Manic Music Concept for a multimedia music website using user centered design principles Kevin Toy & Angie Nery

Context of Use – User Profile Who is the target audience? -Age: 14-30 -Education: High School to College level -Interested in/Enjoys listening music (i.e. seeks out and listens to music regularly, enjoys concerts, plays an instrument or in a band, etc.) -Familiar with Internet and online multimedia

Questionnaire We conducted a survey questionnaire (using surveymonkey.com) to gather data on user preferences and experiences regarding music websites http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/37VJXPB part one http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/377SZST part two

Results Total participants: 86 Average age: 23 93% reported using the computer to listen to music Most popular sites used for music: -YouTube -iTunes -Pandora -Grooveshark -Last.fm -Yahoo music -Myspace

Results (cont’d) What do you like about the services, applications, and functions provided from these music website services? (most common responses) - “Easy to use” - “Easy to find music” - “…discovering new artists and songs…” - “…create fully customizable playlists.” - “I like that I can see the video and/or lyrics while the music is playing” - “Better variety” - “Play music by genre” - “FREE” What do you dislike about the services provided by these websites? - “Advertisements (spam, pop ups, etc.)” - “Paying for songs” - “Slow to load songs” - “Can only skip a certain number of songs” - “Poor quality songs”

Contextual Task Analysis Grooveshark.com

Task: Search/play a song Description: User opts to search for a specific song using keywords. User plays the song selected. Steps can be repeated to add more individually selected songs. Click on search/query bar Type in keyword (artist, song title, album, etc.) Browse song results Double click on desired song to play (or click icon to add to playlist, add to favorites, create a radio station, etc.) Song icon/info will appear in play box and song will begin playing Search/Play a Song Click on search/query bar Type in keyword (artist, song title, album, etc.) Browse song results Double click on desired song to play (or click icon to add to playlist, add to favorites, create a radio station, etc.) Song icon/info will appear in play box and song will begin playing

Task: Create radio station Description: To allow interface and program to create an automatic playlist in response to similar song types that User pre-selected in the playlist. Follow steps 1-3 from search/play a song task Click on “Radio” icon to generate playlist with songs similar to selected song. Radio stations tab will pop up with radio station created Initial song will begin playing with similar songs added to play list (will keep adding songs as long as radio station is playing). Click on “Radio” icon again to disable function. Create Radio Station Follow steps 1-3 from search/play a song task Click on “Radio” icon to generate playlist with songs similar to selected song. Radio stations tab will pop up with radio station created Initial song will begin playing with similar songs added to play list (will keep adding songs as long as radio station is playing). Click on “Radio” icon again to disable function.

Task: Create a profile Description: To register an account with Grooveshark. The User will be able to access all functions of the interface and services with a profile. Guests will only have limited options available. Click “Create an account” on task menu Click on text area and enter desired user name. Will prompt User if username is available or unavailable. If unavailable (repeat steps 1-2). Click text area next to “Password” label, and type desired password. Confirm password (re-enter password) Click on drop down menus to appropriately choose Date of Birth. Click text area next to “Email address” label, and type valid email address. Click text area next to “Full Name” label, and type First and Last Name. Click on drop down menu and choose appropriate gender, “Male” or “Female”. Captcha (for spam detection) User will disagree or agree for terms and conditions by clicking on either option’s checkbox. Click “ok” icon to finalize and register.

Click “Create Profile” option on task menu. Create a Profile Click “Create Profile” option on task menu. Click on text area and enter desired user name. Will prompt User if username is available or unavailable. If unavailable (repeat steps 1-2). Click text area next to “Password” label, and type desired password. Confirm password (re-enter password) Click on drop down menus to appropriately choose Date of Birth. Click text area next to “Email address” label, and type valid email address. Click text area next to “Full Name” label, and type First and Last Name. Click on drop down menu and choose appropriate gender, “Male” or “Female”. Captcha (for spam detection) User will disagree or agree for terms and conditions by clicking on either option’s checkbox. Click “ok” icon to finalize and register.

Usability Goals/Requirements Refer to: -User Profile -Questionnaire -Task Analysis

Results (cont’d) What do you like about the services, applications, and functions provided from these music website services? (most common responses) - “Easy to use” - “Easy to find music” - “…discovering new artists and songs…” - “…create fully customizable playlists.” - “I like that I can see the video and/or lyrics while the music is playing” - “Better variety” - “Play music by genre” - “FREE” What do you dislike about the services provided by these websites? - “Advertisements (spam, pop ups, etc.)” - “Paying for songs” - “Slow to load songs” - “Can only skip a certain number of songs” - “Poor quality songs”

Manic Music - Usability Goals Provide superior user experience by incorporating most appealing functions from competing music websites: -Users will be able to easily find and play music -Users will be able to create and save playlists -Users will be able to load radio stations (by pre-selected genres or by artist/song) -Users will be able to watch music videos for songs (if no video available provide visualizer) -Users will be able to access lyrics for songs -Users will be able to discover new music through the “Music Web” function and radio stations Provide users with an easy to use and easy to learn interface: -Users will be able to execute primary functions correctly upon first time use. -Users will be able to execute primary functions in 5 steps or less -Interface will utilize design principles (mapping, affordances, etc.) to provide the user with support in executing functions correctly Minimize/eliminate negative aspects reported by users when using music websites : -User will experience minimal advertising (no pop-ups, no ad previews before playing music) -Services provided by the site will be free -Poor quality songs will be filtered out of the music library -User will not have a limit on skipping through songs.

Design Solution - Prototype First Prototype – Paper cutout of interface “Frankenstein” -Gathered user feedback to refine layout of interface -Received general user input regarding design of interface Final Prototype…

Design Evaluation – User Testing First Prototype – Paper cutout of interface -Gathered user feedback to refine layout of interface -Received general user input regarding design of interface Final Prototype

Cost Justification - Cost-benefit Analysis Through simple usability testing we were able to identify common complaints of competitors’ interfaces and address these issues in our user interface Utilizing the user-centered design process our artifact will support the most common appealing functions (as reported through target demographic) in a simple and easy to use interface By focusing on the user Manic Music will provide superior service over our competitors and accrue growth of the user base (thereby increasing revenue) by promoting a pleasant user experience.

Cost Justification - Cost-benefit Analysis Competitor data - Grooveshark.com (estimated data) Website worth - $26,478,144 Yearly ads revenue - $2,736,075 Daily pageviews – 1,941,239 Competitor data – Pandora.com (estimated data) Website worth - $46,780,272 Yearly ads revenue - $4,833,961 Daily pageviews – 6,736,191 *Data taken from websiteshadow.com By utilizing the user-centered design process Manic Music will provide the user with all of the appealing functionality of competitors without the negative aspects. The simple interface and powerful tools will provide a pleasant user experience and attract an exponential growth in user base each year. Total cost estimate: $85,000 Net Benefit: $$$BIGNUMBER$$$

Generating Revenue Mobile application Advertisements User Donations Affiliate Marketing -iTunes -Amazon.com -etc. Subscription premium accounts “Long Tail” Theory (Pandora, Amazon, Netflix, etc.) The distribution and inventory costs of businesses successfully applying this strategy allow them to realize significant profit out of selling small volumes of hard-to-find items to many customers instead of only selling large volumes of a reduced number of popular items. –Wikipedia Mobile application Provide data for marketing and advertisement purposes in the music industry

Overall Summary and Conclusion