MeloFlip
Zambia’s beat marketplace, where producers upload and monetise their instrumentals, and artists discover, preview and license them instantly.
01Overview
A two-sided marketplace, from idea to live product.
MeloFlip is a music technology platform that connects producers and artists through an online beat marketplace. Producers upload and sell their instrumentals; artists browse by sound, stream previews, choose a licence and download immediately after purchase.
I founded MeloFlip and led it from concept to public launch in August 2026, owning the product direction, the user experience and the hands-on development, then operating it as an early-stage startup.
02The problem
Talent on both sides, but no trusted place to trade.
Producers needed a way to reach artists, set their own prices and get paid, without upfront costs or the risk of their masters being lifted.
Artists needed somewhere to discover local sounds quickly, hear a beat before paying, and walk away with a clear licence, paying with the mobile money they already use.
A marketplace only works if both sides trust it. That shaped every product decision: protected previews, explicit licence tiers, automatic licence documents and transparent fees.
03My role
Founder, product lead and developer.
- Product strategy. Defined the two-sided model, licence tiers and the free-to-sell pricing approach.
- UX & interface design. Designed discovery, beat pages, checkout and dashboards for producers and artists.
- Full-stack development. Built authentication, account roles, uploads, the searchable catalogue, previews, cart, purchases and dashboards.
- Launch & operations. Shipped the live platform and use early-adopter feedback to prioritise improvements.
- Team leadership. Coordinate a five-person cross-functional team covering marketing, administration, finance and legal operations.
04Approach
Designing for trust on both sides of the market.
The platform is built on React and Tailwind CSS, with Supabase providing the database, authentication and storage. Producer and artist experiences share one catalogue but see different tools, controlled by account roles.
Key product decisions, all visible on the live site:
- Free to upload, free to sell. No subscriptions or listing fees. The platform only earns a share on completed sales, lowering the barrier for producers to join.
- Tiered licensing. Producers price each beat across Basic, Premium and Exclusive licences; a signed licence PDF is generated automatically on every sale.
- Protected previews. Full-length, tagged (watermarked) previews let artists hear the whole beat without exposing the master.
- Local payments. MTN, Airtel and Zamtel mobile money collection, with a producer wallet and withdrawals to mobile money.
- Safety by design. Copyright reporting so stolen uploads can be taken down, and a “verified originals” promise for buyers.
05Key functionality
What the platform does today.
Producer & artist accounts
Authentication with role-based experiences, plus a public producer page to share as one link.
Uploads & catalogue management
Unlimited uploads (up to 200 MB and six minutes each) with pricing, genre, BPM, key and tags.
Search & discovery
Search by title, producer, genre, BPM or tag; filter by genre, BPM range and price; trending and new views.
Watermarked previews
Stream full-length tagged previews before buying: no surprises for artists, no leaked masters for producers.
Licensing & purchases
Cart and checkout across licence tiers, instant download and an automatically generated licence PDF.
Mobile money & wallet
MTN, Airtel and Zamtel collection, a producer wallet, and withdrawals straight to mobile money.
Dashboards & analytics
Producers track plays, sales, earnings and top-performing beats; artists manage their purchases.
Community
Likes, comments and play counts that surface what’s trending across the catalogue.
Administration & safety
Platform administration, copyright reporting and takedowns, and a privacy-first cookie consent.
06Results
Fast growth after launch.
Figures as of October 2026, from the platform’s own records. User feedback drives the roadmap.
07Gallery
Screens from the live product.
All screenshots captured from the live site at meloflip.com in October 2026.
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