Background

SoundCloud is a music streaming website that allows independent artist to upload their music onto its platform with a low barrier to entry. Unlike their competitors, virtually anyone can upload their music onto SoundCloud.

With many artist that rose to fame by uploading their music onto SoundCloud, the streaming platform has established its brand identity as a popular streaming application for independent and underground artists.

Users are able to listen to both mainstream and underground music that may not be available on other major streaming platforms.

The Problem

Popularity: Despite the variety of music available on the platform, SoundCloud is the least used streaming service compared to its major competitors with a reported 140 million users (Spotify has approximately 600 million users).

Brand Identity: SoundCloud is known for underground/indie music but the platform can further establish their brand identity by taking a proactive approach and catering its platform for independent artists to attract more users.

Project Goals

Project Type: Add a Feature

Role: UX/UI Designer

Tools: Figma, FigJam, Zoom

Duration: 75 Hours

Establish Brand Identity: Introducing… SoundCloud presents - Collectives. SoundCloud would curate a collective of underground artists that make the same genre of music through a submission based model. The “Collectives” can work together to release a joint playlist and host live/virtual events for listeners to enjoy.

SoundCloud can market these “Collectives” and solidify their brand as a platform that caters towards underground & independent artists.This additional feature aims to increase usage and subscriptions as only subscribed users have access to “Collectives”.

Community: Collectives would be curated based on geo-location so they can host live and virtual events for listeners that want to support local artist. The events would include a Q&A session with the members and allow the listeners to engage with each other and the artists in person or through the chat function for virtual events.

SoundCloud would be able to further market themselves by stamping their brand on the curated playlists and events held by “Collectives” that may gain mainstream traction.

The Design Process

Empathize

→

Define

Competitive Analysis

User Interviews

→

Ideate

→

Prototype

→

01 Empathize - Music Streaming Platform Pain Points

A competitive analysis was completed with the other three established major streaming platforms: Spotify, Apple Music, and Youtube Music. Although it is already generally well known that SoundCloud stands apart from its competitors in regards to underground/independent music, I wanted to get a better understanding of the current strengths and weaknesses of each respective streaming platform.

Test

Strengths:

  • The most widely used streaming platform among its competitors

  • Extensive content library that includes music, podcast, and audiobooks

  • Well known for their personalized recommendations based on listening history algorithm

  • Establish business relationships with different record labels and podcast so their content would only be available on Spotify

Weaknesses:

  • A large chunk of the revenue generated by Spotify is paid to the artist in forms of royalty which makes it difficult for Spotify to remain profitable

  • Removal of content if there are disputes regarding contracts with major labels and licensing issues

  • Little incentive for users to subscribe to a premium service from their free version besides offline listening and no ads

Strengths:

  • The second most used streaming platform among its competitors

  • A broad reach with platform available in 100 countries globally

  • Compatibility among all different apple devices

  • Added the radio channel “Apple Music 1” which is a human curated channel that plays a variety of different music for users to explore different songs/genres

Weaknesses:

  • Platform only available to those who have an Apple Device which would limit the market availability in countries that primarily use Android

  • Does not offer a free subscription model

  • Complaints regarding Apple Music’s content curation - described as “cookie-cutter”

Strengths:

  • The third used streaming platform among its competitors

  • Allows in-app video support so users can watch music videos along with listening to the music

  • Has wide range of user data that can be used for personalized recommendations as their parent company is Google

  • Offers live streaming for different concerts and events held by the artist

Weaknesses:

  • Poor playback quality of the music on the platform due to bandwidth of videos

  • Poor content layout leading to content overload

  • Little to no social interaction - unable to create a profile and follow other users to see their interests

Insights

A common theme among all streaming platforms is that they have personalized recommendations based on user data. This seems to be an important aspect of music streaming platforms to engage the users and help them discover new music, artists and genres.

Although all of the major streaming platforms have mainstream music in their catalog, none of the competitors allow independent/underground artists to directly upload onto their platform with a low barrier to entry. This further validates that SoundCloud can potentially leverage this to further establish their brand identity.

Based on the strengths and weaknesses, it seems like the ideal streaming site would:

  • Has an extensive catalog of music that includes both mainstream and underground music with accurate personalized recommendations based on user preferences

  • Provides incentives for users to subscribe other than ad-free listening - this can include but is not limited to curated live events, videos, additional artist information, and exclusive content

  • Facilitates community and social interaction by allowing users to engage with each other based on similar interests

I conducted one-on-one user interviews with five participants who all actively use or have previously used SoundCloud. One of the participants is an independent DJ that actively works with other independent artists and uploads music onto SoundCloud.

