ARROW
A FREELANCE NETWORK FOR MUSICIANS
OVERVIEW
Arrow is an online freelance musician marketplace and social network. In this marketplace musicians can offer their services to prospective clients, as well as hire musicians to play on, record, mix or produce their recordings.
Another key component of Arrow is its social network. Arrow is more than just a marketplace—it’s a community. Arrow can connect a community of like-minded musicians who can support and learn from each other.
THE PROBLEM
Currently, there are few options for musicians collaborate online. Whether a musician lives in a rural area with limited contacts, or in a big city where it can be hard to network, there needs to be an easy way for musicians to interact and help each other make the best music possible.
THE SOLUTION
Develop an app that makes it easy for both professionals to offer their services, as well as artists to find and hire these professionals. In addition, create a monetization model that both works for the company, but also is appealing and fair to its users.
Also, create a community where users can engage and learn from each other. By building a community-focused product, not only does the company benefit—but users also receive a great value. The more users interact and learn from each other, the more ownership they will feel in the experience.
JOB STORIES
Unlike User Stories, which usually come from personas, Job Stories emanate from real people. It provides context and casualty. While I did use personas in my research, these personas were based on real people. I wanted to avoid not understanding the actual problems of a real user.
Job Stories helped me do this by considering the “when” and “why” a user wants to perform a certain task instead of what they want to perform and how they want to perform it. Job Stories are more concerned with motivation and outcomes rather than a user performing a task.
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Job Story 1
When I’m using Arrow, I want to discover and connect with other musicians , so I can grow my musical community.
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Job Story 2
When I’m using Arrow, I want to find musicians I can hire to record on my my music, so I can have a more professional recording.
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Job Story 3
When I’m using Arrow, I want to find musicians that need my services, so I can grow my business.
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Job Story 4
When I’m discovering musicians, I want to quickly save them, so I can continue to discover and message them later.
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Job Story 5
When contacting a musician for services, I want an easy and intuitive form to fill out, so I can get a quick response.
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Job Story 6
When I receive a request for services, I want a simple and detailed description, so I can respond quickly.
RESEARCH
My research for this product incorporated a number of things including hypotheses, user interviews and personas. My research was also supported by my over 25 years of acquired knowledge working as a professional musician, producer and mixer.
Being able to access a large number of professional musicians, many of whom I’ve worked with over the years, provided an invaluable insight into whether this was a viable product.
HYPOTHESES
HYPOTHESIS ONE
I believe if musicians could buy and sell recording services online, more musicians across the globe would be connected, building a stronger musical community.
If I’m right, there will an increase in musicians being able to create professional recordings, and an increase in income and opportunity to musicians selling their services.
Currently, there is only one company that provides a similar service—they’re not well known, and they don’t offer as robust features as Arrow.
HYPOTHESIS TWO
I believe if Arrow offered a subscription service rather than taking a cut of the user’s profit, users would feel like they’re getting a better deal, as the cost of a monthly subscription is much less than a 20% cut for the company.
If I’m right, we will see an increase in users.
Currently, I’m doing research to determine whether a subscription or royalty system would work better
HYPOTHESIS THREE
I believe if Arrow offered a royalty rate (80%) rather than a subscription model, users would be more inclined to use the product as they don’t have to spend any money up front
If I’m right, we will see an increase in users.
Currently, I’m doing research to determine whether a subscription or royalty system would work better.
HYPOTHESES FOUR
I believe if we included a social network in the product, Arrow would be much more than a service. It could be a community for millions of musicians.
If I am right, we will see an increase in a connection to the brand.
Currently through research, I’m trying to decide whether or not to include a social network element. So far, it’s about 50/50 with those whom I’ve reached out to for an opinion.
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LOS ANGELES
“To basically have a clearinghouse where you could see a bunch of options, not limited to a locality, listen to their projects, and see their ratings without doing a crazy Google search would be powerful.”—Brennan Dignan, LA-based musician
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SEATTLE
“Thoughts on a subscription: I would never pay $30 month for this service. Unless it really proved to be a large source of referrals for me or opened me up to a new tier of industry people.”—Johnny Sangster, Seattle-based producer
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PORTLAND
“I think it’s a solid idea! I would ignore the social network portion, do a subscription model instead of commission—unfortunately, some people will just go outside the app to negotiate.”—Nathan Junior, Portland-based musician
USER PERSONAS
While User Personas are usually based on fictional characters, I decided to create these using real people. This ties into my use of Job Stories over User Stories and helped in a better understanding of the potential user of this app.
The example below was created after interviewing a family friend who aspires to be a professional musician
DESIGN SYSTEM
I developed a modular, future-friendly design system. This component library was intricately designed to work across all platforms, markets and customer needs. I established a modern aesthetic while maintaining accessibility best practices throughout.
DASHBOARD
The Dashboard is the central hub where a user can access important information quickly and easily. From here a user can quickly glance see the number of views, plays and follows they added that day. There are links to “New Messages” and “New Payments,” as well as an “Activity Feed” that displays the most recent activity.
The screen also includes data graphics representing “Total Views,” “Total Plays,” “Follows,” and “Referrers.” These can be viewed for the day, week or month.
PROFILE SCREEN
The Profile screen contains all the important information about a user such as their bio, services they provide, reviews and audio examples. This is all kept tidy using a tabbed navigation.
CATEGORIES
The Categories Home Screen implements a tabbed navigation that allows the user to view musicians “Offering Services,” or “Looking for Services.” Main categories are accessible via carousel, and there is a link to view “All Categories.”
Also included on the Categories Home Screen are “Featured Artists,” artists “In Demand,” and location-based artists.
TIMELINE SCREEN
Another important feature is the Timeline. Think of it as a mini social network for our users. This is a great way aspiring musicians to build a like-minded community and learn from each other. It is also a great way to keep users engaged in the app on a more consistent basis.
IN CONCLUSION
The idea for for this product came to me over a decade ago while I was working at DeviantArt. At the time, they had a product called DreamUp. It was basically a service where artists could sell their artwork to others in the community on a commission basis. I instantly thought, “Something like this should exist for musicians.”
This idea rattled around in my head for a few years before I finally decided to take action and see if I could make it a reality. Around 2016 I got serious and began working on Arrow in earnest. Life happened, and I had to put it on the back burner.
Fast forward to today—I’m working with a business partner and planning on making Arrow a reality in 2024. I believe this is a problem space that has yet to be fully explored and executed. And I’m confident that a service like this would not only be well received, but it would also greatly contribute to the way artists create and distribute their music.