Tag Archives: Case Study

Changing times: how social media has revolutionised the music industry

Posted on by
Reply

It is a matter of years since music was generally only available in various physical forms such as CDs, or online in a select few places such as Napster. We have now reached the stage where music is available in a myriad of locations across the web and social media has certainly played its part in bringing the music industry to where it is now, therefore opening up a potential market for a social network like miXXerS.

The advent of social media has opened up an entirely new platform where artists can promote their music to a wide range of people, fans and potential fans alike. Artists can link fans to new music, inform them of upcoming music as well as promote any upcoming live events they may be performing at. We are at a point where you will likely hear any news about your favourite artists on social media before you hear or see it anywhere else. Features like Twitter’s trending topics highlight any recent news that has generated a lot of talk over social media. A big announcement from a music artist is likely to end up on this list. Outside of the music they produce, artists are able to promote themselves by interacting with their fans, something which social media has enabled on a much greater scale.

Case Study: Spor

Spor, the alter-ego for UK based drum and bass producer Jon Gooch, was created in 2006, taking the electronic music industry by storm. After a lengthy hiatus, Spor returned to the scene in February, immediately announcing his new and long awaited album, and sending drum and bass fans into a frenzy all over social media. Moving away from the traditional approach of releasing an album, Spor announced that he would be first releasing the album as a ‘pay as you want bundle’, where purchasers can choose the price they pay for the album, as a torrent through the BitTorrent bundles service. Spor further promoted his return to the drum and bass scene by doing an ‘ask me anything’ thread on the message board website, Reddit. Spor’s use of social media, from announcing his comeback and new album, to his interactions with his fans over a number of social networking platforms, enabled him to generate as much publicity and hype for his new release as possible.

Scenarios & Personas for miXXerS

Posted on by
Reply

I looked at a few other types of users that may use the site through creating personas.

CC image

CC image

Scenario – Ed: Party producer

Background

Ed 30 is an event producer for a venue in London. He holds a bachelors degree in marketing. He is very active on social media. Though he loves music he does not produce it. His events are held bimonthly for difference genres including electronic music, hip hop and pop. While they are successful he wants to expand and reach out to new up and coming musicians and DJs on certain nights.

Story

Ed has premium membership because he will like to be able to use all the features of the site. He would login to his account via the home page and personalise his page by clicking what font, colors etc he would like to use on the page and how he would like to order it so that it best suits his audience. He will click on the advertise his events on the site by clicking the button advertise and then and add the name, of his event, the type of genre, location and where tickets can be bought. Given he has information about the audience via the graph that he can access and can gain anonymised information about what type of users are attending as they indicate they will attend and purchase tickets. He can then use that information to tailor the event as he arranges it and make more informed plans for future events

 

laughing-woman-by-eder-capobianco-creative-commons

CC image

Scenario: Su: Party Goer (Competition Winner)

Background

Su is 23 and is an avid music lover. She is from Granada in Spain and is a student at the University of Granada. She loves going to live events and goes out all the time in Granada but rarely goes as much as she would like to larger events because they are held in larger cities. Since has a part time job in a bar so she can earn some extra money while she studies. She likes to dance and is everyone tends to love her.

Story

While trying to find out where her favorite band ‘Limitless’ is playing she finds out that there is the chance to win tickets to their concert in Madrid and Skype with the band on the miXXerS site.  Though not the most popular band she really likes their music. She thinks it is very cool that you can get to actually more intimately engage with the band on miXXerS. She decides to take her chances and registers and apply. To her surprise she wins the prize and is featured on the site (with her permission) She tells everyone she knows about how cool she thinks miXXers is and encourages others in the Granada music scene with which she is familiar to use the site too. Her birthday is also coming up and she was planning to host a party and was looking for a DJ to play. She clicks on the link find DJ and read the reviews for those in her area that are into electronic music and salsa and pop music and books them for her birthday party.

 

Case Study: Scenarios and Personas

Posted on by
Reply

I created some persons based on the functionality of the site.

Scenario: Jonathan- semi pro musician and weekend DJ

dj2

Background:

Jonathan, 34, is a sales manager of an franchise company weekdays but he also works as a DJ if he has chances. He is contracted to Juno Record and though he has produced 1 CD he still strugges to success as a DJ. He needs to develop fun base, but how?

 

Story:

Jonathan’s first CD sales is not as good as he wanted. His friends advised him to build a fan base using social network. He wrote information about his CD and music event on his Facebook but basically only his friends saw that. Then he starts using miXXerS after visiting the site to check out some musical events in his area as he learnt about the site from his friends via Facebook.

