Aotearoa New Zealand music startup Lume has added more new releases to its platform.
Lume is an album-centric music app backed by investors including Lorde, Substack’s Hamish McKenzie, Letterboxd’s Karl von Randow, Previously Unavailable’s James Hurman, and former Sky boss John Fellet.
Lume, which “can be thought of as both a digital collection and a digital store,” brings “boxed set-style content — demos, live tracks, extra artwork, and behind-the-scenes footage — to app stores.”
It works on a “buy once, own forever” model, rather than a subscription, and 80% of net revenue “is reserved for artists and their partners.”
The Lume app officially launched on Apple iOS last month, and it landed on Google Play earlier this week, meaning the app is now available globally across the vast majority of devices.
Today (August 14th) marks the unveiling of Lume’s second slate, featuring albums by Fazed on a Pony and Office, which both made it into our just-published list of the best New Zealand albums of 2026 so far, Reb Fountain, Jim Nothing, The Black Seeds, and more.
Check out all the new releases joining Lume below:
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Reb Fountain – Water for Gasoline
Jim Nothing – Grey Eyes, Grey Lynn
Glass Vaults – Sounds That Sound Like Music
Jude Kelly – The Seven Spirits of Her (EP)
Georgia Lines – Live at the Civic
Lake South – we lived our lives on top of this
They join releases from Lume’s first slate, which included albums by Erny Belle, Dick Move, Fables, Fazerdaze, and many more.
“It’s so awesome and reassuring that Lume has come forth with a solid kaupapa around how we can more fully enjoy listening and engaging with music that speaks to our heart,” The Black Seeds’ Barnaby Weir says. “That is why The Black Seeds are so pleased to release our album ‘On the Sun’ on Lume. You can hear what we made and explore what it was like to be there at the time – more than 20 years ago.”
Rising star Emerson, whose Leap record is the first EP to drop on the platform, says she’s “so excited to be releasing” via Lume. “I think it’s really cool that it gives me a way to bring people into the world of the EP and share some things they wouldn’t normally get to hear or see, from how the songs came together to exclusive bonus tracks.”
Leap is the second Lume exclusive debut, following Isla Noon’s Out of Body REDUX, which debuted at No. 11 on the Aotearoa Albums Chart based on Lume sales alone.
According to a press release, Lume’s first month “delivers significant chart placings,”, with eight Lume releases “either rising, re-entering or debuting” on the Official Aotearoa Music Charts. The app also reached No. 2 in the music category within the iOS app store.
“Our whole mission is to create a new format – one which gives greater insight to the world of an album, while allowing fans to buy knowing it makes a meaningful contribution to the sustainability of artists,” says co-founder Duncan Greive. “To achieve this chart performance right from the start is so validating for us.”
Emerson’s EP arrives on Lume two weeks before it hits other streaming platforms.
Moving forward, Lume is running new releases in two ways: albums will come out as they’re releases on streaming, but once a month, on a Friday, the platform will host drops featuring a selection of fresh Lume releases arriving at once.
Find out more about Lume here. Read deputy editor Conor Lochrie’s longread about the platform here.
