Project Vision
TIDAL is a music streaming service focused on providing its audience with high-quality audio and exclusive content from artists. Overtime, TIDAL's subscriber growth has stalled due to the brand losing relevancy and lack of differentiation between them and other music streaming apps.
TIDAL has the opportunity to push the limits of how their audience interacts with music by turning away from being just another music streaming service to focusing on creating more intimate music experiences with its fan base.
Challenges
1. Differentiate TIDAL's in-app experience from other music streaming services.
2. Find a new way for TIDAL to have more intimate experiences with its fans.
3. Make finding new music on TIDAL even easier.
Team:
Meosha Jupiter
James Realubit
Quick Peek to the Solution
TIDAL currently does a lot of things really well. They feature a lot of great exclusive content and make it easy to find music by up and coming artists. With an app refresh, I wanted to make navigating content easier
App Refresh
The TIDAL app has a hefty amount of exclusive content and it can be difficult to navigate. I focused on enhancing the search features, emphasizing TIDAL exclusive content, and including ticket purchasing in the app for TIDAL exclusive events.
TIDAL RISING experiences
TIDAL RISING events will be local events that highlight rising and upcoming artists from the area. We wanted to create a new experience for an underrepresented audience while serving our current audience a new perspective.
Where to start?
Starting off I was filled with questions.
What do people want out of their music apps? When and where do we use these apps? Who is TIDAL's fanbase and why do they choose TIDAL over other services? Do these same people attend live music events?
After researching TIDAL's current fanbase and interviewing daily music listeners from major streaming services, I learned that users: feel like discovering new music is difficult, and overall music apps are kind of bland.
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Competitive Analysis
In order to understand how TIDAL stands against other music streaming platforms. I evaluated the streaming platforms based on what content I felt was important for user interviews and what content the brands themselves considered to be their best selling points.
I learned that these platforms offer almost all the same amenities. Where TIDAL lacks witch recognizable branding and podcasts, they make up for it with their custom and live concert streaming.
What do people want out their music apps?
Primarily through user interviews and research, we learned that users feel like discovering new music is difficult, and seeing the brand outside of the app can make the brand itself more memorable.
Audiences want their music experience to feel fresh and liberating. They're looking for new ways to experience music. TIDAL already provides high-quality music, it's one of the only music streaming platforms owned by a musician. TIDAL also provides a platform for up and coming artists. It has everything a music enthusiast is looking for but due to its lack of brand identity, most people don't even acknowledge it.
Because music streaming companies generally do not have an established presence within the communities that produce subgenre musical genres, the people who create the algorithms and define music categories often don’t even see what they are missing.
Music streaming services mishandle our data
—and our culture is paying for it
by Mario J. Lucero
Spotify gives me a headache.
Searching for music I like is the hardest part. I don't think the algorithms are enough or very good at helping me discover music I like.
Crystal, 24
I primarily use Apple Music.
The feed is structured so that I always see my recently added music first but the only place that suggests new music is on an opposite page. It's hard to step out of the comfort zone of my favorite music.
Ryan, 27
Users feel like discovering new music is difficult.
Music apps aren't used to their full potential and this is an opportunity for TIDAL to take their audience out of their comfort zone.
Wireframes
The redesigned app flow makes it easier for users to explore more of TIDAL's exclusive content.
Rather than TIDAL RISING and TIDAL X hiding in the search section, the content has been expanded and placed into easy to find tabs. To make navigation through the pages easier, I've used different shapes to break up information.
Final Solution
Creating TIDAL unique experiences
By becoming a 'music experience company', TIDAL will focus more on creating intimate experiences through tangible touchpoints between themselves and their audience.
To guide this change we wanted to tackle a TIDAL app refresh to emphasize some of TIDAL's exclusive content. We also wanted to establish local 'TIDAL RISING' events that not only show off TIDAL's new artist content but experiment with new tech in the music industry. This gives user's an experience they can only get from TIDAL.
