One shelf for your whole collection — vinyl, CDs, tapes, and streaming on top. Behind the counter: the Clerk, an AI trained by a real music nerd with six copies of Tom Petty's Wildflowers (all justified). Opinionated about pressings, snarky about your dupes, tomorrow's spin already pulled. One app for the jobs eight apps do badly.
↳ replaces:the spreadsheet · the barcode app · the scrobbler · the ratings site · the ticket alerts · the concert log · the cover wall · the player skin
You own 1,247 records and three nights a week you stand in front of them, paralysed, queueing up the same Beatles record like an absolute animal. We made an app for that.
The Clerk picks one. One. Based on the weather, what you played last Tuesday, the fact that it's a Dan the Automator anniversary nobody else remembers, and the small, undeniable fact that you have not touched Demon Days in 114 days. He's not surfacing content he's handing you a proper record.
He also reads liner notes, knows the pressing plant, remembers the deadwax, and will slag off your three Ween LPs without Chocolate and Cheese if you give him half a chance.
★ THE CLERK · ON THE RECORD
“I see you've got three Ween albums but no Chocolate and Cheese? That's like building a house and forgetting the roof. "Voodoo Lady" alone justifies the purchase. Sort it out.”
EXHIBIT A · CLERK ON YOUR SHELF
Logged 2:14 AM Re: your shelf Mood: incredulous
2
Eight apps. One serious problem.
Your collection is held hostage, scattered across a dozen single-purpose apps that never talk to each other. We rounded up the usual suspects.
NO. 00 · ORIGIN
The Algorithm
Ringleader
Case 00 · OriginAt Large
The ringleader. Scatters your collection across all eight, then feeds you back whatever keeps you scrolling.
How Gatefold cuts the strings
Gatefold cuts the strings. One shelf, your order.
NO. 41-A
The Catalog App
NO. 88-C
The Barcode Scanner
NO. 12-R
The Scrobbler
NO. 67-G
The Concert Log
NO. 33-M
The Cover Wall
NO. 55-R
The Stream Counter
NO. 72-N
The Player Skin
NO. 19-F
The Ticket Site
02 / FREED HOSTAGES
Real features. Every one shipped.
Daily
01 / Spin of the Day
The Clerk picks one record. Every morning.
Weather, anniversaries, last Tuesday's spins, the LP you've dodged for 114 days. Not random, not the whole internet's algorithm. Trained on your shelf — holidays included.
No payola
02 / Recommendations
Recs from connections, not payola.
Every pick anchors to a real link — a shared producer, a session player, a label-mate, a sample. Never 'similar vibes,' never what a label paid to surface.
03 / One Shelf
Play streaming over the vinyl you own.
Vinyl, CDs, tapes and digital on one shelf. Pipe Apple Music or Tidal over the records you actually own — free of the feed that keeps nudging you somewhere weird.
◉ Physical shelf→Apple MusicTidal
04 / Record-Store Mode
Scan it in the shop. Own it already?
Scan the barcode, Shazam the track, or snap the cover. Get the Clerk's verdict, the pressing, the price — and a straight answer on whether it's already on your shelf. We degens forget.
BarcodeShazamCover photo
05 / The Hunt
Drops and shows from bands you own.
New releases sorted by the artists actually on your shelf — not what a label paid to surface. Plus tour alerts for anyone you've got more than a couple records by.
06 / Marquee mode
Any spare screen becomes a now-playing display.
Prop a tablet by the hi-fi and it runs the whole show: a now-playing visual, social sharing, metadata, facts and lore, and your cartridge wear hours. Free on every plan — no album cap.
Now-playing visual— what’s streaming, live
Social sharing— post tonight’s spin
Metadata + facts & lore
Cartridge wear hours
Free on every plan · no album cap
07 / CarPlay and Android Auto
Hands on the wheel. Clerk on the aux.
Ask for a record, a deep cut, or just 'something good for this drive.' Snark, recommendations and collection curation — all by voice. Free to ride, with more for Mosh Pit.
Free to ride · more for Mosh Pit
08 / Driving Mode
Cool-as-hell tech for any car.
Not CarPlay. Not Android Auto. Driving Mode reads your phone's telemetry — g-force, average speed, cornering, distance — tells spirited from raging, and shifts the music to keep you alert, calm, or sane in a jam. Then it grades the drive: your session, scored as an album.
