CASE STUDY

STEMS.FM MUSIC NFT PLATFORM

BeAWhale designed and developed Stems, a Web3 music platform where collectors mint individual audio stems as NFTs and combine them into complete Songs and Albums. The build covered 10 pages, a custom DAW-inspired visual system, a browser-based multi-track audio mixer with export, and the smart contract logic that powers the burn-and-forge token hierarchy.

THE CHALLENGE

MODULAR MUSIC COLLECTION

Most music NFTs are just album art attached to an audio file. Buy the JPEG, hear the song. The music itself does nothing.

Stems came to BeAWhale with a fundamentally different idea: what if the music was modular? What if collectors owned individual stems – the drums, the bass, the vocals – and had to combine them to forge a complete song? And combine songs to forge an album? Each tier rarer than the last, with the album as the ultimate collectible.

That premise required solving problems most music projects never touch. A working multi-track audio mixer in the browser. A visual system inspired by Ableton and FL Studio that fills in as tokens combine. Smart contracts that handle burn-and-forge mechanics across four token types. Real-time validation that catches every invalid combination – stems from different songs, songs from different albums – before the user wastes gas. And all of it tied to a collection of 49 Songs and 455 Stems across 3 albums.

REVIEW

KYLER SIMZER, FOUNDER

“Working on our project was a truly collaborative process. They asked the right questions, offered thoughtful input on every request, and worked closely with us to find the best solutions.”

FEATURES

What we built FOR MVP

Innovative Web3 services powering your
digital future

PLATFORM

10 fully-designed and developed pages including Home, Mint, Collection, Token Detail, Mixer, Forge, FAQ, and Stats. Every page handles connected and disconnected wallet states, loading, errors, and empty states.

VISUAL SYSTEM

Each NFT renders as a Digital Audio Workstation timeline with real waveforms. Tracks fill in as tokens combine – single stems show one lane, complete songs show all of them, albums switch to cover art.

MIXER

A working multi-track audio player with synchronized playback, mute and solo controls, timeline scrubbing, and export. Stems export as MP3, complete songs as WAV. Users walk away with files even without forging.

FORGE ENGINE

The four-tier hierarchy runs on burn-and-forge mechanics with real-time validation. The interface blocks invalid combinations with clear explanations and shows exactly what burns and what mints before any transaction is signed.

KEY FEATURE

COMPOSABLE MUSIC STEMS

Most music NFTs are static – one token, one audio file. Stems works differently. Every collectible is a building block. Drums combine with bass, bass combines with vocals, and the resulting Song combines with other songs to forge an Album. The audio itself is modular, the artwork updates with each combination, and the smart contracts enforce the rules so collectors can never combine pieces that don’t belong together. It’s the first NFT system where the music is composable, not just downloadable.

01 Mint

User mints unrevealed stems during the 2-week window

02 Reveal

Opens the token to discover which stem they received

03 Forge Song

Combines all required stems from the same song into one Song token

04 Forge Album

Combines all songs from an album into the rarest token tier

DETAILED

What you might want to KNOW

Can you build a Web3 platform with custom token mechanics?

Yes. For Stems we designed and shipped a four-tier token hierarchy with burn-and-forge mechanics, real-time combination validation, and smart contracts that handle the entire upgrade path from unrevealed stem to complete album. Custom token logic is core to what we do.

Do you build the smart contracts and the frontend, or just one?

Both. Stems is a full-stack build – smart contracts, backend infrastructure, frontend UI, and the audio mixer that runs in-browser. One team handles the protocol layer and the user experience, so the contract behavior and the interface stay aligned.

Can you handle complex audio or media features in the browser?

Yes. Stems includes a multi-track audio mixer with synchronized playback, mute and solo controls, timeline scrubbing, and export to MP3 and WAV. We handle the audio engineering, file pipeline, and browser performance work needed to make it feel like a real DAW.

Do you build custom NFT visual systems, not just static art?

Yes. The Stems NFT visuals are procedurally generated DAW arrangement views that update as tokens combine – more tracks fill in as users forge their way up the hierarchy. We build visual systems that respond to on-chain state, not just JPEGs.

Have you worked with Web3 music or media projects?

Yes. Stems is a music-first NFT platform with 49 songs and 455 stems across 3 albums. We’ve also built games (Ballistic Freaks), DeFi banking (Bink), and other Web3 products. We adapt to the medium – the constants are end-to-end delivery and a single team owning the build.

What types of products does BeAWhale build?

Web3 platforms, mobile apps, games, DeFi applications, and AI-powered tools. Every engagement covers design, development, smart contracts, and deployment. From token launches and music platforms like Stems to consumer fintech apps – we work across EVM-compatible chains and ship complete products. See more at beawhale.io/projects.