BOOM // product designer (2023-now)

mobile music hub app that leverages short-form content and a gamified experience that empowers fans to discover, engage with, and support artists faster, easier, and better

📈outcome: out of numerous applicants across college campuses in the United States, BOOM was 1 of 25 startups to be featured at Startup Exchange Summit 2023 at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where I presented in front of 1000+ attendees including industry professionals, investors, students, and other founders. To date, BOOM has been demand tested, garnering 700+ backers from primary user demographics, and it's also been feasibly validated by 5+ technical co-founder resume applications.

Project Type

BOOM

Roles

My Roles: everything Collaborators: Zohair Salman: engineer/consultant, computer science @ University of Guelph

Timeline

~8 weeks of design (still intermittently continuing work)

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🚩problem: before BOOM, listeners have to navigate a disconnected landscape of platforms just to interact with artists, their communities, and their music. This causes many artists, specifically independent and smaller artists to struggle to monetize their work effectively, thus resulting in artists resorting to record labels to distribute and market their music, who take the majority portion of their revenue, while adjacent businesses like ticket companies pocket exorbitant fees from the fans. 💡solution: with BOOM, the journey for a fan to discover and support artists is made faster, easier, and better through alternative monetization strategies and providing a unified platform to directly connect fan-to-artist, and fan-to-fan.

BOOM mobile app

this project was done completely from scratch, and so you will see a broad range of how i work as a designer

preview

my process roadmap

discover

design

evaluate

out of all things in the music landscape, why look at fan music discovery?

the challenge is that the problem that fans face doesn’t lie in one particular place, app, or platform. this leads to secondary problems that artists face. but it all starts with fan discovery, and more specifically, how well artists are able to convert these ‘customers’ AKA fans into financial support for their music careers.

initial secondary research

affordable home studios

cheap music production software

plenty of discovery platforms

today’s technology has empowered independent artists

but...

first, in case you aren’t familiar,

independent artist, or indie artist = a musician or band that produces and releases music without the financial and logistical support of a major record label (historically the norm).

Spotify pays $0.0032 per stream

Apple Music pays $0.0068 per stream

Tidal pays 0.0125 per stream

substantial earnings are challenging without massive streams

and despite that...

which can be attributed to:

CAGR of 32% for independent artist revenue, compared to 12% for the industry average (IFPI, Goldman Sachs)

the music industry is seeing a huge shift towards independent artists

social media virality and fans appreciating a broader diversity of sounds

cultural changes

as well as

wait. that sounds pretty good for independent artists. so how come...

on average, record labels take between 50-90% of what an artist or band makes

how much record labels suck

an artist who has ~3,000,000 streams per year only makes about ~$12,000 per year

most independent artists still can’t capitalize on their fan bases

despite having fans, indie artist still struggle to make enough money. but fans are primed and waiting to discover the next generation of artists.


=


there is a significant market opportunity for alternative music monetization, marketing, and distribution.

secondary research insights

how might we provide a way for fans to bring alternative music monetization for indie artists?

this is a competency matrix with a subjective 1-4 grading scale, based on objective deep-dive secondary research, which would bore you to death if i put it all here.

i looked at where fans are finding artists, listening to artists, supporting artists, etc. and looked at various direct competitors, indirect competitors, and substitute competitors.

competitive analysis

ethnography & online forum analysis


because of what i mentioned in the image caption above, i won’t include everything, but here are examples 😇:

Spotify Shop (alternative monetization):


fans use Spotify to listen to music, not Spotify Shop

mostly used by label artists anyways

some were external links to third-party stores like Merchbar

this Spotify Shop tab labeled “Merch” is tucked away at the very bottom of the artist’s page