★ THE CLERK — “This aggression will not stand, man. Cueing up some Bill Withers.”
A free visual mode — more for Mosh Pit · Apple or Tidal sub required
09 / Nerd Out
Nerd out. Learn shit.
Lore on the artist, the producer, the engineer. The BPM of every track. The deadwax, the pressing plant, the session cats. See all the Bob Ludwig cuts on your shelf, the artists you've completed — yeah, we see you — and a career arc from debut to sellout.
→ Stats for nerds
47
Cut by Bob Ludwig — on your shelf
12
Artists completed · 100%
BPM · every trackSteely Dan — Aja
Career arc · Bowie
FolkBerlinPopDust
10 / Bonus · The Matchmaker
Move in together. Merge the shelves.
Two Discogs accounts become one shelf — your polka next to their exotica. The Clerk merges them and roasts how compatible you really are. Couples, roommates, whole households: signing a lease together is easy. Agreeing to mix two record collections in one app? That’s commitment.
Mosh Pit exclusive
FREED
Records freed this week.
Real collectors. Real shelves. Every cover here belongs to someone who stopped staring and started listening.
Most "AI assistants" just give you the boring consensus answer. The Clerk gives you a proper opinion — exactly like the bloke behind the counter at the record shop would.
He reads your collection, your liner notes, your pressing data — and then tells you what he actually thinks. He's a cheeky smart-arse about it. That's a feature, not a bug.
clerk@gatefold ~ % ssh demon-days2:14 AM · 36°F · drizzle
YOU· 02:14:03
› tell me about this pressing of demon days
★ CLERK· 02:14:04
Oh, 2005 Parlophone UK first press — VG 8000. Mastered by Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road. Two LPs, 180g virgin vinyl. The bass on "Feel Good Inc" hits completely different than the 2014 repress because Arkwright used the original analogue masters, not the digital bounce they used later. You can literally hear the tape saturation on "November Has Come." This pressing goes for about $120–150 now.
YOU· 02:14:33
› what else should I know
★ CLERK· 02:14:34
Dan the Automator mixed at Kong Studios — same board Bowie used for Heathen. De La Soul recorded their verse for "Feel Good Inc" in one take, sent the file over, Damon built the bassline around it. Danger Mouse produced half this album from a cupboard in the back of the studio because the budget was already gone. That cupboard energy is why the lo-fi tracks hit so hard. You're welcome.
YOU· 02:15:02
› build me a sunday playlist from my shelf. nothing after 1975
★ CLERK· 02:15:04
"Sunday, Slow" — 47 min, all yours: Nick Drake Northern Sky · Bill Withers Grandma's Hands · Terry Callier Dancing Girl · Labi Siffre I Got The… · Gil Scott-Heron Lady Day and John Coltrane · Shuggie Otis Strawberry Letter 23 · Minnie Riperton Les Fleurs. All pulled from your shelf. Want a Saturday-night version?
Bonus roast
You've built what I'm calling the Mike Patton Cinematic Universe — Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Fantômas, Tomahawk, all accounted for. But your Soundgarden situation is criminal. Two albums when Cornell put out six with that band alone. Fix that bollocks.
From the App Store · all five stars
Witness statements.
Unpaid, unprompted, verbatim.
★★★★★
“I never engage with AI chat unless I have to. Yet I've found myself unknowingly debating the merits of a few different bands with the 'Clerk' as well as some pointed (but not untrue) critiques of my record collection.”
Switched_On · App Store★★★★★
“Like having a coach for what you should be into based on what you have! Love This!!!”
ScottyC514 · App Store★★★★★
“It gives you a record you should play for the day and why … and can even add records to your want list or collection just by hearing it. … An amazing idea that I wish I had lol.”
Byronl81 · App Store
03 / THE MANIFESTO
No ads. No data mining. Nostrategic partnerships.
I'm not a Silicon Valley suit trying to monetise your listening habits. I'm a music nerd who got tired of soulless, clinical apps that quietly sell your data to brokers and call it a feature.
I built Gatefold for us. The lights stay on two ways: Mosh Pit subscribers, or albums you discover and buy through the app. That's the whole business model. Print it on the back of a flyer.
No tracking pixels. No "strategic partnerships" with data companies. No 47-tab onboarding. You fund the code, I keep building the ultimate crate-digger's companion. Deal?
