New Feature for Soundcloud App

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SOUNDCLOUD / New Feature

During this project I analysed an already existing and highly adopted app, and incorporated a new feature into the existing product. The feature I developed for the SoundCloud app was based on an area of functionality to be explored and compared to user input.

SoundCloud

• SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio.

• SoundCloud's key features include the ability to access uploaded files via unique URLs, thus allowing sound files to be embedded in Twitter and Facebook posts.

• Users are allowed to create playlists (previously known as "sets"), and to "Like" (specific tracks, which will then be saved to the user's "Like" page), "Repost", "Share", to "Follow" another user, and to make complimentary downloads of their audio available

• SoundCloud depicts audio tracks graphically as waveforms and allows users to post "timed comments" on specific parts of any track. These comments are displayed while the associated audio segment is played.

Challenge

My challenge was to add a new feature on SoundCloud that allows artists to crowdfund for their music projects and performances on their account.

Research

I started my project by gathering user research, which helped me to develop my new feature and see where the pain points were. In this case it was important to understand the perspectives of both the artists and fans. When I talked with artists they said it is not easy to perform a concert in another cities because of financial costs, and they need to arrange their time and be organised weeks in advance.

The objective of my survey was to understand the pain points of users at the time of crowdfunding a project and what might help resolve these frustrations. Below is an example of a question asked during interview;

• Have you ever crowdfunded anything?

• Which of these industries was the project that you helped fund a part of?

• Which (if any) of these sites did you use to crowdfund?

• Would you be interested in seeking crowdfunding support to get artists on tour in your city?

• What persuaded you to participate in crowdfunding a project?

• What do you feel would be most important to you if you were considering supporting a project?

• Why would you not participate in crowdfunding even if the project was doing something that you were interested in?

Interview Results:

Most people crowdfund when they know the person they are funding personally and if they support the idea.

The people who hadn't crowdfunded before said that they didn't trust crowdfunding campaigns run by people they don't know.

I also interviewed some artists and asked them about crowdfunding projects. Most of them said that if someone were to open a crowdfunding project for them to perform in their city, it would not easy to organise their time and budget. The person who opens that project would need to contact them and talk about all the details.

Define

The user interviews helped me to develop my crowdfunding feature from the artists' side. I realised that if an artist created a project and shared it on their account, their followers would trust them because they know the artist, and they would therefore support the idea of their favourite artist performing in their city. The artist can arrange their time, budget and the location that they want to perform and start crowdfunding from their followers.

Jobs to be Done

The 'jobs to be done' method helped me to focus on user needs.The main idea is that you hire a product to do a job for you. It defines a product’s/service’s value in terms of the perceived progress it makes in the users/customers lives.

From Artists side:

• When I see that I have a lot of fans, I want to perform a concert so that I can reach more people.

• When I see that I have a lot of fans, I want to perform a concert so that I can have fun and make money.

• When I release a new album I want to perform a concert so that I can advertise the album.

• When I see that I have a lot of fans, I want to follow their requests so I can see who wants me to perform in their city.

From Followers side:

• When I use my SoundCloud app to see my favourite artist’s profile, I want to be able to join a crowdfunding project for that artist in order to support them.

• When I use my SoundCloud app to see my favourite artist's profile, I want to help them to come to my city so I can see them perform.

Use Cases

Use cases shows users' behaviour, and also how the system should behave and what could go wrong.

• The artist decides to open a crowdfunding project.

• The artist makes a plan about their concert.

• The artist talks with the clubs about date and price.

• The artist opens the SoundCloud app.

• The artist sees the navigation bar.

• The artist clicks the 'crowdfunding' icon.

• The artist sees 'create a project' and 'backed' part

• The artist clicks 'create a project'.

• The artist writes an overview about the project and chooses a location.

• The artist clicks the 'continue' button.

• The artist sees a 'reward' page.

• The artist writes a title for the reward, the amount, description and estimated delivery.

• The artist chooses reward quantity.

• The artist chooses a time limit.

• The artist clicks 'save reward'.

• The artist sees the overview of payment details.

• The artist fills in the payment details.

• The artist clicks 'save'.

• The artist sees the overview of the project

• The artist clicks 'share'.

• Fans get a notification about the project

• The artist gets a crowdfunding button on their homepage.

User Flow

Start Crowdfunding

Artist

• The new feature is aligned to the SoundCloud brand style, using their fonts, colours and style.

• I added an icon for the crowdfunding feature in which the artist can create a crowdfunding project, see projects that they backed before, and projects that they saved.

• When the user click the 'start crowdfunding' button, they can describe the project and show all the details, such as location and date.

• 'Add reward': In return for backing a project, backers receive rewards based on the amount of funding they commit—defined by the artist behind the project.

• If funding targets are hit before the project's deadline, the deal is is complete. Money is exchanged between the supporters and the artist (the rewards). The supporters are not charged until the project target is reached, at which point money is collected in an artist account.