Building a mobile audio tool for music learners and the niche vs. mass market trap I walked into

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Company AudioCraft
Role Founder, Product Designer
Timeline 2023 – Present
Team Solo (contracted developer for initial build)
Status Live on Play Store, 2K+ downloads, 500+ monthly active users

Download on Play Store · Visit Website


The Origin

I'm an intermediate-level Carnatic vocalist. Like most music students, I record my lessons—often 30-60 minutes long—and revisit them during practice.

But practice doesn't work like listening. You don't play a 45-minute recording start to finish. You need to isolate the 2-minute section where your teacher demonstrated a specific phrase, loop it, and drill it until it's in your muscle memory.

On desktop, this is easy. On mobile, where practice actually happens, it's painful. I saw this as a product opportunity.


Market Analysis

I audited the top audio editing apps on the Play Store. They all looked the same and solved for the same use cases: trim, merge, convert.

For music learners, two features existed but fell short:

Bookmarks

Bookmarks

AB Loops

AB Loops

Bookmarks

Pros Cons
Mark timestamps to jump back to Only marks start point, no end point
Helps locate important sections Requires active engagement—you have to manually stop

AB Loops

Pros Cons
Define start and end points Only one loop at a time
Audio plays in a loop Have to redo the setup for each section