Giving creators the opportunity to reach millions of listeners online and to listeners the possibility to discover new musicians and share their discoveries with others. It is the ability to allow users to create, learn, discover and connect, that makes SoundCloud special. 

THE MOTIVATION  

COLLABORATE LIVE... ONLINE  

To create a feature within the existing platform for DJs to collaborate live on line taking turns with one another

THE CHALLENGE  

TO CREATE AN EXPERIENCE THAT INSPIRES USERS TO CREATE, COLLABORATE, CONNECT AND INTERACT LIVE WITH OTHERS  

Music is something that is deeply embedded in people's lives. It is expressive of many emotions and experiences, and allows us to communicate things that are important to us and who we are. Festivals, concerts, radio shows, clubs. Is it possible to recreate an online experience for live collaborations that moves people with the same emotion as the mainstream settings?

THE APPROACH  

MY ROLE  

As team leader I collaborated with two UX designers. We worked to design a solution that would create a great experience for music lovers online within the existing SoundCloud platform.

RESEARCH AND COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS  

Carried out industry research and competitive analysis to learn about the music industry and how users interact with the available technology as well as getting an understanding of what is happening in the industry today, how has it evolved with technology and what has driven these changes and how are music distributors are adapting, or emerging, in response to these changes. 

USER RESEARCH  

We sent out a survey to gather information about music listeners and creators. Our goal was to understand how music was consumed and through which platforms as well as allowing us to qualify individuals for further interviews.

DISCOVERY AND INSIGHTS  

We used our research to understand what is really important to our users. We developed personas which allowed us to do feature analysis and affinity mapping to guide our design.

EXPERIENCE STRATEGY AND VISION  

We designed a feature that will allow users to DJ live on line with others and let listeners discover and enjoy this experience while interacting with other listeners and the DJs themselves.

IDEATION, VALIDATION AND DESIGN EXECUTION  

We worked to translate our research into wireframes and a high fidelity prototype that integrated features that would fit well within the current SoundCloud platform focusing in what we learnt was important to the users, creators, and listeners alike.

RESEARCH AND COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS  

IT HAS BEEN A LONG TIME COMING  

Since the emergence of Napster the music industry has seen dramatic changes in how people create,  listen to, and distribute music. Beginning with the downfall of records to downloads, and then again with the shift from downloads to streaming. The internet has revolutionised the music industry.

What is most interesting about this story is that the common driver behind these changes are the music fans and music lovers, people who enjoy listening to music and sharing it with others, not because of the established distribution channels who have only changed in response only after the behaviours of the fans and musicians had set create a clear road map for the industry.

USER RESEARCH  

THE SURVEY  

We sent out a survey using social media platforms to allow us to gather knowledge about which music sources where most popular and why, as well as to qualify subjects for further interviews. 

THE INTERVIEWS  

Our goal for the interviews was to learn what platforms are currently been used, why and how, for both listeners and creators. 

Thanks to the survey and interviews, we were able to find patterns of behaviour across users and it was specially interesting to learn how listeners and creators differ in motivations and therefore also in behaviour. 

DISCOVERY AND INSIGHTS  

CAN THE INTERNET DO FOR LIVE MUSIC WHAT IT HAS DONE FOR RECORDED MUSIC?  

We found there is a large cross over of platforms. Users do not only use the market leaders, Spotify and Deezer, SoundCloud also commands a respectable share of the market with many listeners using it along with Spotify, for example. 

It was interesting to learn why was there such a large cross over of platforms being used. It was clear that not all the users needs were been met by today's market leaders which ensures SoundCloud maintains its status as one the big players in today's music landscape. Creators enjoy the benefit of sharing their work with others and listeners enjoy discovering music not in the main stream and sharing their discoveries with others. 

Amongst creators, there is a strong drive to find and connect with one another. To showcase their work and to receive feedback for it. To find like minded people to collaborate with.

The possibility for a platform that allows them to do this live on line was very exciting and was well received by this group of users. All interviewees had strong emotional responses to the possibilities and were inspired by the concept during interview and during testing.

