Current – An AI Platform for Independent Musicians

my role

Project Manager, Researcher, Interaction Designer

team

Vanessa Jaber, Drew Murray, Sam Wall

project recognition

Red Dot Communication Design Award.

Indigo UX, Interface & Navigation – Gold.

Indigo Interactive Design – Silver.

challenge

How might we use AI to streamline tour planning for independent bands and musicians who otherwise cannot afford a manager?

solution

An application designed for independent musicians to connect with one another on and off tour and learn about their experiences while on tour, all powered by machine learning and artificial intelligence.

the prompt

how might we seamlessly implement AI to meaningfully impact a user's experience

discover

secondary research initial key findings

After two weeks of expansive secondary research gathered through archived content, contemporary firsthand articles, and statistical data, we narrowed our research scope by focusing on four key findings.

The largest revenue category for musicians is live performance at 28%, unlike the 6% earned from compositions and recordings

Survey Evidence on Musicians’ Revenue and Lessons About Copyright Incentives. Money from Music.

As access to music becomes easier and cheaper, dedicated music fans crave more personal experiences with their favorite artists

How Musicians Make Money--Or Don’t at all. Rolling Stone.

Lesser known bands face booking bias, as booking managers struggle tell if they will bring a large enough audience to front the performance costs

What It’s Like To Tour As An Unestablished Band. Hypebot.

Listener data is creating a new era, powered as much by musicians, managers, and curators as by big data and machine learning

Spotify’s Plan To Win Over Anxious Artists-And Win The Streaming War. Fast Company.

secondary research key players

I identified the main key players in musicians' daily experiences in order to outline what key roles exist, what these key players accomplish, and what opportunities areas might exist within these roles.

secondary research tour process task analysis

At this stage in our research and with the course assigned design challenge of creating a product that uses AI to solve a real problem, we wanted to begin hypothesizing how we might implement AI in an artist's touring process. To assess any possible opportunities, we first needed to understand the general stages of setting up a tour, so I developed a task analysis of the tour planning process outlined in seven main steps.

secondary research understanding the ecosystem

Building an ecosystem map from the perspective of the artist allowed us to define who we may need to consider during our design process, along with identifying some of the channels of data that would eventually inform the Current Machine Learning Algorithm.

primary research interviews

Conducting interviews with artists of varying notoriety allowed us to see a fuller scope of an artist's experience in the music industry. Next we designed and conducted interviews with artists of varying notoriety, along with a venue booking manager, to discover how differently these artists experience the music industry.

secondary research competitor analysis

Continuing our research, I compiled a list of applications which already exist for musicians in order to identify current trends and opportunities for improved user experience. Based on the trends identified, we created data points to map the success of the applications on two axes: networking capability and level of data analysis. From here we learned three key ways our product can evolve further past what is already on the market and hopefully fulfill unmet user needs:

Ability to connect musicians to venues, fans, and similar musicians
Use of artificial intelligence to analyze data and help drive critical tour decisions
Giving artists the independence to plan tours on their own

affinity diagram synthesis & insights

Gathering all of the key data points from our secondary and primary research on their own sticky note, we then affinitized the data, placing the information into natural groups in order to glean eight key insights which will act as the foundation for our design process.

It can be harder for venues to see the value in booking a newer or smaller band

Musicians must use several different sources and platforms to get decision making info

It can be difficult to gain trust & experience as a budding artist in the industy.

Musicians are motivated to collaborate with others

There is a real sense of community among artists of the same notoriety level

Musicians enjoy understanding their data and who is listening to their music

Spotify's data and algorithmic playlists are getting lesser known artists recognized

Musicians like to do things independently yet are eager to learn from others

define

target audience persona & journey map

Next, developing a persona and journey map for our target user allowed us to find missed pain points and opportunities in specifically the independent musicians' tour planning experience.

defining trends from-to analysis

Last, a From-To Analysis, influenced by the insights from the affinity diagram process, helped to identify the overarching areas we hoped to rework during the design stage of the process.

how might we

Use data and machine learning to match musicians with similar musicians and venues?

Introduce AI in a space where word of mouth is the custom?

Centralize the information from diverse tools that musicians use to book themselves?

developing low fidelity wireframes

Wireframes: Onboarding

Wireframes: Onboarding Info

Wireframes: Onboarding Data Channels

Wireframes: Onboarding Data Values

Wireframes: Dashboard Context

Wireframes: Dashboard Home

Wireframes: Radar

Wireframes: Radar Details

Wireframes: Tour Planning Dates

Wireframes: Tour Planning Locations

Wireframes: Tour Planning Cities

Wireframes: Tour Planning Route

Wireframes: Tour Planning Status

Wireframes: Agenda

Wireframes: Artist Public Profile

developing user testing

After developing wireframes and planning out user task analyses to be conducted, we met again with the band members of McLeod, an independent Savannah-based band, to conduct user testing and validate our concepts.

key insights

Less focus on pre-made tour building, more focus on band connections
Branding needs to be strong, but familiar to be used by rock and roll bands in the DIY scene
Greenlight dates for us & other bands need to be visible
Venue reviews by bands for bands - private

developing site map

With the insights from user testing in mind, we created a site map to outline the flow of the application, establish the importance and value that will be placed on specific features, and evaluate the app for any redundancies.

a.i. architecture

By creating a flow of the Current AI, we can realistically specify which data will be used and how that data will be gathered to inform our AI.

final design

Introducing Current, a mobile and desktop app that allows artists to connect to one another, build tours easily, and review venues across the country. Current is designed for independent musicians to connect with one another on tour, and find venues in new cities according to their preferences – all powered by machine learning.

key functions

the radar

view artist connections and tour dates

The radar uses an artist's streaming data and location to help connect them with new bands and venues that they may not have discovered yet.
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The radar’s ability to filter by multiple variables offers the artist a custom, highly-curated search tailored for the indie musician scene across the US.

touring

tour planning and status

Current provides the ability for artists to organize interesting venues and bands into different boards in order to streamline the tour planning process, and to keep track of who they have contacted and how their contacts have responded.

venue review

venues reviewed by artists for artists

All venue profiles are informed by real time data, and reviewed honestly by the artists that have performed there. That way, artists known they are getting the best information for their upcoming tours, by artists and for artists.

additional features

show swap & greenlight dates

By providing opportunities through show swapping and greenlight date availability, Current builds the support for this ecosystem to thrive, regardless of musical experience, genre, or geographic location.

A tool inspired by what musicians already do, Show Swap allows bands to swap gigs at trusted venues in order to expand their pool of venues and to make new connections.

Greenlight dates allow bands to promote where they will be during future dates, in order to create more opportunities to connect with other bands and artists.

additional features

curated search

A custom search is implemented within the app, so that musicians can search for anything from open venue dates in new cities to places to crash along popular highways and within cities.

explore more of the project

mobile prototype

full process