DemoBox
DemoBox was a tool born out of the PayPal Start Tank accelerator in London in 2015. The concept was formed from meetings with my then client, later turned business partner, who wanted to discuss a platform that would streamline the talent discovery process for the music industry.
The problem was that record labels mainly use email addresses or basic web forms to invite new music submissions. They then receive tens of thousands of emails/messages per year, with no way of organising and filtering them, thus wasting lots of time and making it very difficult to unearth the 'diamonds in the rough'. The proposed solution was a platform that allows for the efficient receiving, filtering and organisation of music submissions.
What I did
Interviews
With contacts in the industry, I was well placed to help guide the early stages of product market fit, and so before jumping in, I convinced the client to allow me to conduct some interviews with the type of music industry professionals and musicians who were the target end users.
I interviewed around 10 record label managers and talent scouts, and a handful of musicians. The findings: there is virtually no process. I was quite amazed to find that even larger music companies have paid very little attention to the whole process of receiving new music/talent — the life blood of any record label. Everybody we spoke to received the UI mockups well and were excited to beta test our solution.
Wireframing & User Journeys
I created a basic user journey based on interviews with label managers and talent scouts, which informed the important task flows and wireframes created from these flows. I tested the various approaches by sharing clickable prototypes via InVision with a few talent scouts at record labels. It was clear that to be able to review hundreds of songs as quickly as possible, a very simple approach would be needed, so a tinder-style swiping approach was adopted.
It was taking anywhere from 1-5 minutes to review each track via inbox submissions, and we estimated that our approach would bring that down to 20-30 seconds in most cases.
UI Design
Once we'd iterated on the wireframe prototypes to make the submission and review flows as efficient as possible, I worked on the final UI in Sketch. The design was built upwards from mobile to desktop, with minimal changes required across breakpoints.
Outcome
We launched DemoBox at the end of the PayPal Start Tank accelerator, with clients such as Sony Music, Warner Music Group and more using the beta version, with excellent feedback from both artists and labels.
The beta launch was a big success, with some major music brands using (and loving) the product, as well as hundreds of submissions a day from artists from launch day and multiple new music brands/labels signing up in the months after launch.
Want to work with me? Drop me an email.
Francis Gane · Product Designer · London