The primary objective of the interview was to:

  • Identify how users currently discover new music or artists

  • Understand the importance of community and interaction when listening to music

  • Opinions on discovering and listening to new underground/independent artists

  • The appeal of potentially interacting with underground/independent artists and attending a live/virtual event held by them

Key Questions

  • What music streaming platform do you currently use? If you use multiple, which is your favorite? Why?

  • How do you usually discover new artists and songs?

  • How important is community and interaction when it comes to listening to music?

  • What are your thoughts and opinions about discovering new underground/independent artists?

  • What are your thoughts on being able to interact with underground musical artists to understand their creative process and get to know them better?

  • How inclined would you be to go to a local live event for underground/independent musicians that play the types of music you like?

Insights

Current Platforms & Discovery

Although all participants have previously used SoundCloud, some participants have expressed that they currently use Spotify due to its algorithm that assists in discovering new music.

The primary way users are able to discover new music is through suggested songs provided by the platform.

When asked what they would want to change about the platform, they advised they would like a more social way to interact with other users and the ability to listen to underground/independent artists.

All participants believed that community and interaction with others is an essential aspect of enjoying music.

Connecting with Underground/Independent Artists

All participants agreed that they would be willing to listen to underground/independent artist if they play the same genre of music they are into, and are interested in connecting with them to understand their creative process and background as it would make their experience more enjoyable

Although participants confirmed they would be willing to go to live events to connect with artists, the barrier to entry would have to be low - low ticket prices, weekends, relatively close.

02 Define - Translated Findings into a Focused Product Opportunity

User Personas

Problem Statements

Based on the feedback gathered from user interviews, it seems like there are potential users that are particularly excited about supporting independent/underground artists while some users are on the fence about the additional feature. I believe this perfectly encapsulates how the general public reacts whenever a new feature is added to an established application or website.

Katie is a young freelance designer that is excited about the Collectives feature because she enjoys supporting independent artists.

Sam is a full time worker who is a little more skeptical about the Collectives feature as he doesn’t know if he’ll enjoy listening to underground music.

I’d like to discover new underground artists and get to know their creative process because it would help me be more engaged with the artist.

How might we curate experiences that assist in creating meaningful engagement between the artists and listeners?

I’d be interested in participating in virtual music events for underground artists that I enjoy if I was able to feel a sense of community with the other listeners and artists.

How might we design virtual music events to create a sense of community and engagement for both the users and the artists?

I’d be interested in listening to collectives of underground artists if they played the same types of music that I liked and it was easy to discover their music.

How might we curate collectives of underground artists that are accurately suggested to users based on their listening preferences?

03 Ideate - Explored Multiple Concepts to Address User Needs

User & Business Goals

User Flow

I wanted to start the ideation phase by understanding the different and shared goals of the user and business. By understanding both user and business goals, the work is grounded and focused. It helped me think of design solutions that actually solve real problems for people while still making sense for the company to invest in.

Although users would be able to attend live and virtual events to connect with the artists and other listeners, the primary function of the “Collectives” feature is for users to listen to the collective’s curated albums/playlists that is exclusively available on SoundCloud. The collective’s will be displayed on a separate “Collectives” home page and their albums/playlists will be recommended based on user listening history.

The user flow: Listen to a Collective’s Album

04 Prototype - Refined Concepts Through Low to High Fidelity Designs

Low/Mid Fidelity Wireframes

Because I am adding a feature to an existing application rather than designing from scratch, I only had a few low/mid fidelity wireframes that I needed to design. I wanted to make sure my designs were consistent with the established style and brand. For example, when designing the Collective’s Home Page, album, profile, and categories, I made sure the design was identical to the existing pages for consistency throughout the website.

The only pages that have a completely original design was the “Virtual Stream Event” and “Live Event” pages as SoundCloud doesn’t offer these features, and therefore there were no pages I needed to remain consistent with.

Collective’s Home Page/Album/Profile

High Fidelity Wireframes

Although there is an established design and brand for SoundCloud, I decided to copy the design from scratch and re-create all pages rather than only designing my original pages. I wanted to make sure my design remained consistent with SoundCloud’s current design system. This proved to be extremely helpful in practicing my design skills and getting a better understanding of how to create my original pages consistently with the established design.

I created high fidelity wireframes by referencing the current SoundCloud design on my phone which would be evaluated in another usability test.

Original Home/ Collectives Home

Profile/Album

Virtual Stream/Live Event/Categories

Feedback from User Testing

I completed moderated live user test with my low/mid fidelity wireframes to get overall feedback on the design, confirm if the design seems consistent with SoundCloud’s current layout, and identify any additional pages I may need to design.

