Chartburst
Throughout my time at University I knew I wanted to build something for the music industry. I knew there were so many broken and outdated processes, so in early 2010 I set about tackling them with a concept I called Chartburst, which was a tool to allow aspiring musicians to get their music heard by record labels.
Although there were a thousand things to do as the CEO of my first startup, I was primarily in charge of shaping the product.
What I did
Interviews
My main weapon during the discovery phase was one-to-one interviews with aspiring musicians and Record Label talent scouts. I interviewed in excess of 20 musicians and 15 Record Label managers and talent scouts to try to understand how a digital product could streamline the process of getting new music heard by the right industry pros.
My initial concept was a simple web app that allowed artists to send their top 5 demos to their chosen talent scouts, but after the interviews it was clear the industry wanted some sort of pre-qualification, and that the product needed a USP for the artist.
That insight transformed the product: a publicly voted music chart that allowed musicians to upload their best track and get their fans to vote for it. If it finished in the top 5 after a month, it would be sent to talent scouts at major record labels. I was able to get the backing of over 30 industry professionals who would review the monthly top 5's.
Customer Journey Map
I created a customer journey map to understand how aspiring musicians would go looking for a tool like Chartburst and how their first experience would pan out to eventual signup and submission. It showed me I really needed a quick and painless flow from landing on site to getting a track uploaded. My initial idea was a multi-step onboarding process, but wireframe feedback sessions combined with the journey map showed a much more streamlined journey was required.
IA & Wireframes
Once I had decided on the key MVP functionality and the optimal user journey, I created a basic sitemap to show the information hierarchy and then began creating lots of wireframes in Balsamiq to get quick feedback from artists. It helped me understand what the user preferred and which information was more important, but also which feature ideas weren't necessary for an MVP.
UI Design
I worked alongside a local graphic designer to come up with the design. Although I'm not particularly proud of the branding, it was my first project and being self taught, I had a lot to learn about typography, layout and colours.
Outcome
I learned that a good idea is not the same thing as a profitable business. Chartburst never made any revenue and that was down to several factors, including finding a business model that would work for struggling musicians with little spare money.
Secondly, I realised the importance of usability testing. There were areas of the site where users kept leaving, and once I'd analysed the issue I found it was due to some poor user flows and generally bad UX.
£20,000 seed investment raised · 60,000 organic sign ups · 4 major record labels involved · 1,000 songs submitted per month · Coverage on Mashable and Tech Crunch.
Want to work with me? Drop me an email.
Francis Gane · Product Designer · London