On the opposite side, listeners initially showed scepticism. However, having the prototype on hand for testing showed the possibility of uses for this concept and initial concerns were bypassed. The success of companies like Mixlr and Mixify prove there is demand for such a concept.

EXPERIENCE STRATEGY AND VISION  

CREATING WITH OTHERS  

Music is a preferred from of entertainment. People chose to listen to it on their daily commute, while at the gym, but will also get out of their way to discover new music and share their discoveries with others. Listening to music is an enjoyable experience that can happen on our own or with others.

We worked to design a feature that would form an integral part of the emotional experience music represents for users. It will help users discover new music and invite others to create something with them. It will make it possible to follow the musicians they like, to be notified of upcoming performances and invite others to listen with them.

This feature allows users to sit down, relax, and enjoy, or interact with the DJs and fans during a set and would mean it is possible to stream a performance to your desktop, phone or even your living room.

THE FINAL DESIGN  

We designed a feature that allowed users to set up a live streaming session and users to listen to the DJs playing live.

Someone looking to DJ live can invite other DJs to join them using Facebook or Google+. It is possible to start a session at any time or set up a session for a future date.

Listeners can join any live session that display in the "Listen Live" page which contains sessions currently playing live and those coming up. If there is musicians they like it is possible to follow them and be informed of upcoming sessions, as well as sharing and inviting others.

DJs are able to add pre-recorded playlists as well as music uploaded in SoundCloud or Youtube, and create their new set for the current session. They are able to constantly add to this list which is then added to the queue. They are also able to see what the other DJs are planning to play next. This set up means anyone can enjoy the new feature and create playlists live with their friends. 

In the Live Stream page there is a chat room where listeners can see who is also listening and chat with each other and the DJs. In the DJs page, they are able to see their own playlists and chat to one another.

HOW WE GOT THERE  

PERSONAS

Based on our research we developed two personas to represent SoundCloud users. Meet Lily and David

TASK ANALYSIS AND USER FLOWS

We also did a task analysis to visualise the steps people like Lily and Davidwould have to take to either listen to, or play something online with others. Below we can see the user flows assuming the users have chose to use Mixify. One of the few platforms currently offering this service.

LILY'S USER FLOW - FNIDING SOMETHING TO LISTEN TO

DAVID'S USER FLOW - DJING LIVE ON LINE

USER JOURNEYS AND FEATURE ANALYSIS

After this we set to draw user journeys for our users to better understand the pain points they encountered. Putting this all together helped us carry out feature analysis and prioritisation, to focus on resolving our users pain points and help them achieve their goal, to listen to and enjoy, or to create with others. 

DESIGN AND IDEATION

Putting it all together we set out to design a feature that would take into consideration both the users needs. Creators and listeners have different goals and motivations and therefore their needs are different, however they converge together when the listeners enjoy what the creators are putting out there. We wanted to create something that would be true to SoundClouds mission while also allowing creators and fans alike to continue to push the boundaries of how music us produced and shared.

TESTING AND REITERATIONS

After design studio we set out to execute the paper prototype and immediately started testing. Given the complexities of the challenge and the novelty of the idea it was important for us to start this process as early as possible. We carried out 5 rounds of testing and re-iterations.

THE FUTURE  

EXPLORING THE POSSIBILITIES  

or the future it would be great to add a virtual turn-table as well as the possibility for artists to connect their equipment to create with others.

WHAT I LEARNT  

PEOPLE ENJOY CREATING, CONNECTING, LEARNING, AND DISCOVERING, TECHNOLOGY IS LIVING PROOF OF THIS  

Technology has allowed people to connect with millions around the globe and share those things that are important to them. Amongst these, there is music.

Using technology, users have changed the music industry, and in turn, technology has changed the way people share and enjoy the music they love. It is this combination of creativity and desire to reach to one another, to discover and learn that has shaped today’s landscape and if past experience can teach us anything is that we cannot expect creators to stand still in this pursuit. 

People sometimes try to recreate physical experiences online, but past experience also teaches us that as much as we create technology, the way we choose to interact with this technology shapes out behaviour. 

Music is a universal experience. The live music industry is large and growing and the possibilities presented by technology are exciting.