Description:
MusicStreamCo aims to connect communities globally through music listening.
Problem Domain:
Currently music listening can often feel like a very individual activity. Whether it is creating playlists or seeing one’s favorite artists at a live concert, it can often be very difficult to find the time, money, or capacity to share music with one’s friends in the way they would like.
MusicStreamCo would like to revolutionize by emphasizing social interaction and community building in all aspects of the music listening and sharing process. Through collaborative playlists with friends, live streamed events with one’s favorite artists, and ground-breaking technology to ensure the most curated song lists, MusicStreamCo is the one stop shop for the global community of music lovers.
Customer Benefits:
User POV:
“I wanted to see my favorite artist, Olivia Rodrigo, in concert but she did not tour in my city and the closest concert was 2 hours away which I could not afford. Through MusicStreamCo I was able to watch her set live from the comfort of my home where she even played a few songs that she had not released yet. I also have been able to connect and share so much of my favorite music with my friends and make so many new friends globally that have introduced me to their favorite music”
Artist POV:
“I love using MusicStreamCo to connect with my fan base. Since I am just starting out, the app allows me to easily connect with my growing fan base without the high artist fees of other similar platforms. In addition, MusicStreamCo really values the artists and does not charge the insanely high royalties that other apps charge to artists, especially smaller artists.”
Customer Case Study:
Katie is an avid music listener. Living in a rural community, she really wants to connect with her friends through live music events but they are often very expensive and located very far from her town. One day she sees one of her favorite artists sharing that they will be hosting a live streamed event of their concert set on MusicStreamCo. She checks out the app in the app store and realizes that this might be the community building and music app that she has been looking for. She downloads the app and encourages many of her friends to download the app as well, and is able to collaborate on playlists that cater to all of their music tastes whilst discovering a lot of new music. She tries out the livestream feature by purchasing 10 tokens for $1 and is able to see one of her favorite artists through the future. After using the free features for a few weeks, she is tired of the ads and changes to the subscriber version of the app. Through this version in addition to a more streamlined music listening experience, she discovers that she also now receives 150 tokens. She is now able to watch many more of her favorite artists through the live streamed concert features, in addition to discovering many new artists that she had not previously heard of. Through Katie and friends utilizing the app, the livestreams watched collectively have received over 600 views, and a 70% rate of free user to subscriber.
Areas of Uncertainty
- Users will be interested in paying to watch livestreams if unsubscribed or paying to subscribe for streams.
- We have tested this through a google form. We found that about 20% of our users would be interested in paying for streams, which is not the clearest result so requires further exploration. This will greatly influence how we market and build our business model.
- The token system would build engagement throughout the platform.
- We have not been able to test this yet, but it would be helpful in refining our business model to retain users.
- Artists are interested in live streaming their music.
- We tested this through the same google form, and found that as long as artists get about 85% of the profits from the streams, they are interested. We should do some further testing to determine what other factors influence artists.
Current Plan to Explore Areas of Uncertainty:
- Run test live streams with artists of different genres and levels of popularity. Advertise through social media and on our existing platform, and use existing platforms where you can monetize streams such as Twitch to see who would watch, and price at different levels.
- Work in tokens or points to existing features of our platform without monetizing them yet. Give rewards such as early access to music to incentivize users and see if it increases engagement.
- Run longer interviews with artists to ask what they are looking for and what holes they see in current streaming services. Combine this with test livestreams to test user engagement as well as artist engagement.
Prior Research:
Our primary research reveals that currently, there are no platforms of scale that have the features of MusicStreamCo – music streaming, exclusive live-streamed content, and community-building through music. Specifically, our competitive analysis research reveals that our main competitors fall on two different spectrums – music streaming, such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music – and live streaming, such as Twitch, TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube.
MRC data by Music Business Worldwide predicts an upward trend about virtual concerts – from March to November 2020, consumer engagement with virtual concerts hovered at 20% to 25% of the general US population, while overall consumer interest in music live streams stayed at 35% to 40% of the population. However, it must be noted that this survey data was taken in 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning to ensue – heavily impacting the live music industry. While music livestream viewership on platforms like Twitch remains at a steady level (~29,000 concurrent viewers in April 2020), it is all the more important for MusicStreamCo to identify a niche customer segment.
