PressUp Group plays host to dozens of live music acts each week. As such they have become a staple to the local music scene. They want to add some structure to gig planning, while providing a place for musicians to get recognised. They imagine an app that behaves like a “linkedin-lite for local music”. Bands can sign up to a profile to upload music, and fill out their gigging experience and CV. Venue owners can book bands from this profile and provide praise to bands who deliver a great show. An additional, bonus feature of this solution would be when a venue has booked-out night, a portal page is available to the public for purchasing tickets for that gig. Bands would then get a proportional cut of the ticket sales, and front of house staff would have a guest-list to fast track some people into the venue.
From the above brief I can identify two to three potential Users of such an app. As my primary focus would be designing a digital networking system for musicians, music bookers and venues to see each other and link up, they would be my key Users that I will be conducting my research on. The tertiary User would be the gig attendee, who could buy tickets on the bonus feature. I have previously worked for a music venue myself, as a Graphic Designer so I have some awareness of how gigs are organised but I have decided to conduct a few interviews with some friends to gain further insight into the industry to pin down the exact needs, frustrations and suggestions to make gig-planning easier. Here are the interviews that I have conducted (please open link to read PDF):
Conall, 38, Music Booker & Venue Promoter
Oisin, 26, Part-Time Session Musician
Eoin, 28, Part-Time DJ, Funky Uncle
Funky Uncle Soundcloud
In a deeper analysis of these interviews, I have listed out the Needs and Frustrations of a Musician and a Venue / Booker:
MUSICIAN
Needs:
- Open communication with venue / bookers
- Ability to network with fellow musicians and venue / bookers. Has to be community-based and music as focus
- Platform to showcase audio portfolio
- Reel-based showcase of music
- Higher threshold for hiring an agent
- Ability to escape locality
- Getting digital press packs to venue / bookers
- Positive reviews to boost credibility
Frustrations:
- Inability to prove credibility as a budding artist
- Impersonal communications with venue / booker
- Difficulty knowing the network of a different locality
- (Over-) emphasis on networking and going out to meet the right people
- Social media platforms not music focused
- Need to know how to use online presence to promote yourself
- Proving online credibility
- Ignorance from venue / bookers
- Difficulty establishing a base for professional relationship
- Effective music-based platforms such as MySpace losing traction
- Online transparency of reviews between musicians and bookers
- Inability to share review of venues with musician peers
- Inability to see credibility of a venue, especially if it is outside your locality
- Avoiding spamming venues with requests
- Difficulty getting venue / bookers to listen to your music
- Too much negativity online
VENUE / BOOKER
Needs:
- More effective communication with musicians
- All of the community has to be on the same platform
- Big database of musicians on the same platform
- App has to be quick and easy to use (easier than traditional way of research and networking)
- Option to browse genre-specific
- Visibility of musicians’ availability (ie. tour calendar)
- Mobile device responsive
- To be connected to as much information as possible of the bands such as SM links, videos etc. (press kit)
Frustrations:
- Too much back and forth on emails
- Logistical needs of a gig ie. dates, venues, what’s needed, equipment
- Acts dropping out at the last minute and the need to fill in the slots
- Too many digital platforms
- Being spammed by unrelated or inexperience musicians
Based on these interviews, I have generated a User Profile and Empathy Map of each persona – Musician and Venue (please open image in new tab to read):
Play Pretend 