Research
Project Brief
The purpose of this project was to spend time researching on music apps and music app users to be later used in creating my own music application. this consisted of analyzing a competitor's app, a handful of different users, analyzing the organization of the competitor's app, and writing a value proposition for my future application.
Phase One: User Interviews
I interviewed three different people for this portion of the project. Two used the app Spotify, while one used Pandora. The following are the results.
PANDORA:
The user mainly used the app on their iPhone throughout the day. They noted that they enjoyed that Pandora was mix of music the user bot knew and enjoyed with music that the user had also never heard. They were pleasantly surprised about the amount and variety of artists available to listen to. The user's negative reactions to the app were the requirement of an internet connection and the incomplete artist discographies.
SPOTIFY:
Both users had Spotify one their iPhones and used the app throughout the day. Positives were the freedom to choose the specific music the user wanted to listen to and the pre-made playlists by Spotify, which one user found surprising. There was reported difficulty with connecting the app to other sources, such as a TV or their car. One user suggested making Spotify on iPhone more bluetooth friendly. The other user would like to see improvement in better music suggestions that correlate to the user's listening history.
Phase Two: Competitive Analysis
The next step was to analyze a competing music application. I took a look at Apple Music, the app I use myself. It is a hybrid application, meaning it can be used both on mobile and desktop devices. Its main objective is to stream music and music videos with an approach of "Music for Everyone."
Features of Apple Music include music streaming, playlists, sharing, exploring music, radio stations, and viewing lyrics. Apple Music brags a 60million song library with exclusive artists and radio stations/playlists hosted by artists. Other notable features are the ability to integrate one's iTunes library as well as the family plan.
The downside of Apple Music is that there is not a free or add-supported version of the app, making it not as universally accessible. It also isn't as intuitive as other music apps and falls behind with its recommendation system.
Phase Three: Flow Chart
The third step was to analyze the organization of Apple Music's features by drawing up a flowchart.
Phase Four: Value Proposition
Some user frustrations with other apps included aspects that were results of human error. For example, accidentally disliking a song and the app immediately changes the song. Or sometimes, the app doesn’t have a complete library of an artist although they have plenty more music you’d like to listen to. Other frustrations included the lack of bluetooth control in some apps while others have this feature
.
For my audience, I’m focusing on a younger demographic, teens and young adults. My music app will have the purpose of being used at parties. It will have the same kind of functions as other music streaming apps, but have additional features to cater to this idea. Users will be able to create an open playlist that they plan on playing at a party in which attendees can contribute to. The app will locate nearby open playlists for others to join where they can request to add songs and upvote the queue, while still giving the owner power over their playlist though the ability to reject requests or pre-block selected songs from being added/requested. Others can save select songs and playlists to their library from the parties they attend.