Thus, MusicStreamCo is bridging gaps and introducing a niche, all-encompassing music platform, in which we aim to address the unmet needs of a customer sector that has not been explored by the existing industry – in MusicStreamCo’s case, Gen Z music streamers from a rural area. However, this also means it is important to ensure that this niche had sufficient demand, hence why we conducted thorough assumptions testing and need-finding.
Leading Signals:
- User Acquisition and Retention Rates: Track the number of new users signing up for MusicStreamCo and the retention rates over time. An increasing user base and sustained user engagement would indicate success. 1,000 new users every week.
- Daily Active Users (DAU): Monitor the number of users actively using the platform on a daily basis. A growing DAU suggests that the platform is providing value and retaining user interest. At least 5,000 users tune into each livestream. (To test this specific feature).
- Community Engagement: Measure the level of engagement within the community features of MusicStreamCo. This could include interactions on forums, comments on live streams, and user-generated content. A thriving community indicates successful community-building.
- Exclusive Content Consumption: Analyze the consumption patterns of exclusive live-streamed content. High viewership numbers for exclusive content demonstrate the attractiveness of MusicStreamCo’s unique offerings.
- Geographic Expansion: If targeting rural Gen Z music streamers proves successful, consider expanding to other underserved demographics or geographic areas.
Other options:
MusicStreamCo carefully considered various strategic options before deciding to add a live stream feature to its streaming platform. Alternative approaches, such as collaborating with existing platforms such as TikTok, posed the risk of diluting MusicStreamCo’s brand identity and potentially unfavorable revenue-sharing agreements. Instead, we will acquire a platform with live-streaming functionality.
While a specialized genre focus was contemplated for its unique selling proposition, it was dismissed due to concerns about limiting the user base and revenue potential by excluding those interested in diverse genres. Exploring localized events to strengthen community connections was also evaluated but deemed impractical due to logistical challenges, expense, and the potential exclusion of users from non-participating regions. Investigating innovative revenue models raised concerns about complexity and sustainability.
Ultimately, adding a live stream feature was chosen for its ability to create a comprehensive music platform, meeting the unmet needs of rural Gen Z music streamers while aligning with the trends in virtual concerts and community-driven content consumption. This decision offers a clear, differentiated value proposition and positions MusicStreamCo strategically in the competitive landscape.
Why now, compared to alternatives? Cost of delay?
The leaders in the space of music streaming are companies such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music. However, none of them have been able to create a direct live interaction between an artist and their audience. On the other hand, we have companies like Twitch that have been able to achieve this interaction between famous gamers with their fans.
Hence, we believe that we are at the exact moment of tailoring a live streaming platform for the music industry. There are some initial cases of small artists using Twitch to connect with their audiences, which prove the concept’s traction, but by rapidly building an embedded solution in MusicStreamCo, we hold the completely unfair advantage of being the one stop shop for live streaming music.
We are aware that we are not creating a new breakthrough in technology, and that is why we believe that by acquiring a company for their tech such as TVCoins, we would be able to increase the barrier to entry for other platforms that could try to penetrate this market before us.
Technologies needed
| Programming languages/frameworks | C++, HTML5/CSS3, Java, JavaScript (Node.js, React, RxJS, Restify, EmberJS, AngularJS, BackboneJS), Python |
| Data storage/management | MySQL, Oracle, PostgreSQL |
| Cloud platforms | Amazon EC2/S3, Microservices |
Rough time frame (Milestones)
- Q4 2023 – Acquisition of TV Coins
- M&A Team
- Q1 2024 – Integration of TV Coins for Live Streaming Feature + Testing
- Development
- Q2 2024 – MusicStreamCo’s Live Streaming Shipped (Beta MVP)
- Marketing Campaign for existing + new customers
- Q3 2024 – Begin engineering Version 2 (V2)
- Gauge first month metrics ($, # of users)
- Q4 2024 – Scale + Update V1 to host more listeners and artists
- Gauge first month metrics ($, # of users)
- Q1 2025 – User Test V2 / Ship MVP
- Growth Team – Scale the product