TIDAL App Refresh
To further differentiate TIDAL from other music streaming brands, we wanted to update the app to make finding TIDAL exclusive content easier and promote TIDAL RISING events.
Enhancing the app experience to make it easier to find new music, promote RISING artists, and introduce users to local RISING events.
Music Player
The biggest changes here are the soundwave scrubber and music video button. By using the soundwave as the scrubber and making the album art more prominent to create a more intimate experience.
If there is a music video available with the song, we've added a play button so users can immediately find and watch the video.
Videos/TIDAL X
One of TIDAL's biggest differentiators from other music streaming apps is its video content. We've merged TIDAL X, a feature focused on live streaming events, into a much more accessible area versus being hidden in the search tab.
Search
We improved the search page to highlight some of TIDAL's premium content such as TIDAL RISING and TIDAL X as well as upcoming performances that will be added to TIDAL RISING.
RISING and RISING Events
TIDAL RISING features up and coming artists and promotes not only their music but documentaries and performances.
We wanted to expand RISING's range by creating local events that would showcase talented artists from the area and give them more exposure.
Ticket Buying Flow
When looking at how TIDAL members would get access to exclusive RISING events, I wanted to focus on keeping them in the app.
TIDAL members can search for a concert in their area using a zip code. When they find an event they're interested in, I've made it easy to view information on the artists performing and even watch past performances.
After purchasing their ticket, they'll be able to access the QR code that is their ticket to the event.
User Flow
It was important for us to focus on how users move from the app to their live concert experience. We wanted users to do everything through their TIDAL app, so giving them the ability to purchase their ticket through the app and use a QR code to access the vent was important to us. Outside of purchase, the TIDAL app can also be used to rent out the vibrotactile suit.
Live Experience
With this brand refresh, we wanted to create more intimate musical experiences. TIDAL already does a lot to promote new artists and we wanted to take it to the next step by giving TIDAL subscribers live mini concert events in their city.
TIDAL RISING concerts feature live performances and meet and greets. At these events, we wanted to incorporate new technology that will open our experiences to an underrepresented audience while giving the current audience a new perspective. By partnering with Music: Not Impossible we can create a better musical experience for those who are hard of hearing as well as give a new experience for others.
Partnering with
Music: Not Impossible
To create a new music experience, TIDAL is partnering with Music: Not Impossible to provide audiences with a vibrotactile suit, which translates music into physical vibration.
Through the TIDAL app, members will be able to rent a suit to use during the performance. The vibrotactile suit was created to give the deaf and hard of hearing a better concert experience. This provides a unique experience for TIDAL users and opens them to new perspectives.
This technology can push the limits with how TIDAL members interact with music and position TIDAL as a company that provides music experiences for all.
TIDAL event kiosk
TIDAL is hosting exclusive events to promote RISING artists in their hometowns. These events will feature a chance for audiences to meet local artists, purchase TIDAL merch, and obviously enjoy a live performance by them.
TIDAL members also have the opportunity to rent vibrotactile suits to experience music with more than one sense. In the future we would look at different ways to use technology to enhance the concert experience.
TIDAL Merch
To further promote the brand, we would like to promote TIDAL merch that can be purchased online and exclusive merch that can be purchased at TIDAL events.
Design Guidelines
When redesigning the app, we didn't stray far from their original design guidelines. We wanted to focus more on the overall page layouts and breaking up the sections by incorporating different shapes.
Playlist Ombre
These ombres (color to black) are used to highlight playlists and upcoming content.
RISING Ombres
These ombres (color to color) going from one color to another should only be used for TIDAL RISING content.
Next Steps:
Incorporating AR and motion capture.
In the future, we'd like to incorporate AR and motion capture into their advertising and concert experiences. To change how people view their brand it'd be great to have digital ads that potential members could interact with. It'd also be cool to look at how AR could enhance the concern experience.
