Learn · Nostr
What music apps are built on Nostr?
A real ecosystem exists, and it's worth surveying fairly, because the interesting thing about music on Nostr isn't any single app. It's that the music doesn't belong to the apps at all.
Wavlake is music streaming where fans send bitcoin directly to artists via a built-in wallet. It also publishes Wavman, an open-source Nostr music player.[1]
Fountain is a podcasts-and-music app where listeners support artists directly with Lightning payments and zaps.[2]
Tunestr is live streaming for independent music.[3]
zap.stream is Nostr-native live streaming with zaps: general-purpose, and used for music performances.[4]
Lightning FM is free streaming over an open catalog of artist-signed track events, plus purchases that settle directly to the artist's own wallet with a structural 0% platform cut. The full wire format is public.[5]
A track on Nostr is an event (kind 31337) signed by the artist's own cryptographic key and published to relays. The event carries the title, the audio URL, a content hash of the file, and metadata. Because it's signed data on open relays rather than a row in one company's database, any client that speaks the format can read, display, and play it, and no platform can edit, withhold, or delete the artist's catalog.
That's the property everything else on this page follows from: the apps compete on experience, but the catalog belongs to the artists. Lightning FM documents its exact 31337 tag contract, listing format, media hosting, and relay policy on the interop page so any client or agent can build against it.[5]
What is Nostr event kind 31337?
It's the addressable event kind used for music tracks on Nostr. A kind 31337 event is signed by the artist's own key and carries the track's title, the audio URL, a content hash, and metadata: enough for any app to find and play the track. Lightning FM publishes its whole catalog as kind 31337 events and documents the exact tag contract on its interop page.
Can one catalog appear in many apps at once?
Yes, and that's the point of putting music on Nostr. Because tracks are signed events on open relays rather than rows in one company's database, any client that speaks the format can display and play the same catalog. Lightning FM also publishes a NIP-89 handler announcement so other Nostr clients can route track events to it.
Do listeners need a Nostr account to listen?
No. On Lightning FM, streaming is free with no account of any kind. A Nostr identity matters for artists, because the key is what signs and therefore owns the catalog.
What happens to the music if one of these apps disappears?
The catalog outlives the app. Events signed by the artist's key remain on relays, and audio addressed by content hash can be re-hosted and verified anywhere. That's the structural difference from platform-database music, and why artists on Nostr have real exit rights.
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.
Artist on another Nostr app already? Your key works here. that's the point.