What is a membership area and how to run one under your own brand
Updated
Quick answer
A membership area is the gated part of a website that only people with access can enter, like a course's students or subscribers. It holds lessons, materials and the rules for who sees what. In LUME Hub, your brand's membership area is Meu Play, with courses, plans, student approval and sales through your own Mercado Pago.
A membership area is the gated part of a website that only people with access can enter. It's where students watch a course's lessons, where subscribers find their plan's content and where clients reach the materials you agreed on.
What is a membership area?
A membership area is a login-protected space. Each person sees only what's been unlocked for them: one course, a bundle of courses or exclusive materials. Everyone else sees, at most, the storefront.
It's used by people who sell knowledge: course creators, coaches, agencies that train their clients, consultancies and online schools.
What a good membership area needs
- Its own login: each person signs in with their own account.
- Organized lessons: courses, modules or rows, with covers and descriptions.
- Access control: unlock and block people, by course or by plan.
- Built-in sales: payment unlocks access with no manual work.
- Your brand: students see your name and address, not the platform's.
What the membership area looks like in LUME Hub
In LUME Hub, your brand's membership area is Meu Play (My Play), included with the white-label plans. It lives at your brand's address under /play, styled like a streaming service.
| What you need | How Meu Play does it |
|---|---|
| Login | Clients and team sign in with their dashboard login |
| Lessons | Courses with covers and video lessons from YouTube or Vimeo |
| Organization | Categories that become rows on the home page, plus a featured spot at the top |
| Access control | Locked courses, plans that bundle courses, one-off access and approval of people who sign up |
| Sales | A one-off product or subscription through your Mercado Pago account, which unlocks the course or plan |
| Extra content | LUME Play courses you choose to unlock for your students |
A useful detail if you work on contracts: a locked course can open automatically from a set month of the client's content contract.
Your own membership area or a third-party platform?
On a third-party platform, students usually see that platform's brand and payments go through it. With a white-label membership area like Meu Play, students see your brand, sign in with the same login they use on your dashboard and pay into your Mercado Pago account, with no LUME commission.
How to get started
Follow how to create an online course in LUME Play, then how to sell with Mercado Pago. To understand the custom-branding model, read what is white label software.
Frequently asked questions
Is a membership area the same as a course platform?
Almost. The course platform is the whole system; the membership area is the gated part where students sign in to watch. In LUME Play, both live at your brand's address.
Do my students need a separate password for the membership area?
Not if they're already clients on your dashboard. Clients and team sign in to the Play with their dashboard login; people who sign up through the link wait for your approval.
Can I have a Netflix-style membership area?
Meu Play follows that style: courses with covers, rows by category, vertical posters for series and a featured spot at the top of the home page.
How do I charge for access?
On the Console's Sales screen, create a one-off product or a subscription that unlocks a course or a Play plan. Payment through your Mercado Pago unlocks access automatically.
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