Wandertune: Your everyday music journey
As part of the Audio Innovation challenge at ADandPRLab’s Startup Lab with Antenna Audio, where our team Infinity was called to pitch an innovative audio solution, we presented the main concept for Wandertune; a music discovery app for music fans (local or from abroad) that, using GPS & geolocation footprint data, provides unique music playlists available through IRL locations. It hopes to offer a unique music discovery experience through these “music points” nearby the user, with one-of-a-kind playlists based on a location’s cultural and historical background.
But why create Wandertune in the first place? Let us guide you through the journey of how this product pitch came to be…
When our team first started brainstorming ideas, we considered heading into the familiar music streaming world, and figure out what currently troubles users there. The issue that we focused on concerns music discovery; It’s well-known that music today has never been more available, especially if we look at the music-streaming market traction and dominance of a handful of corresponding companies globally. The rise of music streaming essentially means that obscurity has more-or-less been eradicated, and many believe that it is now so abundant as to be completely overwhelming, which leads to listeners increasingly sticking with what they are familiar with.
Alexis Petridis connects this wide-spread music availability with the difficulties in music discovery in his article for The Guardian. Specifically, he writes:
“Music stripped of its cultural context, artists’ histories rewritten, a previously unimaginable abundance of choice that’s apparently limiting horizons, artists who rocket to vast success without becoming remotely famous: music discovery and consumption in 2022 is a weird, confounding, counterintuitive and strangely fascinating place, where the traditional ways of doing things have been completely overturned, but it isn’t entirely clear what’s replaced them.”
Further research into the topic revealed even more interesting data:
- About 18% of Gen Z consumers strongly agree that they find it difficult to discover new music (MIDiA Research customer survey Q3 2022).
- Executives struggle with bringing people from platforms like TikTok, a common place for music discovery, to other platforms to enjoy a full experience — and even then the focus is on stand-alone songs.
- The most common sources of discovering music, like Spotify, TikTok and Youtube, are designed with user engagement in mind — effectively presenting content that users are already familiar with, and driving away music exploration and niche audiences interested in a specific genre or independent artists, who might not find what they want to listen to.
It became clear to us that there was a business opportunity for a service solution that would target and support an audience niche enough to be looking for unique music discovery alternatives within the expansive market of music-streaming; which includes music fans (18–34) who struggle with discovering new music and want an alternative music consumption process that is both different and accessible in their daily life.
Beyond indirect competitors like Spotify or Youtube, our primary research revealed that there are very few similar services that provide a music discovery solution like Wandertune — and even the ones that exist are very limited, offer a very different kind of music discovery than our product or are focused more on a spatial audio experience.
In order to determine if there is a market demand for a service like this, we also reached out to real music fans from Greece and across Europe, conducting a series of 14 interviews, that helped us understand the audience’s interest and take their feedback into consideration for the rest of the development process. The questions covered everything from personal information to music habits and most importantly, their opinions and concerns about their own day-to-day music discovery experience. The vast majority of these fans, in fact, were very interested in the app when it was explained to them, with few being unsure as to how often they would use it.
“So it’s like Pokemon Go for music, love that.”
“I would definitely try it as a service in my everyday life.”
“Sounds interesting but I don’t know how much I would use it daily.”
Okay but, how does the app work?
Wandertune is similar to your usual music-streaming app, working as a standalone app or as an extension to existing music-streaming platforms, in combination with mapping services, with a step-by-step journey that looks something like this:
- After downloading and creating an account, users input their demographic information and music preferences and/or allow access to an existing music-streaming account.
- The app displays the available music points close to the user, which they can access and reveal the matching music playlists, that are based on the social, cultural, and historical context of these locations.
- The playlists can be saved in the app and even transferred to other music-streaming accounts users have. Additionally, they can rate and give feedback on the suggested playlists based on location, which can be interacted with by other users.
Of course, the core aspects that actually support the development of any startup are included within a business model, which we created for Wandertune, but here we’ll focus on how Wandertune can actually be profitable.
Our business model counts on the fact that Wandertune’s potential key partners fund (investors), support the access to licensed music (music licensing agencies) and advertise its services (marketing partners) — in general though, the app follows a “freemium” business model, where revenue is generated by:
- Ad-supported services: Wandertune displays advertisements during the music discovery experience, sponsored by brands and institutions, without adding extra financial costs to users,
- Premium Services: The app provides exclusive optional services through a premium monthly subscription, that allows an ad-free experience & unlimited playlist saving.
How do we create value for our audience though? The basic value proposition for Wandertune’s two main customer segments (music fans) is the offer of a convenient app that relieves the pains of the decontextualized nature of modern music discovery through unique music playlists that are readily available based on any location they are in. It enables music fans to experience the art in innovative ways while maintaining excitement and appreciation for unique discoveries, opting for a selective “momentary” discovery process in daily life.
Even for potential music partners, Wandertune could create significant value based on the possibly effective ad tracking, reaching a niche, loyal audience, and enhancing their visibility and potential revenue, while local institutions are offered a compelling value proposition to drive traffic to their locations through the corresponding playlists on the app.
The majority of the target audience obviously won’t see this development process, but only the final product when it’s available in the market — unless they participate in the crowdfunding process or initial beta launch. That’s why the final part of our pitch included a short go-to-market plan, with the essential marketing strategies to reach them effectively.
Beyond Wandertune’s product launch site, which is necessary for showcasing the app’s features and benefits, the key channels that Wandertune would be available on are app stores, like Google Play or the App Store — where App store Optimization (ASO) techniques will also be employed to improve its visibility there. Of course, our startup’s financial well-being also depends on customer loyalty, which can be built with interactive content advertising through Wandertune’s own social media accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok — and even the creation of an app community, as it already includes social features like review responses and playlist sharing.
Like any business, we hope that our startup product leads to the market penetration and customer loyalty that our research has proven it can, but what we truly care about is Wandertune improving music fans’ music discovery experience; as they commit to a completely different way of exploring the art that is both entertaining and culturally valuable, beyond the limits of music streaming apps — with unique spots and local institutions being exposed to a wider audience that interacts with unexpected music content at any point in daily life.
We leave you with this question; What would you do with Wandertune? Think about locations you visit daily or less and what kind of music could be recommended based on them.
Find Infinity on:
Our website: http://infinityagency.tilda.ws/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/infinityadagency/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/infinityadvagency
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@infinity_agency?_t=8XFHK2aWL93&_r=1
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/infinity-agency-61b266256/?original_referer=
Check out the full pitch presentation here: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFlIU3I9v8/PdXBKjvYmF_RBdDYYtobzw/view?utm_content=DAFlIU3I9v8&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=publishsharelink
Check out our Wandertune development process on Miro: https://miro.com/app/board/uXjVOpVrTT4=/?share_link_id=404040611261
Our team: Nefeli Babe Nefeli Lazaridi Danai Maria Spyropoulou konstadinos nikolakopoulos
Our mentors: Betty Tsakarestou Domnika Skreta
