Nina Gates - A New Way to Enhance Artists' Connections with Fans
Nina has announced a new feature called Gates. This innovative tool allows artists to share additional media content with collectors who purchase their Releases. While all Releases on Nina are publicly accessible for listening and sharing, the content behind a Gate is exclusive to those who have bought the Release.
Let's take a closer look!
Nina Gates
Gates can be seen as a hybrid of the lossless files offered through Bandcamp purchases and the perks provided to subscribers on Patreon. The significant difference is that artists on Nina retain 100% of the sales revenue. Gates offers artists creative ways to expand the audio experience and connect with their listeners.
If you are unfamiliar with the Bandcamp and Patreon models:
Bandcamp High-Quality Audio: Bandcamp serves as a music marketplace where artists can offer their creations directly to their supporters. When users buy music on Bandcamp, they have the option to download tracks in a variety of formats, including high-quality, lossless files (e.g., FLAC or ALAC). These lossless formats deliver a superior auditory experience compared to compressed alternatives like MP3. However, Bandcamp claims a portion of the sales earnings, which stands in contrast to Nina's artist-centric 100% revenue model.
Patreon Memberships: Patreon operates as a subscription-based platform where users can back their favourite creators via a paid subscription. In exchange, subscribers (or patrons) gain access to exclusive perks like early content releases, insider materials, or personalised interactions with the artist. Patreon's primary goal is to nurture direct connections between creators and their audience, enabling artists to generate a steadier income.
Nina Gates: The Gates feature on Nina combines the above two. It merges the exclusive nature of Patreon memberships with the top-notch audio quality found in Bandcamp's lossless files... and then some. The additional content does not stop at lossless audio.
With Gates, artists can include stems for remixing, early demos, rough cuts, alternative mixes, music videos, and behind-the-scenes footage. Podcasters can upload new episodes as Gates, turning their initial Release into a subscription service. The feature encourages active discovery, listening, and engagement between artists and their fans.
Why "Gates"?
Gates draws inspiration from the physical world of vinyl records and liner notes. The runout groove on a vinyl record, a space initially used for catalogue numbers, became a canvas for artists to inscribe personalised messages. Liner notes, too, allowed artists to give fans deeper insights and connections to their work. Gates embraces this spirit of personalisation and discovery, offering a new digital mechanism for enhancing the experience of collecting music online.
Nina provided early access to Gates for several artists, who have already started utilising the feature:
Surgeon’s tracks ‘Jet Pack Mack’, ‘Single Celled Protist’, and ‘Showers of Secondary Particles’ all have Gates containing lossless files ready for the dancefloor.
Gantz has Gated all of his Releases with their lossless counterparts — especially notable is ‘Evoker’, which features a bonus track ‘Fantasm’ not available anywhere else.
Mr. LU*’s ‘more xprso, less dprso’, Discotopia’s ‘The Last Day of Earth’, Gavin Gamboa’s ‘Franz Schubert & Ernst Krenek — Sonata in C major D 840 — III. Menuetto. Allegretto‘ and FPBJPC’s ‘NYC’ all feature videos behind their Gates.
Network Glass’s ‘brn333’ features a bundle of files related to the production of the piece: an mp4, a .png, and a .wav
Chevel has made an alternate live mix available for ‘Waiting For Love’ and exclusive polaroid scans for ‘The Guardian’
Oisatana’s ‘Attention’ + ‘Ambivalent’ and E-Sai’s ‘Inf’ + ‘Elgia’ each have Gates containing .wavs
Nina has also used Gates to make extended versions of their 400 Floor podcast available, as well as lossless recordings from the Nina Night live concert series hosted at their office.
Gates are now accessible to all publishers on Nina and can be applied to any previous or future Release.
