Goosebump: Spotify’s Next Partner in Transforming the Music Industry
Iterative App Design Prototype: https://preview.uxpin.com/cefc6b214242c0d3ed28fcebbef804e2dca4af9e#/pages/77859574/simulate/sitemap?mode=i
The Problem
Musicians depend on live shows as their primary source of revenue. And while Kendrick Lamar earns over $1 million per tour stop, lesser-known artists are struggling even to book opening gigs. While a decade ago these musicians might rely on their album sales to compensate for a lack of shows, today, with the rising trend toward online music platforms like Spotify, such reliance has become less and less profitable. Consequently, lower-profile musicians are being pushed out of the music industry altogether.
Why We Should Care
We should care because these lesser-known artists are the future of the music industry, just as Kendrick was back in the early 2000s. It’s hard to believe that the American rap king began with just a few modest mix-tapes, but it was his exposure to live performance made possible by supporting producer Dr. Dre that propelled him to stardom.
While few up-and-coming artists can expect to attract the backing of Dr. Dre today, all should be able to turn to an accessible, digital platform for a similar kind of publicity.
The Solution
Introducing Goosebump, the live music-finding app that increases visibility and exposure for musicians of all kinds. Integral to this application is its central chatbot messaging feature, which allows users to discover artists and concerts at the suggestion of the automated, responsive chatbot. Additionally, Goosebump provides music-lovers with a show-oriented feed, search function, notification services, and user profile. While this app does feature higher-profile artists like Kendrick Lamar, its primary function is to showcase the artists far from earning $1 million per show, allowing users to explore a live music scene they didn’t even know was there.
Current User Trends & Needs
Since its founding in 2006, Spotify has emerged as the dominant global music listening platform. With over 100 million listeners worldwide and twice as many paid subscribers as Apple Music, Spotify has effectively commanded the market. It has done so primarily by delivering what its customers want: an intuitive system through which they can discover new music.
Goosebump could provide the perfect complementary platform to Spotify. Whereas Spotify allows users to discover and listen to their favorite music, Goosebump allows them to then find and see it performed live. This complementary relationship would be especially supported by Spotify’s “Discover Weekly” playlists, which it generates for its listeners every Monday based on their favorite tunes. These playlists typically consist of music from lesser-known artists similar to those the user already loves — exactly the kind of artists Goosebump targets in its founding philosophy. Thus, in order to most fully meet the current needs of users, Spotify and Goosebump should consider partnering to not only deliver the music, but also the live show. (See Figure 2 above for partnership design suggestion).
App Design Iterations: Tradeoffs & Design Decisions
Though Goosebump was originally designed as merely a chatbot operating through the Facebook Messenger platform, I saw major opportunity in expanding the idea into its own, standalone iOS application. In doing so, my greatest consideration regarded the chatbot, and ensuring that it remained the most salient feature of Goosebump. To do so, I gave it special emphasis in design across the bottom navigation bar, and made it accessible to users at all times (See Figure 3 above). This way, regardless of whether they’re browsing upcoming shows on the home feed or reviewing their personal profiles, users can always access the chatbot messaging window.
As far as trade-offs are concerned, one is exemplified by the emphasis on concert dates over artist titles on the home feed (See Figure 1). This design decision aims to stay consistent with Goosebump’s mission to publicize the show, not necessarily the high-profile artist. Another trade-off is exemplified on the search page between simplicity in design and information above the fold (See Figure 4 below). While the six, search criteria circles offer a sleek, minimalistic layout, they do not provide users with very much information above the navigation bar, likely forcing them to scroll. A third trade-off is exposed by the Spotify icon (used instead of a “play” icon) located in the upper right-hand corner of the ODESZA event page (See Figure 2). When selected, this icon redirects users to ODESZA’s artist page on the Spotify app. The reasoning behind this design choice is simple: to further establish the relationship between Goosebump and Spotify. Using a simple “play” button might lend itself to convenient, in-app listening, but would fail to explicitly connect Goosebump to Spotify — a connection especially important for a rising startup like Goosebump to make.
Conclusion & Takeaways
After conducting online user testing (see User #1 & #2 below), I was surprised to observe not a single user clicking on or even inquiring about the chatbot feature. Thus, regardless of its emphasis in design, clearly the chatbot feature was not emphasized enough, considering it being the defining component of Goosebump. Above all else, these testing results have given light to a key takeaway as a designer: sometimes what seem to be even the most obvious, glaring design decisions to the designer may be lost on the user altogether. After spending so many hours designing this app prototype, I was sure the chatbot feature would come across as intended: central, accentuated, and noticeable. And yet, to new users, it held just as much or even less weight than the app’s other features. Moving forward, this experience will constructively inform my design process, prompting me to gain feedback from new eyes throughout the process rather than only at the end of it.
User #1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UsMRp-Rreg&feature=youtu.be
User #2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRi8_ZR7IdI&feature=youtu.be