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My approach was leveraging insights from secondary analysis, interviews and personas to understand and address premium subscriber preferences and behaviors.

How can virtual karaoke sessions drive subscriber growth by enhancing social engagement?

Focus

Medlia

Role

UX/UI

iOS Mobile

Platform

Project Type

Add Feature

June 2023

Date

Project Summary

Spotify, a leading music streaming platform, offers a vast library of songs and podcasts. Their mission is to unlock human creativity by supporting artists and inspiring fans. Spotify can enhance engagement by adding a karaoke feature for users to sing, record themselves, and group sing with friends. This fosters visual talent sharing and connection.

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In this project, I designed Spotify's new karaoke feature to boost user creativity and platform engagement.

Context

Spotify continues to dominate the music streaming industry, boasting the largest subscriber base worldwide.

As of 2024, Spotify is the most subscribed music streaming service globally, with approximately 254 million premium subscribers and 601 million monthly active users.

By 2025, Spotify aims for 662 million active users and 279 million premium subscribers

It’s no surprise that Spotify's growth trajectory remains robust, with significant user and subscriber increases expected and with revenue projected to grow from €15.4 billion in 2024 to €19.7 billion by 2026.

PROBLEM

Spotify aims to boost user engagement and retention by adding a premium social feature, addressing the current lack of interactive elements despite being a leading music streaming service.

SOLUTION

Integrating a karaoke feature with follow-along lyrics, self-recording videos, and virtual karaoke rooms will enrich user experience and boost premium subscriptions.

Discover

RESEARCH

GOAL

To comprehensively explore Spotify's user landscape, I conducted interviews to uncover diverse insights into user habits, preferences, and challenges.

METHODS

  • Comparative and competitive research

  • User interviews to determine how they go about learning lyrics to sing along to songs 

  • Remote unmoderated research which will allow the participant address on their own time and address the whys

OBJECTIVES

  • Determine features users tend to like about Spotify

  • Determine how users use the lyrics feature within Spotify

  • Determine what they find lacking and what they find attractive about the lyrics feature

  • Determine strengths and weaknesses of competitors

  • Determine how many users use the premium services feature (the added feature would be under this umbrella)

FINDINGS

SECONDARY RESEARCH

While Spotify is renowned for its extensive music library, there is a growing interest in integrating interactive features such as karaoke. This demand stems from both content creators and users. For creators, adding karaoke with follow-along lyrics can enhance user engagement and retention. For users, karaoke features can make the platform more interactive and enjoyable, fostering a sense of community through virtual karaoke rooms and self-recording options.

 

These features allow friends and family to connect and sing together remotely, creating a global community experience. Furthermore, such features can attract new premium subscribers by offering a unique, social, and immersive music experience that goes beyond passive listening.

COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS

  • Apple Music's seamless device integration boosts user experience; Spotify can improve cross-platform support for retention.

  • Tidal's high-fidelity audio and exclusives attract audiophiles; Spotify can lure more premium users with better audio and exclusives.

  • Competitors lack social tools; Spotify can lead by adding karaoke, self-recording, and virtual rooms to enhance engagement.

Define

Design

I stayed true to Spotify's vibrant and dynamic brand personality, using their iconic green, black, and white palette and clean typography. The design emphasizes accessibility and interactivity, featuring a new virtual karaoke option and self-recording videos to enhance social sharing. Navigation and lyric-following features were streamlined to boost user engagement. These updates align with Spotify's branding, making music interaction more engaging and immersive.

BRANDING

Test

GOAL

I wanted to know whether or not users could successfully complete two key task flows with the added feature.

TASKS

Task Flow 1: Please launch ‘Virtual Karaoke Room’ feature through Lyrics

Task Flow 2: Launch ‘Virtual Karaoke Room’ and Invite Friends

USABILITY TESTING

Overall summary specs of user participants for..

Task Flow 1: Launch 'Virtual Karaoke' Feature and Record Self

Task Flow 2: Launch 'Virtual Karaoke' Feature and Invite Friends

Asked user participants their experience testing

USABILITY DEBRIEF

Final Design

REFLECTION

PROTOTYPE

KEY INSIGHTS

  • Many of the users were in agreement that by placing more details on the Home page under New Feature, it may be more intuitive on how to click though the screens

  • Might need to be more straight forward with the new feature as it was confusing to find it through Lyrics

  • Finding where to invite friends was not clear to many and found it difficult to connect from lyrics to inviting friends

"I love the variety Spotify offers; from K-Pop to meditation tracks, it caters to all my moods and interests."

USER INTERVIEWS

AFFINITY MAP INSIGHTS

LOGISTICS

  • 4 research participants

  • 30 ~ 40 year olds

  • All listeners to streaming audio

  • Remote interviews

Common themes:

  • Users want reliable access to real-time lyrics for all songs

  • Desire for more ways to create and share playlists, and for virtual karaoke rooms

  • Need for easier navigation, especially for accessing settings

  • Interest in features beyond passive listening.

  • Desire to connect with friends and family through shared music experiences.

POV Statements

What is the problem?

Need a way to enhance social interaction features allowing users to easily create and share playlists, and connect through virtual karaoke rooms, fostering a more engaging and interactive music experience.

Who is the user?

Meet the Lyrical Lover

Needs:

  • Access to consistent real-time lyrics for sing-along enjoyment

  • Enhanced sharing features, including video elements for a more interactive experience

  • Reliable access to playlists, podcasts, and audiobooks while on the go

Goals:

  • Immerse in curated playlists while traveling

  • Share musical tastes and content with friends

USER I TASK FLOWS

Creating these flows allowed me to think through how a user might interact with the new virtual karaoke feature. These flows outlined how a user would complete two key task flows, both from an emotional and technical standpoint.

View User Flow

IDEATION

STORY BOARDS

I brought my ideas to life using story boards to depict how a subscriber would use the added feature of the digital karaoke room which is integrated using the Lyrics screen interface.​​

WIREFRAMES

After sharing my sketches with fellow classmates, I chose a few to reproduce at mid-fidelity. Working at this level of detail, I realized that I needed to be mindful of Spotify's existing user interface and I also recognized that there were multiple ways a user might access the new feature of virtual karaoke.

​

Click on the wireframe images below to see the sketches that inspired the refinement.

MID-FI WIREFRAMES

ITERATIONS

NEW FEATURE LAUNCH

Based on user feedback, instead of trying to seamlessly integrate the new 'Virtual Karaoke' feature with the Mic icon, I created a placard that pops up as an upsell premium membership to access the new feature.

FEATURE OPTION POP-UP

Listeners are notified of the new feature, 'Virtual Karaoke' and instructed upon selecting the new Mic icon, a pop-up window will appear to select either Solo Singing or Group Singing.

RECORDING SCREEN

Upon selecting the feature, 'Virtual Karaoke,' the song details page will now show a Record icon which will launch a recording window with the option to add friends or fmily when Group Singing is selected

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