Musicians who rely on streaming services as their source of income struggle to make ends meet. Artists make money either through touring, merch sales, or album sales and streaming. Since streaming has become the norm for music consumers, smaller artists that don’t have an established following to tour or sell merch are left in the dust.
Through secondary research and user interviews with a music artist and with a music consumer, I discovered that there is a disconnect between the artist and the consumer. Key findings include:
Most of the revenue made from artists go to middle men (streaming platforms/music labels, etc.)
Artists need to develop a deeper connection with their fans
Fans want to increase engagement with their favourite artists.
Fans feel responsible for an artist's success.
Personas for music artists and music consumers were made based off of the interviews, and separate journey maps and flows were made catered to each persona.
An NFT marketplace that enables artists to sell their song ownership directly to fans, granting income to artists, and direct access to artists for fans.
The final solution is an NFT marketplace that enables artists to partially sell their song ownership directly to fans, who get access to exclusive benefits. NFTs needed to be leveraged to verify ownership of a digital song and grant access to owner benefits. Artists partially sell their songs and are given access to revenue instantly, and fans are given direct access to the artist.
This project helped me deeply understand the technology of blockchain, NFTs, crypto and design a practical use for the technology. Since the technology is uncharted, it enabled me to trail-blaze a new experience for emerging tech.
