When we think of technology and innovation the first that came to mind is that technology became the part of every industry from the corporate world to the education, from science to media and entertainment. Therefore music is no different. Needless to say that technological development influenced the history of music recording and playback formats which consequently, were placed on the new level.
Technology and Music
Nowadays the music market experiences a significant increase as it has never before. If music is your passion, today it is quite easy to spread the news about your musical skills and talents. The technological development benefits both experienced celebrities as well as new musicians who strive to be recognized because of their passion. In that regard, the social media platforms, like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook are predominant choice to post videos of new singles and covers of the famous songs.
In fact, contemporary media and entertainment industry is closely depended on tech development. Moreover, speaking about the accessibility of music products, a marketplace is something that cannot be avoided. Moreover, today the advantages of using marketplace is shaping the new reality of the music industry.
Among the benefits of the music marketplace are:
It is a worldwide music distribution;
It is a promotion of your music on social media;
Multiple services for songwriters, composers, etc.
In fact, the music marketplace is an inevitable part of our daily life, whether we want to listen to music online, buy new singles or albums or simple book musicians for a specific event, like wedding, prom, corporate party, etc.
Marketplace for Booking Musicians
We would like to share our experience in developing a music marketplace for booking services, as one of our recent projects. It won't be another rock band marketplace discussion article. Instead of it, the article reveals the approach and experience regarding new product development.
Initially, the client has only a vision of a simple platform for booking musicians, subsequently, this idea evolved in a massive ecosystem with web platform as well as a mobile app. Therefore, the business plan was meant to create a solution for both musicians and customers to plan and arrange certain events.
The core feature of such projects is that potentially it could be expanded in a bigger and even more advanced system, for example, an event planning. In addition, the idea behind the project allows joining an international market.
Technology Stack and Project Timeline
For the complex project like this one, we developed a web app on Angular for frontend and Node.js (Nest.js) for the backend. This approach allows achieving consistency and ability to run the big projects smoothly.
Nowadays, product owners should not neglect the development of mobile apps. Therefore, our team chooses a hybrid development for mobile application . This approach will save time for the development of different system versions. And when it comes to Hybrid development - React Native is our priority.
Regarding the project’ time-frame the development took approximately 8 months. Aftermath, the negotiation with the client the main requirements and technology stack were agreed. During the first week, our team was working on identifying must-have and killer features that could distinguish future platform from the wide range of similar music platforms and marketplaces. In addition, the business strategy was discussed.
During the project management flow phase, the custom team was formed as well as communication flow. Both project management and development methodology were established by our team. The last phase was implementation, which was characterized by creating UI/UX prototypes, code creating and refactoring. The whole process was focusing on building a top-notch product at the end. Therefore, during the development process, the project was tested several times so devs were able to fix some minor bugs and adding new features. At this phase, launching the MVP was an inevitable element of creating a truly outstanding product.
How Does It Work
The project is focused on both musicians and clients which make it a powerful management tool. As for musicians, the platform and an app provide the opportunity to easily find a job, while clients will benefit from a big range of choice regarding musicians to make their event truly special.
After the registration on the home page, there is a search toolbar with which you can start looking for talents for your event. You can choose to search based on the genres (rock. Classic, pop, electronic, jazz. etc.), location (New York, California, London, Paris, Vienna) or reviews. You can also create an event clicking on the “Create an event” button. This option is suitable for those who do not feel like browsing through all musicians. Instead of it, you can add details to it and subsequently musicians who have similar specializations or interest will be notified and will reply to you if they are available and interested in your offer.
Login/ Sign Up:
As a new user, you can sign up using either the email address or social media account, for example, Facebook account. Additionally, a user can choose whether to sign up as a performer or as an event host. This division further will help to customize the main features and databases according to the mentioned categories.
Musician profile:
The initial purpose of the profile is to make the client’s decision-making process much easier. Except for the name of the artist, the location and the genres of music, there is also information about:
The event types (e.g. private event, birthday party, wedding, corporate events, etc.);
The performance information (e.g. information about the availability of personal transport, the own PA system, requirements about parking, etc.);
Reviews and rating system which will help to make up the client’s mind about the musicians’ work ethic.