CLERK INTERCEPT · 03:14 AM
0 Ads served, ever
1 Founder, soldering
∞ Records you can throw at it
0 Brokers paid
★ THE ROADMAP
Want a feature built? Don't email us. Don't fill out a Notion form. Don't tag us on Threads. Come to /r/gatefoldfm and ask for it. If it's a good idea, I'll build it. If it's not, someone in the comments will explain why. That's the whole product roadmap.
— THE GATEFOLD TEAM (it's just the one of us, mostly)SIGNED IN SHARPIE · MAY 2026
04 / THE COVER CHARGE
Pick your pass.
No minimum collection size. Ten records is enough. The Clerk needs about that much before he can start finding patterns and taking the piss out of your gaps.
Free works forever. The Mosh Pit unlocks FREE PLAY — unlimited Quarters (his arcade tokens), premium model, every roast he can think of.
GA SeatingWelcome to the machine
$0forever
Section · GADoors · always open
Everything you actually need to enjoy a collection: import, sync, search, scan, the daily spin pick, and a Clerk on a monthly Quarters allowance who will still mock you for free.
FREE PLAY. Smarter Clerk, unlimited everything, and the deep tools — a pressings discover card (OG / reissue / audiophile, side by side), custom notes on every album, multi-account Discogs, one-click two-way sync to Apple Music or Tidal. The flag drops, the machine never asks for another quarter.
No. Discogs is one of five ways in. Spreadsheet collection? Import .doc or .xls. You can also scan barcodes, search and add manually, or hook up Apple Music or Tidal. Pick whatever fits how you collect. Or use all five — the Clerk doesn't give a toss.
02.
Wait — it's actually free?
Yes. GA Seating is free forever — full collection sync, daily Spin of the Day, The Hunt recommendations, concert history, discography data, Flex art on your monthly Quarters allowance, four custom shelves. The Mosh Pit ($5/mo, or $50/yr — 2 months free) flips it to FREE PLAY — unlimited everything, smarter Clerk, the deep tools. That's the whole pricing page.
03.
Why does it know about my pressing?
Because he actually reads liner notes, deadwax data, and pressing-plant info — not just track lists. He pulls from proper audiophile databases and has opinions about what's actually worth your money. If he ever gets a pressing detail wrong, give us some grief on /r/gatefoldfm and we'll sort it.
04.
Will it touch my Discogs?
Two-way sync — your way. You decide. Read-only mode is the default: Gatefold pulls what you own and never writes back. Flip on full two-way and edits stay in lockstep both directions — add a record on either side, it shows up on the other. No background mystery writes. You can revert to read-only any time.
05.
CDs? Tapes? Box sets? SACDs?
All of it. If you collect it, Gatefold tracks it. Vinyl, CDs, cassettes, SACDs, box sets, the weird flexi disc you found in a magazine in 1994. Your collection isn't just vinyl. Neither is Gatefold.
06.
What are "Quarters"?
Quarters are how you interact with the Clerk, generate Flex art, and access deep audiophile data. GA gets a monthly allowance — enough to keep you spinning. Mosh Pit sets the machine to FREE PLAY. It's how we keep the lights on without ads. Like a real arcade. With an opinionated cabinet.
07.
How do I request a feature?
Come to /r/gatefoldfm and ask for it. Seriously. That's the roadmap. If it's a good idea, I'll build it. If it's a rubbish idea, someone in the comments will tell you why. No support tickets, no "we've shared this with the team," no five-star feedback widgets. Just a subreddit.
08.
Is this just a SaaS app pretending to be cool?
No. It's a love letter to record shops, written in TypeScript by someone who's been collecting since 1996. There's no growth team. There's no "engagement loop." There's a bloke in Brooklyn, a Clerk who reads liner notes, and probably about three thousand of us right now. We're not trying to scale to a billion users. We're trying to make the best companion app for people who care about the back-cover credits.
09.
Where do I start?
Right here: app.gatefold.fm/signup. Free forever tier, no credit card. Import your collection or start from scratch — either way you'll be looking at your own shelf in about a minute.
Authentic indie tech ★ ★ ★ Made by one nerd
Drop the needle.
Import your collection in a minute or two. The Clerk's already got your first pick lined up. Free forever. Works with 10 records or 10,000.
