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§ masterplan.md

Cassette Tape Store

A retro online store for cassette tapes with scanlines, playlist previews and limited-edition drops.

All ideas
Retro

01

App overview and objectives

A shop for cassette releases that treats the physical object as the point: J-card artwork, tape type, run size, and a digital download included with every purchase.

02

The problem worth solving

Tape culture is small, devoted and badly served by generic storefronts. Foregrounding artwork, edition size and the download code respects both the collector and the label's economics.

03

Target audience

  • Primary — Tape collectors and fans of small labels.
  • Secondary — Independent artists self-releasing physical editions.

04

Roles and permissions

  • Visitor — read-only public pages, can sign up.
  • Member — owns their own records, cannot see other users' data.

05

Core features

  • Release pages with full J-card artwork, tracklist, tape stock and run size
  • Audio previews per track
  • Cart and checkout with worldwide shipping tiers
  • Download code delivered automatically after purchase
  • Mixtape section for label compilations
  • Sold-out states that keep the release page as an archive

Deliberately later

  • Subscription tape club
  • Pre-orders with production updates
  • Distributor and wholesale portal

06

Technical stack

React storefront, payment provider for checkout, object storage for audio and download bundles.

Why: Digital delivery must be tied to a verified purchase; a signed, expiring download link after payment is the simplest reliable mechanism.

Alternatives: A music-specific marketplace (built-in audience, high fees) or a general shop platform (cheap, wrong vocabulary for tape releases).

07

Conceptual data model

Release — artist, title, artwork, tracklist, tape stock, run size, price, stock

Track — release, title, duration, preview file

Order — customer, items, shipping tier, status, tracking

DownloadGrant — order, release, token, expires_at, uses

Artist — name, bio, releases, links

08

Integrations

  • Payments
  • Shipping rates and labels
  • Audio hosting and streaming previews
  • Email delivery

09

UI design principles

  • Period-accurate details: pixel or bitmap type, dithered textures, chunky borders.
  • Nostalgia must not cost usability — keep tap targets and contrast modern.
  • Sound and animation are opt-in, never autoplay.

10

Security considerations

  • Download tokens are single-order, expiring and rate-limited.
  • Preview audio is transcoded to low bitrate so the shop is not a free download source.
  • Customer addresses purged after fulfilment plus a returns window.

11

Development phases

Phase 1 — Prove the core

  • — Release pages with full J-card artwork, tracklist, tape stock and run size
  • — Audio previews per track
  • — Cart and checkout with worldwide shipping tiers
  • — Static content and design system in place
  • — Basic analytics

Phase 2 — Make it real

  • — Download code delivered automatically after purchase
  • — Mixtape section for label compilations
  • — Sold-out states that keep the release page as an archive
  • — Accounts, sign-in and password reset
  • — Empty, loading and error states everywhere

Phase 3 — Polish and launch

  • — Performance, accessibility and SEO pass
  • — Legal pages, contact route and 404 handling
  • — Wire up: Payments
  • — Wire up: Shipping rates and labels

Phase 4 — Grow

  • — Subscription tape club
  • — Pre-orders with production updates
  • — Distributor and wholesale portal

12

Challenges and solutions

Risk — International shipping cost surprises

Solution — Show a shipping estimate before checkout based on destination zone and weight.

Risk — Small runs sell out in minutes

Solution — Cart-level stock reservation with a short timer and a queue during drops.

Risk — Download link sharing

Solution — Limited uses per token and per-account download history.

13

Future expansion

  • Label services for other artists
  • Vinyl and merchandise expansion
  • Listening events

14

Page list (13 pages)

  1. 01 PUBLIC Shop — All available releases.
  2. 02 PUBLIC Releases — Full catalogue including sold-out archive.
  3. 03 PUBLIC Mixtapes — Label compilations and curation.
  4. 04 PUBLIC Cart — Checkout and shipping.
  5. 05 PUBLIC About — Label story, artists and contact.
  6. 06 AUTH Sign up — Create an account with email or a social provider.
  7. 07 AUTH Log in — Return to the account, with error and lockout states.
  8. 08 AUTH Reset password — Request a reset link and set a new password.
  9. 09 APP (signed in) Account settings — Profile, email, password, language and delete account.
  10. 10 PUBLIC Contact — Contact form plus real address, phone and email.
  11. 11 LEGAL & SYSTEM Privacy policy — What data is collected, why, and how to remove it.
  12. 12 LEGAL & SYSTEM Terms of service — Rules of use, liability and account termination.
  13. 13 LEGAL & SYSTEM 404 not found — Friendly dead end with search and links back.

15

Page map

PUBLIC       AUTH               APP (signed in)      LEGAL & SYSTEM
───────────  ─────────────────  ───────────────────  ───────────────────
├─ Shop      ├─ Sign up         └─ Account settings  ├─ Privacy policy
├─ Releases  ├─ Log in                               ├─ Terms of service
├─ Mixtapes  └─ Reset password                       └─ 404 not found
├─ Cart
├─ About
└─ Contact

key flows:
  Shop ──▶ Cart
  Releases ──▶ Shop
  Mixtapes ──▶ Releases