He went to top page-function 6 registration (DJ/Band/event) and registered his information. Two days after he got an email from miXXerS admin saying he was approved. Jonathan went to the site, top page-1.attend events, select “DJ” from pull down, then found his name and select it to jump to his page. There were no stars, events, nor comments. He then decides to register as a DJ and Musician. He finds out that he can only advertise events if he takes the premium offer and so he decides to sign up for the month free trial. He is then able to customise his profile page and advertise his event and his music. A few days later, Jonathan did a gig that he advertised on miXXerS. He found that slightly more people than usual came to his gig. After the gig he checked his page to find some stars and comments. He now notices that he is starting build a larger fan base.

—————————————————————————————————————–

Scenario 2: Miki-Asian college student/music lover

music

 

Background:

Miki is 23 years old Japanese international student studying in the University of Southampton, music major. Although she prefers dance/music/DJ activities it is not easy to find music event in the city, since she doesn’t have many friends here and she has some challenge in English.  But she definitely needs to have some fun.

 

 

Story:

Miki has trouble finding music events she likes in Southampton. Since she is an international student new to this country and city, getting sub culture information is not easy for her. Then she started using miXXerS.

She went to the top page, click 7.Register(user), and registered herself as a member. In her profile photo, she felt it’s safe not to use her real photo, so she used an icon for now. After a day she got an email from miXXerS admin saying her registration was approved. Then she went to top page, 1. Attend event. She selected  “Location”, then narrow down her choice by selecting “South East”, “Hampshire”, and “Southampton” to check if there are some events in the city. There is an event which she liked, so she asked her friend to go there. Her friend agreed, so she clicked “ticket” button to buy two tickets and was taken to the ticket site being used by the event producer. They also decide they want to take the opportunity to meet new people in Southampton and click to find other people who are looking for people to attend the event with. She and her friend check the profile of one user who would like to go to the event but not alone and arrange to meet with her. She attended to the event with her friend and meets the new person who they both like. They all love the party and decide to write review! Miki went to miXXerS top page, 1. Attend event, then reached the DJ who had a gig on her event. She added 5 stars to his page, recommended him and wrote a comment.

Come on DJ Keep Playing That Song… What is it is like to be a DJ?

Posted on by
Reply

Before I joined to this group project, my idea of DJs were pretty vague. People standing before turntables with headsets, moving on rhythm, continuously nodding to the beat while closing their eyes and stopping the vinyl record occasionally with their fingers, rewinding and playing music to get people to dance… that’s all. Although something tells me it is not that easy, so I did some research on what is it like to be a DJ, how you can create the career path to be a DJ, how much money the DJ can earn and so on.

You can also check out this Documentary about the DJ and Producer Lifestyle

https://www.careersinmusic.com/dj_nightclub-dj/

Here are some points people not familiar with DJ culture may find them interesting.

  • There are two different kind of DJ careers: those who just play the music and those who create music and play them as a performance.
  • The DJ needs skill of networking and social skill to build a fan base.
  • The DJ cannot pursue money as his/her priory goal. Sometimes they must play unpaid. After becoming famous, they earn money from performing and from the royalty of their own tracks. “On average, a reasonably successful DJ can expect to make a few hundred dollars per show.”
  • Many DJs work few hours at weekend nights, from Thursday to Saturday.
  • DJs must work with promoters, bookers, night club managers. At first you become friends with them to let them book you.
  • To be a DJ, you will be offered to perform gigs for free, so people will know you, and you can build fan base. Then your DJ career may on a right track though it is pretty competitive.
  • There is no working union for DJs though as a tracks owner they belong to a music royalty organization.

My conclusion is, it is for your weekend jobs. The interesting thing is as part of their necessary tasks, building a fan base by using social media is recommended. I believe our site will help many DJs who doesn’t have enough time or skill to do that. Even if they have, it is always nice to have extra sites to collaborate with their works and ways to have deeper engagement with fans. In a DJ’s world, social media is powerful and it is going to be more powerful as the era of Web 3.0 arrives.

miXXerS: The Business Model

Posted on by
Reply

“The DEATH of selling music. And the rebirth of live music and parties. When I was younger you played gigs to sell your records and you’d lose money. And now you don’t have records to sell but you make money cos people still want to go out and party.” Fatboy Slim

BM_Spotify.2.3.b.FINAL_1-708x500

Source: Business Model Inc. http://www.businessmodelsinc.com/free-drives-paid-the-business-model-of-spotify/

Following extensive background research on existing sites and study of the inner workings of social media based on what was taught in our class I came up with the business model for miXXerS.  A number of business models are emerging around music and web based online social networks are the key to success. The increasing dominance of music streaming and the pervasiveness of online social networks combined with the lingering longing to be part of an offline social musical experience can converge through bringing different types of music lovers together through miXXerS. A 2013 report from Rethink Music on New Business Models in the music industry found that digital channels are now  major source of income for record labels and publishers.  Even Universal Music made a deal with Full Screen and Maker Studios, (2 YouTube Partner Channels) that have 4 billion views a month.

