Quick back and forth with an AI about this, here is the summary. Wavlake: A Centralized Platform with a Decentralized Facade? Wavlake presents itself as a pioneer in open music distribution, leveraging the Nostr protocol. While it integrates aspects of decentralization, a closer look reveals a predominantly centralized structure, with Nostr primarily serving to enhance specific user interactions rather than underpinning core platform functions. Firstly, the crucial element of music storage remains centralized. While Wavlake publishes metadata about tracks as Nostr events (using their self-defined, non-NIP-approved "Nostr Open Media" or NOM standard), the actual audio files reside on servers controlled by Wavlake. This means artists are reliant on Wavlake's continued operation for their music to be accessible. Secondly, the artist onboarding and upload process further highlights this centralization. Artists cannot use their Nostr private keys (nsec) to sign into the Wavlake Studio to upload music. Instead, a traditional account creation and login are required, indicating a conventional web application backend managing content submission. Nostr's integration is primarily for listener-side features like identity and payments (zaps). Finally, concerns about data manipulation and transparency reinforce this perception. Reports suggest Wavlake intentionally removed public data that allowed users to identify leaderboard manipulation, attributing it to a "bug" that remains unaddressed months later. This alleged act of obscuring data to protect certain users directly contradicts the principles of transparency and open access often associated with decentralized systems. In essence, Wavlake employs Nostr for identity portability, metadata distribution to relays, and direct Lightning Network payments (zaps). These are genuinely decentralized elements. However, the centralized control over music file hosting, the traditional artist upload workflow, and alleged instances of data opacity demonstrate that Wavlake, while utilizing Nostr, operates as a centralized entity, strategically deploying decentralized components to enhance its appeal rather than fully embracing a decentralized ethos.