Interlude

Problem

New and emerging artists face difficulties within the music industry when it comes to reaching new, dedicated listeners. Current social media and streaming platforms make it difficult for emerging artists to market their music, especially in ways that are authentic to themselves and showcase who they are as an artist and person, which is a significant factor in helping listeners connect meaningfully with an artist and become returning listeners. The current lack of meaningful engagement avenues may limit emerging artists’ career growth, leading to high turnover and consequently fewer diverse voices in the music landscape. At the same time, listeners encounter difficulties within the current landscape of music streaming including the limitations of music recommendation systems (e.g. repetitive recommendations, inaccurate recommendations, limited personalization) and challenges of finding music from emerging artists.

Solution

Our proposed solution is a platform designed to build a community for emerging artists and listeners in order to help listeners discover new artists and music and connect with artists on a more personal level. This platform will benefit emerging artists by recommending their music to listeners who are likely to enjoy their music and giving them the opportunity to showcase content that expresses who they are as a creator and person (including but not limited to live events, social media posts, unreleased demos, song breakdowns, interviews).

Moreover, we hypothesize this will benefit listeners by introducing them to a new and unique landscape of music from emerging artists while offering a deeper understanding of the artists as individuals. Listeners will also be able to interact with other listeners on the platform through viewing the listening activity of other users they follow, sharing and reposting music and content with each other, and discovering new music and content through viewing profiles of listeners with similar music tastes.