What is TuneLink

TuneLink is a sharing economy platform for musicians, think AirBNB but for music gear. Maybe you're traveling and want to pick up a guitar for a week, or perhaps you need an amp for a show tomorrow. Maybe you just want to try that new pedal before you buy it for yourself. TuneLink allows you to rent directly from other musicians, at a lower cost than music stores.

How it works

There are two ways to use the application. Either as a renter or as an owner/lender. all users can do both.

Renting

First, you can search by keyword or browse the local instruments selection to find what you need. Next, you send a rental request by navigating to the item page, clicking the request rental button, and submitting the form. To do this, you need to have an account set up with a username, email, and password. Once the request is sent, you can track it's status on the rentals page. You can also chat with the owner to arrange pickup and payment.

Lending

Users can add an instrument by navigating to the Add Instrument page and filling out the form. Once uploaded, you can edit the details using the Your Instruments page. Once this is complete, other users can see their listings and send rental requests. If you receive a rental request, it will show up in the pending section on the rentals page. You can accept or reject this rental, and chat with the renter. Once the request is accepted, It moves to the accepted section. When the renter collects the instrument, you can activate the rental, which marks your instrument as unavailable to other users. Finally, when the instrument is returned, you can mark the rental as complete.

Business model

Currently, this project is in alpha testing, the goal of which is to collect feedback and find bugs. Once I feel like the product is ready, we will add a free tier and a paid tier. The plan is to allow users/businesses to list a small number of instruments for free, and charge a monthly fee for more listings. My vision for TuneLink is to make music gear more accessible in a sustainable way, without relying on advertising or invasive data collection.