Additionally, there is access to the portfolio of the artist which include video from the previous events as well as audio records with their original songs or covers. Thus, the opportunity to watch and listen to the live performance will provide you with the full picture. Simultaneously, the client can decide whether s/he would like to have a similar musical experience during the event or not. Every musician profile has a real-time calendar which marks the days when the singer or a band are busy.
Booking process
The booking process is easy and clear. After clicking on the “create an event” a client needs to add the required information for the musicians to make an estimation. Therefore, a client should provide specific information about the type of event, date and his preferences including the length of the performance. Thus, such detailed information would help musicians to plan his performance properly. When all information filled in, the “event” will be sent and the musician or a band would have the chance to contact you within the chat as soon as all details will be accepted.
Shortlists:
The shortlists might be helpful for both clients and musicians. For clients, it serves as assistance when it is hard to peek one musician from the variety of available candidates. In this case, there will be a list of bands or singers with a brief description, such as name, location, price, ratings, and genres on music.
For musicians, shortlists provides the catalog of events with the description including what kind of the event it will be (festival, cocktail party, birthday, etc.), date, location, preferable genres, and the price. In addition, under the “Liked Events” the musician could collect all the events that s/he likes but yet do not contact with the potential client.
Therefore, shortlists is a great way to choose the right event and musician with a minimum effort. Simply scrolling and looking through the possible options will provide a clear vision for both sides.
Communication means and pop-up notifications:
Due to real-time messaging, musicians and clients have the opportunity to communicate with each other and negotiate all required issues. The new dialogs may be added and displayed on the left. The chat system is available after the musician has accepted all the performance information and confirmed that s/he is ready to discuss the details. Moreover, in the mobile version, we incorporate the pop-up notification system, so both clients and musicians could not miss any relevant bit of news.
Profile
The app provides a massive contribution to the career development of each and every musician. Due to the fact, an artist within his profile has the opportunity to see the statistic, messages, edit calendar, and other personal information. In addition at the age of cybersecurity, we take care of the protection of sensitive data and information. Additionally, under the Privacy settings musician can edit job alert settings with a convenient click to “on/off” buttons. Statistics suggest giving the visual representation of the basic tracking features for the analytics. Therefore, “Communication”, “Marketing effectiveness”, and “Profile views” will illustrate a musician’s activity, so the future career strategy might be marked.
Payment system
Our team understands the importance of the safe payment system, therefore, we implemented an easy and effective way to transfer money. That means that musicians will be paid on time and clients will get the services that they are paying for. The process is that after the client and musician agreed on the offer and the price, the invoice is sent. The payment method includes PayPal, Visa, and MasterCard. After all the required information is filled in and sent, there will be a notification: “The payment will be held securely and shall only be released to the performer after you confirmed satisfactory receipt of the service”.
As you can see, we built a fully functional platform and mobile app which together create the ecosystem for the entertainment industry. This project has shown great results after the launch which proved the innovative approach and creating a top-notch product. Today, the client has already asked us to continue developing the project and expand it in the even bigger platform suggesting hiring not only musicians but any other stuff for the event planning (waiters, bartenders, event managers, etc.).
Conclusion
It is always a pleasure to work with great ideas and transform them into reality. In this particular case, the client had a bold visionary idea while our team was working with enthusiasm to build an outstanding product. Our tech devs were suggested the best technologies that would be the core of the project, while the team of designers works hard to create a user-friendly and bright look of the app. Business strategy and branding were not avoided, too. The best reward is to hear positive reviews and comments about your work. We dedicate to build high-quality products and we are proud to launch and continue to expand this particular project.
Thinking about your own music marketplace application which could bring greater value than already existing apps? Contact our team and we will guide you through the way starting from initial idea to live product. We always ready to build valuable products, should it be yours?
