an application of the blockchain/NFTs that at least makes sense to me (as a music person)… not that I will likely have any reason to ever use it.

I think it does answer this?: https://help.ninaprotocol.com/hc/en-us/articles/14334451677335-What-is-Arweave

no, this is the blockchain storage platform i mentioned, which relies on total nonsense ponzi scheme economics. they only talk about using it for the mp3s and artwork and are much vaguer about what they do with the lossless files

they say you can release music and get paid just using an email address and checking account ('magic wallet', idk).

with significant limitations: https://help.ninaprotocol.com/hc/en-us/articles/14332767937559-How-do-I-get-paid-on-Nina

I will say it’s an application of the blockchain/NFTs that at least makes sense to me (as a music person)

the blockchain nonsense adds absolutely nothing here, it solves no problems for anyone.

Sorry, I missed the "lossless files" vs. MP3s distinction.

Does it not address the problems that are presented on this page, though (for those who see them as problems, and are interested in this type of solution)?

Yeah you get paid on some “stable coin”:

If you are in a country where direct deposit withdrawal is not currently supported, you can transfer your sales in USDC to your bank account through an exchange of your choice (ex: Coinbase).

xp: no

everyone using it is still largely reliant on nina the private company for all the tools that abstract away the cryptocurrency stuff as much as possible, and for subsidising the upload fees with their vc money. if nina the private company disappears then there'll still be a way to send cryptocurrency to the artist but that's it really, there won't be anything remotely user-friendly.

arweave (the blockchain storage platform) operates on a ponzi scheme model where upload fees are one-time only, denoted in their cryptocurrency 'AR', and people are incentivised to host the files by being paid in AR (through a crypto-mining process). this relies on a constant stream of new uploads to maintain the demand for AR, allowing the file hosts to cash out and pay for the real-money hosting costs. in practice, the price of AR has been rather volatile and eventually that volatility could be enough to send it into a death spiral. currently upload fees are very cheap, but in the past they have been exorbitant during the nft bubble for instance. open to selling a bridge to anyone who thinks this seems like a stable model for file hosting.

Gotcha, thx for the explainer!