TikTok (alternative marketing/distribution):


took me (a music enthusiast) about ~50-100 swipes each time to get a video of an indie artist promoting their music

most that i actually saw were artists i already followed

realized that not all artists make good TikTok content

TikTok is full of discovery, but not always music discovery

SongVest (alternative monetization):


investing in royalty shares is unpopular and sketchy

low participation from fans and artists

not easy to understand/use for most people

SongVest, along with other royalty-investing platforms don’t have much signs of activity/user retention

interview insights, Gen-Z music enthusiasts, n = 4

i aimed to create a user journey that would clearly document fans’ interactions from initial discovery to supporting an artist, so i needed to conduct research outside of my own ethnography experiences. target interviewees were selected based on my observations from prior research; Gen-Z is more likely to actively use social media and online platforms to interact with indie artists.

music discovery is slow

social media is full of non-music content

it can be hard to engage with indie artists

it is hard to find and build communities around indie artists

there’s no clear or direct path to support indie artists

supporting artists is easier when you can follow them closely

“i would love to buy concert tickets and see them live, but they’re too small to do a tour”

“i see other fans in TikTok comments all the time, but that’s it.”

“i use Spotify more passively rather than to actively look for indie artists”

Primary Users

Secondary

Emma, 16

Needs:

High School Student

Indie Rock Fan


“I follow my favorite bands closely on Instagram but I don’t know anyone else who listens to the same stuff or if they’ll ever be big enough to do a tour.”

Find friends with similar music tastes


Support small artists so she could see them perform live one day


Support small artists so they release more music she likes

Frustrations:

No place to interact with and find other like-minded fans


No place or method to support her favorite band besides using snippets on her Instagram Stories


Feels distant and disconnected from the music communities she follows on social media


Needs:

Pursue his passion for music full-time


More visibility and exposure to grow his fanbase


Support channels to monetize his music

Frustrations:

Cannot pour his full creative energy into making music because of other responsibilities


Marketing and distribution takes too much time and money


Doesn’t know how to create a community with his fans, who only follow him and DM him on social media.

Needs:

N/A

Frustrations:

N/A

“I want to make music more often but it’s hard when I have to balance a part-time job while I’m in school too. It also takes so much time to make TikTok content to promote my music.”

“I use Pandora and listen to whatever comes on while I’m coding or on my way to work, but I don’t really pay attention to artists or their new releases.”

Grad Student

Small EDM Artist

Software Engineer

Casual Listener

Alex, 24

David, 33

Anti-Persona

personas, n = 3

in addition to my primary/secondary users, i created an anti-persona to communicate who i am not designing for.

primary user persona, secondary user persona, and anti-persona

user journeys

the objective of the user journeys were to visualize the problem along a typical primary and secondary user’s path.

user journey map of primary user

TikTok

Instagram

Spotify + Reddit

Merchbar

Has been scrolling TikTok for 20 minutes

Finds a video that uses a sound from the band

Comments section is irrelevant to the audio track used

Taps on the sound and visits the original post

The original poster is just a fan, not the artist

Decides to keep scrolling for now, the next video captures her attention

Sees that the band made a new post that directs fans to check the link in their bio

Likes the post

The link takes her to a Linktree

She selects the Spotify option

Listens to the new album

Wants to read people’s reviews while she listens

Looks up the band name’s new album on Reddit

Reads Reddit thread comments

One comment says they bought the new merch, starts looking for it

The first result that comes up is on Merchbar

Sees a hoodie she likes

Goes to purchase, but is hesitant because the site isn’t transparent on who the money goes to

She finds out the money goes to the band’s record label.

Emma the Enthusiast

Scenario: Emma sees that a band that she likes has released a new album, she wants to see what other people think, and wants to buy their new merch to support them.

Ability to easily listen to the album, view other fan’s thoughts, and buy merch to support the artist

Expectations

Create an uninterrupted channel for music discovery

Simplify the path from discovery to listening

Integrate communities & discussion into the listening experience

Provide a clear method to directly support artists

Opportunities

“Wait, I wonder what other people think”

“Hm, maybe I’ll buy a hoodie or something”

“Will my money even go to the artist?”

“Is this site legit?”

“Eh, I’ll just check later...”

“Oh look! A cute cat video!”

