Learn · Getting started
How do you start selling music on Lightning FM?
Five steps, from nothing to your first sale settling in your own Lightning wallet. This is the hosted path, where we run the conveniences for you. The self-hosted path exists too and links at the bottom. New to the platform entirely? The one-minute intro is on YouTube.
After step five you hold everything that matters: an identity key nobody can reset, a catalog signed by that key and readable from open relays, and a payment setup that settles to your own wallet with no cut taken anywhere. What we hold is hosting and delivery convenience, which is why leaving would cost you nothing. Listeners stream your music free; buyers pay you directly.
Artists who want their catalog and payments on their own hardware can run a headless artist node instead. That path is documented where it lives, in the MIT-licensed artist-nodes repo[1], not here. It needs no permission from us, and it composes with the hosted conveniences if you want some of each.
What do I need before I start?
A Mac (the desktop app is macOS today), a Lightning wallet that gives you a Lightning address (most do; see the wallets page), and your music files. You do not need to run a Lightning node, hold bitcoin in advance, or know anything about Nostr. The app handles the protocol details.
Does it cost anything to start?
No. The free tier includes hosted file storage with a 2 GB quota, and the platform takes 0% of sales, structurally. A Pro tier (about $10/month, paid in sats) is coming for artists who need more storage. Pricing only ever covers hosting and delivery convenience, never a percentage.
How does my first sale actually pay me?
You set a price on a track or album. A buyer hits your storefront, and the checkout requests a Lightning invoice from your own wallet and presents it to them. They pay it, the payment settles directly to your wallet, and the platform's only role is unlocking the download once your wallet confirms payment. 100% of the price is yours, immediately.
Is there a waitlist?
Not anymore. The artist beta has ended and the hosted service is open: download the app and publish. The conveniences we run are relay listing, file hosting, and a lightning.fm name, and the free tier covers all three. The software is open source, so self-hosting never had a waitlist at all.
What if I'd rather run everything myself?
That path exists and needs no invite. The artist-nodes repo has a headless Lightning node daemon for artists who want their catalog and payments on their own hardware, and the desktop app is open source too. Both are MIT-licensed. The two paths compose: you can self-host the node and still use the hosted catalog listing.
Facts change. Every claim above links to its source as of the date shown. Check the source, and if we're out of date, tell us and we'll fix it.
Curious what it looks like once you're in? A worked example of being an artist here.