AX3 Sonic is a secure podcast streaming platform purpose-built for businesses. From internal team updates to public shows behind paywalls, it empowers companies to manage, stream, and monetize audio/video content—all under one roof.I built this from scratch with a deep focus on performance, security, and scalability, blending serverless architecture with real-time streaming and AI automation.
🔍 The Challenge
Traditional podcast platforms are built for influencers or hobbyists—not for companies managing teams, branding, billing, and secure content.We needed a system that lets organizations:
- Stream internal audio/video to employees only
- Offer premium public content behind subscriptions
- Customize their own branding
- Track detailed analyticsAnd do it all with zero manual work
💡 My Role
I led the entire development—from product design to backend infrastructure and deployment. My focus was building a seamless experience for both company admins and listeners, without cutting corners on tech or scalability.
🧠 My Process
The project came to life in stages. Here’s how I approached it:
- Company Onboarding & Subscription Management: Right at signup, companies choose a plan to access the AX3 Sonic platform itself. These plans unlock core features like user seats, storage, and analytics. Admins can upgrade or downgrade anytime, purchase add-ons like extra storage, AI features, or branding enhancements, manage billing via Stripe with complete transparency.
- User Roles & Teams: Each company can invite team members and assign roles like Admin, Sub-admin, Finance, Sales, and more. Every permission is granular and built with enterprise security in mind.
- Media Upload & Conversion Pipeline: Admins upload raw audio or video (MP3/MP4), and behind the scenes, I built a serverless pipeline using AWS Lambda, Fargate, and FFmpeg to:Transcode files to adaptive M3U8/HLS format for streamingStore segmented video in S3, served via CloudFrontTrigger AI-based transcription & captions for accessibilityThis workflow supports both internal (private) podcasts and external (public, monetized) shows.
- Podcast Monetization Engine: Admins can launch public podcasts and create subscription pricing for them. These paid shows:Are visible on the company’s public pageRequire users to purchase a plan to access all episodes (past + future)Automatically split revenue — 70% to the company, 30% platform cutUse Stripe for subscription logic and payoutsInclude a 60-day holding window before earnings are released.
- Brand Customization: Every company can brand their public presence with logos, banners, and color themes. I built a dynamic theming system to reflect these changes instantly on public podcast pages.6. Analytics & InsightsAdmins can track:Total viewsWatch time per episodeBandwidth usedTop-performing contentThis data helps them understand what’s working—and what’s not.
🧰 Tech Stack Highlights
Frontend: Next.js, TailwindCSS, shadcn/uiBackend: Nest.js + Postgresql
Cloud Infrastructure: AWS (Fargate, Lambda, S3, CloudFront)
Media Processing: FFmpeg
AI Tools: Whisper for auto transcription/captioning
Payments: Stripe for billing, subscriptions, and payouts
RBAC: Custom role-based access system
Analytics: Real-time usage metrics and insights
✨ Impact
AX3 Sonic is now helping organizations deliver internal updates through podcasts, educate teams, and even build new revenue channels through public audio/video content.It’s a future-ready media platform that mixes business logic with creative storytelling—and I loved building every piece of it.
📢 Final Thoughts
What made this project special was the combination of streaming tech, AI workflows, Stripe billing, and custom user systems—all wrapped in a clean, usable interface.If you’re building something that needs brains, bandwidth, and a backend built to scale, I’d love to hear about it.
