Enabling Hybrid Music Learners
DECEMBER 2018
Goal Envision the hybrid music learning experience opportunity for a business known for sound hardware
Role Strategy and Research Lead
Client Leading Sound and audio hardware manufacturer
Scope 4 months, $300K, 3-person team
Prioritization of concepts from research: prioritization driven by customer desirability, client feasibility, and product landscape viability.
Envisioned experience with tested concepts
Business Challenge
Identify how a leading sound and audio hardware manufacturer might become a leader in music learning beyond hardware and physical products. Specifically, understand why guitarists quit, what guitarists need to sustain their music education, and how the client can grow from hardware into education.
Project Goals
Provide deep understanding of music learners’ pains, gaps, and where client could meet, if not exceed, needs.
Understand the landscape for music learning with a focus on fretted instruments.
Identify how client can think about playing a leadership position within the category of music learning (products and services).
Project Summary
In-home research with music learners and teachers
Approach
Understand modes, locations, tools and environments where ideal or challenged learning takes place through 25, in-context interviews.
Identify and prioritize opportunity areas into concepts and learner archetypes (thematic psychographic, behavioral tendences that are not demographically-specific).
Synthesize and deliver market opportunity articulating key customer archetypes (including ‘beach head’ customer) in relation to concepts to pursue.
Archetypes informed by research
Research Findings
Support and encouragement are no substitute for expert instruction. It takes more than inspiration to progress to improve. It takes expert instruction.
Easily hooked, more easily lost. Guitar demands initial and on-going grit. The physical and mental rigor required of learning guitar is an unwelcome surprise for beginners.
People want to play songs, not make sounds. People need to feel they are part of a song to validate progress and maintain enthusiasm.
Depiction of the ideal music learning experience
Outcome
Impact: As of 2019, concepts still on path to MVPs and resonance testing with larger set of users. As of 2020, funding was put on old for further development.
Deliverables:
Design Criteria and Recommendation Document that includes market fit assessment, desirability, rules of engagement
Customer archetypes
3-4 envisioned concept to further develop
To prevent music learners from quitting, help them grow and progress by building skill and in turn, motivation.
Key Takeaway
Support on-going ability and motivation building to sustain lifelong learning,
One of the reasons that so many guitar learners quit is that ability and motivation rely on one another. If you don’t have the skills, you are less likely to feel up for the challenge to improve. If you’re not very motivated, it’s difficult to improve in skills.
From this insight, we helped the client understand that in order to engage and retain music learners, they would have to provide tools and activities that enable growth, progress and specifically, build motivation and hard skills in tandem.