Insights:

  • Create a “Library” page with a separate category listed for Collectives

  • Add a “New Albums” section on the Collective’s home page

  • Display all live events (virtual and in person) on the home page rather than virtual live events only

Category/Category Listing

Library/Following

Virtual Event/Live Event Listing

05 Test - Tested the Solution to Ensure Clarity, Usability, and Impact

Usability Testing

Iterations

Methodology

One-on-one moderated usability testing with 5 participants conducted in-person with an interactive Figma prototype.

Goals

  • Understand the overall usability of the high fidelity prototypes

  • Confirm that users are able to understand the function of “Collectives”

  • Confirm that the overall design is consistent with SoundCloud’s current design system

Tasks

  1. Access a Collective’s album from the Collective’s profile page (Collective: Mirage; Album: Waves of Oblivion)

  2. Access a Collective’s live virtual event from the Collective’s profile page (Collective: Mirage; Live Event: Exodus)

Key Insights

Understanding “Collectives”

Participants expressed that it would be beneficial if there is an indicator on the home page that advertises “Collectives” or else some participants may not know what Collectives are. There needs to be an explanation that introduces the new feature rather than expecting the users to know

Virtual Events

Rather than having to press play again once clicking on the virtual event listing, participants thought it would be more beneficial for the user if the video starts playing immediately after clicking on the virtual event listing

Consistency

Participants confirmed that the overall design is consistent with the SoundCloud’s current design system. Some participants didn’t realize that I had copied the design from scratch and thought I transferred the pages from SoundCloud onto my design.

Opportunities

  1. Put a banner on the home page that advertises “Collectives”, gives a brief description of what Collectives are, and instructs the users where they can access the Collective’s page

  2. Change the live stream events so that the live stream starts immediately after playing the listing rather than having the users click play again

  3. Have something that indicates whether the streaming event is live or historic

Put a banner on the home page that advertises “Collectives”, gives a brief description of what Collectives are, and instructs the users where they can access the Collective’s page

Before

After

Final Result

Next Steps

Takeaways

Expansion

For the purpose of this project, the “Collectives” feature only launched in the greater Los Angeles area. The reasoning behind this is that some less populated cities may not have many underground/independent artist that may be interested in joining “Collectives”. For example, there would be a higher population of artists in a major city like Los Angeles compared to a smaller city like Brookfield, Wisconsin.

Given the fact that one of the sub-features of “Collectives” are local shows for users to support local artists, the location is an integral factor when deciding where “Collectives” should be launched. Based on the success of “Collectives” in the greater Los Angeles area, the next step would be to scale to different major cities throughout the country.

Application for Collectives

I was not able to go deep into the application process to join “Collectives” due to the constraints. I would like to fully develop a system that selects and vets independent artists that are interested in being part of a Collective.

Q&A With Collectives

One of the main goals of “Collectives” is the ability for users to connect with underground artist and understand their creative process. I would like a way to incorporate Q&A for each Collective onto their profile so users may be able to connect with them without necessarily having to attend a live or virtual session.

General Insights

The scope of this project was to add a feature to an existing application. I wanted to make sure I was designing a solution for an actual problem rather than designing a feature that is simply just nice to have. When thinking of what feature to add to an existing website, I found myself thinking of cool features that I personally enjoyed but didn’t address a problem.

With the “Collectives” feature, I found that it was something I was personally interested in while addressing the business need of helping attract more users and further establishing a brand identity for SoundCloud.

Challenges

I essentially had a three pronged idea for this project: Collective Albums, Collective Virtual Streams, Collective Live Events.

This three pronged idea expended even further because there were three different parties that serve to benefit:

  • Users benefit since they are able to discover new music, get a sense of community, get to know local underground artists on personal level, and have access to exclusive events

  • Soundcloud benefits from the brand identity and user attraction/retention based off the features that are offered on the platform

  • Artists benefit by being able to leverage SoundCloud’s platform to reach a vast audience while also providing something for SoundCloud as well

Given how multifaceted my idea was, it was difficult to try and optimize a design for all parties given the constraints.

What did I learn?

Users are not able to read my mind. One of the key insights from my usability testing with high fidelity prototypes was that there should be some banner or indicator of what “Collectives” are on the home page or else the user maybe confused or simply ignore the feature. Although I had this complex idea in my head, I learned that I need to make sure the users understand what the idea is with minimal confusion. As a result, I displayed a banner that explicitly explains “Collectives” on my final prototype so users would be able to have an understanding of what the feature is.

What Would I Have Done Differently?

As previously mentioned, my idea was multifaceted with different sub-features and parties that serve to benefit. In the future, I would narrow down my idea rather than spreading myself thin so I can focus on optimizing one or two ideas.