⚡ lightning.fm

Music · Nostr + Lightning

Free to hear.
Artists own everything.

Streaming costs nothing and needs no account. When a fan buys a download, payment settles straight to the artist's own wallet. We can't take a cut; the money never passes through us. Not a pitch: real sales have settled on mainnet, and one of them is replaying here.

SALE · REPLAY

Replay of a real sale: "Keysend" by Lightning Louise, bought for 1,500 sats. Payment settled from the buyer's wallet directly to the artist's wallet. Artist received 1,500 sats; the platform received nothing because it is not in the payment path.

a real sale, replayed. Settled on mainnet 2026-08-04

How it works

ARTISTS

Publish once, own it forever. Your catalog is Nostr events signed by your key. Switch relays and your listeners follow. Sell lossless downloads from your own node, or bring nothing but a Lightning address. Keep every sat.

LISTENERS

Press play. That's it. Every track streams free: no account, no signup, no meter running. When you want to own the file, pay one Lightning invoice from any wallet and download it on the spot. More on owning it →

PRODUCERS & MACHINES

Every purchase is one invoice, instant delivery, and a cryptographic receipt: a catalog machines can pay. Stem licensing and agent APIs are up next.

The artist's workstation

One desktop app takes you from a finished track to a live listing: no distributor, no review queue, no monthly fee.

LIGHTNING FM · DESKTOP
UPLOADdrop audio + artwork; it publishes as Nostr events signed by your key
SELLprice it in sats; the listing goes live with the upload
RECEIVEa real Lightning node runs inside the app; withdraw anytime
PROFILEname, bio, artwork, payment address. All , signed, yours
BUYone-click purchases land in your library with receipts attached

Don't want to run anything? Sell through our hosted gate: we store and serve your files, buyers still pay your wallet directly. We verify the payment and unlock the download, and that's all we touch.

The zero is structural

A purchase flows as sats from the buyer's wallet directly to the artist's wallet. lightning.fm renders the page and never holds the money.

Other platforms promise a fair cut. We removed ourselves from the money entirely: a purchase is a Lightning payment from the buyer's wallet to the artist's. Even when we host the files, the invoice comes from the artist's own wallet. We check that it settled, then unlock the download. No account to freeze, no payout to wait for. Bandcamp takes 10–15%; every artist here keeps 100%; we couldn't take a cut if we wanted to. Zero isn't our pricing. It's our architecture.

Own what you buy

Buying here works like buying should: pay once, keep the file, hold a receipt nobody can revoke.

NO ACCOUNT NEEDED

A Lightning wallet is the whole checkout. Scan the invoice, payment confirms in seconds, the download unlocks. No email, no password, no app required.

A RECEIPT THAT PROVES IT

Your payment preimage is a cryptographic receipt. Keep it and you can re-unlock your download later: proof of purchase that doesn't depend on us remembering you.

A LIBRARY, IF YOU WANT ONE

In the desktop app, buying is one click and purchases land on disk in a library with receipts attached. Next: pin purchases to a Nostr identity so your collection follows you everywhere.

Pricing

Sovereignty is the free tier. Convenience is the product. Every artist keeps 100% of every sale. There is no percentage anywhere, because buyers pay artists directly and we price only what we host. Full details →

HOSTED · FREE

0 sats

Bring nothing but a Lightning address: no node, no fees. Unlimited listings, storage for a handful of lossless albums. Leave anytime, catalog intact.

HOSTED · PRO

~$10/mo

Paid in sats. Room for a serious catalog (stem packs welcome), plus priority delivery, multiple formats, and early features. A flat fee for what we host, never a cut of what you sell.

SELF-HOSTED

open source

Run your own artist node, host your own files. The artist node and desktop app will be released open source (coming soon). Want help? Concierge setup and an optional support subscription: we price the labor, never the revenue.

Shipped & up next

Built in the open: the dates below are real events, not a launch countdown.

SHIPPED
2026-08-03first mainnet sale off a self-hosted artist node
2026-08-04first sale through the hosted gate, no artist node required
shippedartist storefronts with free streaming and one-click buying
shippeddesktop app: upload → publish → sell, plus a purchases library
UP NEXT
STATION24/7 radio programmed from the live catalog
STEMSlicense individual stems over Lightning: one invoice per stem, instant delivery
AGENTSa machine-payable catalog: AI agents license music with no human in the loop
LIBRARYpurchases pinned to your Nostr key, so your collection follows you across web and app
ARTIST EARLY ACCESS

We're onboarding a small group of artists for the beta. The tools are live: publish your catalog, open a storefront, sell downloads, keep everything. Leave an email and we'll set you up.

>
Artist beta onboarding now. We'll reach out