“Oh yeah, I forgot to check”

“Ugh, there’s so many links!”

“Ok, finally...”

😬

😨

😦

😐

🥰

🙄

🤗

🧐

😡

Distrokid

Spotify for Artists + Instagram

Soundcloud

TikTok

Uses his Distrokid subscription to post his new single

It takes up to a week to get his song on all platforms

Sees his song finally published after 5 days

Stats say he only has a few listens

Posts on his Instagram Story

He wants some feedback so goes to Soundcloud

Reads a few comments mostly consisting of fire emojis

Decides to post on TikTok, but doesn't know what video to film

Can’t think of a creative way to market his music

No time to think, it’s time for his part-time job shift!

“A whole week?!”

“It’s up!”

“Only 400 listens...”

“I just need more people to listen to this!”

“I have no ideas...I can’t dance, should I make a skit?”

“Ugh I don’t have time, I have to go to work...”

Alex the Artist

Scenario: Alex makes a new song and wants to get it out to the world, and he wants to receive feedback from fans

Ability to post on listening platforms, receive some listens and feel like his music is visible

Expectations

Put music content in front of viewers fast and often.

Facilitate communities and discussions between fans and artists.

Lower the barrier to marketing by requiring less work to promote music

Give artists more ways to make money on their music

Opportunities

“I wonder what people think?”

🤩

🤨

😒

😣

😁

😐

🙄

🤨

🤔

😓

user journey map of secondary user

feature canvas workshop, inspired by Lextant

i also followed up with my initial interviewees for a canvas workshop, with the goal of letting primary users choose features they would like in the case of music discovery and explain what they liked about it

....and based on the workshop, i quickly sketched out how different features might work.

ideation mindmap

ideation

after defining and framing the problem, i directed our focus to designing a solution, which started with generating as many ideas as possible without too much consideration for feasibility at this stage.

information architecture

card sorting

sitemap

2 user scenarios and task flows

sketches -> wireframes -> high-fidelity design iterations

swipe up

swipe up

usability testing

i quantitatively measured the success of the first design by condensing my original design goals into measurable goals.

  • discover music quickly, often, and easily

  • dive ‘deeper’ into artists

  • form meaningful interactions with artists

  • cater to the varying preferences on the primary user spectrum

measurable goals

design goals

evaluation metric

  • increase the number of songs a user can discover in the same # of time

  • reduce time it takes to complete x task

  • make artist discovery feel simple and convenient

  • increase types of available fan interactions with artists

  • ability and control of song/artist discovery

  • time to locate x feature

  • ability to find additional artist info

  • amount of various opportunities/alternative methods to engage with artists

  • users perceived likeliness to participate in product

2 user scenarios and task flows

perceived ease/ability to find more info about artists

much higher

likeliness to participate in product/features

much higher

perceived ease/ability to talk to/connect with other fans

moderately higher

speed to locate other fans

higher

perceived ease/ability to discover songs/artists

much higher

perceived control of discovery

moderately lower

speed to locate a new artist

much higher

iterations based on usability

i realized that this product requires more testing and iterations. although usability metrics signified that this was a success so far, it struggles in the hands of new users who have no idea what it’s about. my earlier participants were primary users who were already familiar with this idea and some were early interviewees, who had less of a learning curve. but new users who either weren’t familiar with some of the feature concepts did not understand, although they found the concept interesting.


this brought me back to some basic design rules: don’t make me think, and if i have to think, it’s probably not good.


this calls for additional refinements, including a re-evaluation of the features (are there too many? is it too overwhelming for new users?), and the overall UI. however, given the amount of support from the prospective primary and secondary user base so far, i believe this is still something worth improving to see if there is a future with this product, and if i can gain conviction from a business perspective.

user testing and what i learned

at Startup Exchange Summit at the Georgia Tech, not only did I present BOOM, but I had 20-40 people demo the app prototype. i wasn’t able to take notes or keep track of everything since i was constantly talking to people as they kept coming to my booth, but i was able to collect some important feedback.