“A broad perspective takes into account the many types of “currency” that have evolved in the digital paradigm to encompass not just money, but amounts of time, attention, personal data and social participation in music experiences. Music consumers appear to be listening and interacting with music more than ever; the total volume of music purchases reached an all-time high in 2012, totaling over 1.65 billion units, up 3.1% from the previous year thanks to growing consumption of digital formats (digital albums were up 14% and digital tracks up 5%).” Source: Rethink Music

In addition, in recent years live music also continues to be important though Live Nation Entertainment continues to be dominant globally. Using a vertical integration strategy they acquired the ticketing company Ticketmaster and some other promotion companies but they also operating about 100 notable live music venues around the world. In addition music festivals have become more popular. (Find out more here)

DJs are now also an important component of both the party and music scene. DJs are ‘the new rock stars’ and Forbes has called them (those who play electronic dance music), “Electronic Cash Kings”. In addition, today more than ever it has never been more productive to be an independent artist. While the marketing might of the industry can be useful Musicians can use social media to their advantage.

Case Study: The EDM Movement

“During the past five years, a seemingly desperate “arms race” has occurred, with many large U.S. conglomerates chasing the ever-growing Electronic Dance Music (EDM) market. This “gold-rush” mentality reached new heights with the recent announcement of the first ever mass market EDM movie from 20th Century Fox and EDM producer mogul Diplo, and the acquisition of Beatport, the biggest online music store and community for DJs, by SFX Entertainment for approximately $50 million. The SFX move is just another step in the $1 billion investment plan announced some time ago by SFX’s leader Robert Sillerman, who aims to extend his empire into the EDM industry, which is now worth over $4 billion per annum and showing huge increases annually in ticket sales and radio airplay. Last year, Live Nation bought Los Angeles-based electronic dance music promoter Hard Events, just a few months after their acquisition of another big popular EDM event organizer, U.K.-based Cream Holdings, promoter of the Creamfields festivals. It is evident that many perceive the growing force of the EDM movement as a road to escape from the darkest era of the music business.Not surprisingly, with the music business shifting toward live events and festivals, wellknown corporate players are seeking a slice of the newly appetising dance music pie. “

Source: Rethink Music

Taking the Long Tail approach as advocated by Chris Anderson we have found that their is a gap in the market for a social network site that combines the elements we have described. We believe that a combination of elements can help such a site to potentially become a very sustainable and viable business in the entertainment industry.  According to Anderson the Long Tail refers orange part of the sales chart below, which is a demand curve for the entertainment industry. “The vertical axis is sales; the horizontal is products.” The red part of the curve illustrates the hits but it is in the orange part (non-hits/niches) that growth in the entertainment industry is coming from and miXXerS can successfully fulfil a niche (or a sweet spot), which has the potential to expand tremendously.

conceptual

http://www.longtail.com/about.html

 

According EDM the musician today can be considered a ‘company’ not just a brand. So can the DJ. In addition ‘24/7 connectivity’ especially via mobile enables artists and concert/party producers to maintain a direct relationship with the fans and customers. Genuine recognition of fans is important in the development of this site and the digital natives and millennials we target will expect this.

“a new type of fan or client has emerged: always connected, well informed, and more able to select and choose. Fans and clients have become more assertive and less gullible. They demand transparency and claim personal contact with their idol or provider”. EDM

A Nielsen study of more than 4,000 music consumers found that they thought that products and services on offer are not very engaging. They said that they would be willing to pay if the industry offered more.

