Innovative Design Co. for LIVE NATION

Initial Research Report

GA UXDI - P3

Project Manager: Breana Panaguiton

UX Researcher: Jerome Kendrick

UX/UI Designer: Annie Zheng

Initial Research Report

COVID-19 has left thousands of artists to cancel upcoming shows and festival appearances. Not to mention, millions of fans without live entertainment for months. The Live Nation website currently has links to virtual concerts, but they are through other platforms such as YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram. We’ve been contracted to establish user needs and create a mobile prototype that allows users to purchase and attend live sets and festivals remotely.

Table Of Contents

  • Executive Summary
  • Goals
  • Methodology
  • Outreach & Screening
  • Participant Profiles
  • Testing Setup, Pre-Interview & Discussion Guide
  • Results
  • Overall Concept
  • Recommendations & Action Items
  • Disclaimer
  • Appendix
  • Interview Videos
  • Research Plan
  • Research Notes

Executive Summary

Our initial round of research garnered a staggering amount of information on our user and we were able to develop a very robust affinity map and persona from the data we synthesized. Our research commenced with a qualifier survey that captured data from 40 potential users.

Our survey captured data from users all around the country with very different backgrounds. We found that while most users did enjoy live music, few had attended virtual or augmented shows from home. Those that did mentioned feeling disconnected and wished they could share the experience with friends.

This report includes the details of our initial research interviews, the results we found, and a brief list of recommended changes.

55%

of participants identified between the ages of 26-30.

92%

of participants enjoyed attending live music events.

58%

of participants have attended online and virtual music events

53%

of participants would continue using this product.

Goals

Here's what we hoped to achieve through our initial research.

Measure the desire for an immersive/VR/AR concept with target audience.

We wanted to see to what extent our target audience might use this feature. Do our users want full immersion? Do they want the option to "toggle" or opt-in? What alternative features with higher impact and lower effort might they be okay with?

Reveal pain points around past virtual/immersive music experiences.

Our qualifier survey revealed that users who had attended past VR/Immersive shows still felt disconnected and a myriad of other concerns. We wanted to explore the root cause of those issues to find sustainable solutions that would tackle them.

Identify what our user's current journey looks like with other applications.

What does a happy, neutral, and sad path look like for users during a YouTube stream? Our survey identified that some users like experiencing shows with friends. How might they go about connecting with each other during an Instagram live of their favorite artist?

Methodology

Outreach & Screening:

We employed a service called VideoAsk.com to perform our initial research screening and pretest questionnaire. VideoAsk allowed us to use conditional logic to narrow down the pool for our six interview slots. We received 40 responses in less than 12 hours and were able to obtain both qualitative and quantitative data from those inquiries.

 

Channels Used:

  • GA #Take-My-Survey Slack Channel
  • GA #UXDIR-629-UX-Talks Slack Channel
  • Personal Contacts

Screening Criteria:

  • Music Lover
  • Had attended live music events in the past
  • Interested in a 25-minute interview on their    music event experience

Participant profiles:

Age

Gender

Participant 1

31-36

Female

Participant 2

26-30

Female

Participant 3

37

Male

Participant 4

26-30

Female

Participant 5

37

Male

Participant 6

21-25

Female

Testing Setup, Pre-Interview & Discussion Guide

1. Introduction

We conducted six user interviews concurrently over a three-hour period on Tuesday, July 28th, 2020.

  • Each interview was conducted virtually using Zoom video conferencing software.
  • We received consent from each participant to record our sessions and took notes from said recordings that we would later synthesize into an affinity map.

2. Pre-Interview Questions

We used these questions to prescreen our initial users so that we could focus our face-face time on more pertinent questioning.

  • What is your age?
  • Do you like music?
  • Do you like attending live music events?
  • Check the following you have attended
  • Festivals
  • Concerts/shows
  • Online concerts
  • Would you be interested in a 25-minute video chat/phone discussion about your concert/festival experience via zoom?

3. User Interview Discussion Guide                                                                

​We used these questions alongside a research script to structure our conversations with users.

  • What do you enjoy about the festival/concert experience? WHY?
  • What do you not enjoy about the festival/concert experience? WHY?
  • If you have attended online music events, what do you enjoy about the experience? WHY?
  • What do you not enjoy? WHY?
  • If so, then what platforms?
  • Ask about pros and cons of the platform
  • What features/functions would you want for an online mobile platform for virtual concerts/festivals? WHY?

Results

Users were very clear when it came to articulating their past experiences and the ones they want for the future. They loved the social aspect of attending music shows with friends, the spiritual experience of being immersed in the sounds, and the ability to directly support their favorite artists through shopping merchandise booths.

Here are some of our key insights:

  • Users wanted to control how immersive their virtual shows were including options for audio-only streams, audio and video, and full immersion with chat and interactive avatars.
  • Users did not enjoy certain aspects of their physical live music experiences like waiting in lines, crowded venue spaces, and groups of intoxicated people.
  • Users enjoyed their experiences more when friends were involved and felt live streams from Instagram, YouTube and Twitch didn't allow them to feel as connected.
  • Users wanted to continue to support their favorite artists and wanted the opportunity to purchase digital branded merchandise.

THE BAD

THE GOOD

"Never gonna be quite the same as the real thing."

We found that users' past experiences with live virtual shows don't compare to those they had in real life. Users didn't feel the same connection to the music, and the social experience was lackluster.

"Although I miss being in the live music environment, I love how I can watch in the comfort of my own home while saving money. In addition, I feel artists now have more freedom to be creative and experimental as they do not have the instant feedback from a live audience."

We found that users are excited about the prospect of having access to virtual and augmented music shows from their favorite artists. With the right features, this could be a viable alternative until it's safe to hold public gatherings again.

Recommendations & Action Items

We see an opportunity to use the existing infrastructure of Live Nation's mobile application to improve our user's experience based on insight from our initial interviews. Here are our recommendations:

  • Within their current app, we plan to improve the structure of the navigation so that it may include finding, discovering, and purchasing event tickets, including virtual ones.
  • From this tab, we plan to be able to launch into the virtual experience directly.
  • Users mentioned wanting the ability to access different fidelities of live music including audio only, video, and full immersive experiences.
  • Include more opportunities for socialization within the app, including a chat feature with ability to privately chat friends, and a public photo gallery so that experiences can be shared and explored to the Live Nation community.

Appendix

Interview Videos

Initial User Research Plan

Affinity Map