“Nielsen found there could be potential incremental revenue of $450 million to $2.6 billion if artists, managers and labels offered a better set of products and experiences to fans… exclusive music merchandise, such as signed posters, limited edition tshirts, handwritten lyrics, and even direct personal experiences such as a 30-minute Skype conversation with an artist could generate a potential $450 million to $2.6 billion in annual incremental revenue…offers as mentioned above are attractive not only to consumers Nielsen calls “Aficionados”, (the most active music buyers (53%)), but even to a sizable percentage of what Nielsen calls “Ambivalent consumers” (22%). 5 Billboard.com

E-commerce Revenue model

Given pressure to make money often stifles growth we would need to get Venture Capitalist (VC) funding to be able to proceed with this venture, rather than have a lot of pressure to generate income at the start. This was one of the reasons sited for the downfall of mySpace. We do not want to compromise our vision and therefore make the site unattractive to our users. Technology moves quickly as has aided the downfall of some music sites (e.g. failure to adapt to mobile or the move from proprietary software to open source). Therefore procuring VC funding will be important for our model. miXXers will provide a social network that is free for all music and party/concert lovers to use, through the use of a freemium service. However, given the research we could explore adding premium content/services for users in the future when we increase our user base. DJs, Musicians, party/concert producers and promoters will have to pay for special features like advertising. We will therefore use an advertising business model. If musicians, DJs and Party/concert producers would like additional services they can access them for a trial period of 1 month after which they will have to pay for those service. Premium services will pay for free services to all.

Keeping the service free for the user will enable the site to attract more users and therefore make it more attractive to paying customers. In line with the ‘direct network effect’ the value of our site will increase as more people use it so it is essential to keep access free to increase our valuable user base. This would by extension help to increase advertising revenue through the ‘indirect network effect’ as usage will lead to a larger number of complementary and valuable services to DJs, musicians and party/concert promoters who advertise there which will also lead to a ‘cross-network effect’ as well. In addition to advertising, given users are not just the consumer of information about parties but also the producers of information on the parties they attend and the music they listen to this information is valuable to musicians, DJs as a well as party/concert producers. We will seek popular parties in various regions and those with active social media networks to help create strong local network effects that would be invaluable to the growth of the site.

A formula for potential revenue stream was also created (by Yash).

Business Models: APIs

We will use APIs which provide for 3rd party applications and use which will require some revenue sharing and marketing for our site and those that partner with us as well as some degree of data sharing if necessary. To avoid issues that arise with licensing we will integrate other site offerings into our site. Tracks or playlists from SoundCloud and MixCloud for example will also be able to be be embedded in the site and users will be able to login via their Facebook accounts.

Value to Users

  • Book DJs
  • Like music/musicians/DJs/parties
  • Make recommendations/rate experience (recommender system)
  • Party notifications
  • Find people to attend parties with
  • Connect with others that like similar music
  • Enter competitions/Win tickets
  • Follow and Potentially Meet/Chat with musicians/DJs at events and online (including through competitions)
  • Narrow location search of parties in neighbourhoods all over the world
  • Find information about events
  • Interact with other interested in the same events and music
  • More opportunity to discover new music
  • See how many men and women will attend a party/concert (gender demographics may be a factor in deciding whether to attend a party)

Target group: Millennials, Initially University Students, Young Middle Income professionals

Based on user feedback and additional research some additional features we will consider adding as the site develops includes

  • Avatars for users
  • A reward System for the most active users on the site
  • Premium membership with additional features based on user demand

Value to Musicians and DJs

Fans want to be close to a musician or DJ and unlike a record no-one ‘owns’ the artist’s or DJ’s fans yet they can also be a much better leveraged tangible asset by the musicians, DJs and party producers they follow. The site will generate valuable data on these fans and their opinions in one place and supports a paradigm shift in the entertainment industry which recognises the importance of this. Musicians no longer have to rely on music publishers for marketing and distribution for self-published content can also launch careers once a fanbase is created and connected.

Gain new followers Musicians DJs Party/Concert Producers
Closer relationship with fans Musicians DJs Party/Concert Producers
Data: Listener/fan/party demographics Musicians DJs Party/Concert Producers
Find information on parties/concerts Musicians DJs Party/Concert Producers(compare party information)
Build fanbase Musicians DJs Party/Concert Producers
Advertise Musicians DJs Party/Concert Producers
Self publish music/ integrate music from other sites Musicians DJs

In the future we can also consider

  • Working with non-music brands to gain sponsorship for musicians and our site
  • Revenue sharing with party/concert producers for users who purchase tickets through visiting our site.

Premium services for Musicians/DJs/Party producers/promoters

Free Registration Mobile Access Provide prizes/competitions
Premium Contextualised Advertising Data Analytics Personalization

There may be challenges if the users cancel after the trial but as we grow our user base we believe that this can be combatted. We think that this is an exciting time to explore a new path for entertainment.