A classical music playlist brand wanted to better understand users who stream music and identify potential opportunities in the streaming space. The client has been managing the playlist brand for three years, with steady growth year over year. As one of the few brands curating classical playlists for streaming, they recognize the importance of understanding the trends and habits of their users and potential users for continued growth. My role in this research project was to determine research methods and questions, facilitate focus group discussion and interviews, and present findings and recommendations to the client. I enlisted two colleagues to assist with note taking and navigating playlist clips in the sessions.
Challenge Statement: Discover music streaming habits, content discovery and actionable consumer insights for a classical music playlist brand.
Goals
The client’s goal was to gain insight into how users discover music and podcasts, genre preferences and daily listening habits. Three key areas of focus were:
Feedback on playlist content centered on three specific playlists
General sentiment on playlist cover art and branding
User habits related to streaming, including listening routines, types of content, and discovery
Research
While the brand has thousands of playlist followers on major streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music, the client has never conducted research on their playlists or asked for feedback from users. As the client had many playlists, we chose three playlists to begin with, and planned on continuing the process with other playlists in the future. Each of the three initial playlists covered a solid variety of themes that we felt would be most accessible for the average listener: Happy Classical, Movie Music and Brain Fuel. Users were asked to listen to each of the three playlists as they normally would in their daily activities in preparation for the focus group and interview sessions.
Focus Group
For our focus group sessions, we had two groups of five participants each to ensure the group was small enough so everyone had an opportunity to speak. Since the brand’s focus is on users under 40, most of our participants were between ages 22-40. Each participant listened to the three playlists in preparation for the focus group session. To refresh the user’s memory of each playlist, we played 10 seconds of the first 5 tracks during the focus group. Afterwards, we discussed the playlist track selections, cover art, potential scenarios in which the users would listen to it, and general sentiment.
Movie Music was the overall favorite playlist. Users were excited to recognize tracks from their favorite movies, and many noted feelings of nostalgia and picturing images from the movie.
A key takeaway from our discussion was the importance of adding a universally recognized track early in the playlist so users feel a connection and familiarity. Classical music is often very intimidating to the average user yet they recognize many iconic tracks when they hear it. The focus group users emphasized making the playlist accessible to those open to classical but new to the genre.
Playlist title and cover design are very important to communicate the theme and brand to users. With streaming platforms like Spotify giving their own playlists prime location within the app, a unique cover design and playlist name can help capture a user’s attention in a sea of playlist options. Users in our focus group liked the design, image and font choices for the three playlist covers overall and agreed they’d be more likely to listen due to those elements.
Users noted if they clicked and streamed a playlist from the client’s brand and liked it, they’d be much more inclined to give the client’s other playlists a chance.
A common sentiment among users was they don’t always know what to listen to but know what mood they’d like to set, especially when it comes to background music for entertaining or work. The brand’s mood and activity based playlists are a great place to begin but need to be better curated and tested in those scenarios for context.
None of the users listed classical in their top three genres but all were open to listening the genre in various scenarios. This was valuable insight as the client’s aim is focused on reaching the 40 and under demographic that is open to classical. The focus group participants reported they were more likely to listen around specific activities/lifestyle themes, such as yoga or focusing at work, rather than composer centered playlists.
Time Frame: 5 days (including gathering insights)
Interviews
Female users specifically noted listening to playlists while they tackle household chores that are screen-free, such as cleaning the bathroom or washing dishes. Two users reported they listened to Happy Classical while cleaning and felt the upbeat theme of the playlist was a great addition to their routine.
Users were roughly split between listening to a handful of “old favorite” playlists and actively discovering new music via Spotify’s Discover Weekly and platform curated playlists. Recommendations from friends and discovering new music from a favorite artist’s Radio on streaming platforms were common themes throughout user feedback.
Daily routines and activities impacted streaming habits in different ways and varied by each participant. For those who listened to podcasts, it was common for them to listen in the car during their commute.
Many users noted listening to music or podcasts on the job while doing mundane tasks like inputting data in spreadsheets or “mindless” work.
When listening to music, users reported giving a track an average of 5-10 seconds before skipping it if they didn’t like it or weren’t in the mood.
Movie Music was a favorite among users, and many noted it would be good for background music for parties or entertaining at home.
The playlist cover for Brain Fuel wasn’t as visually interesting for users, and they were unsure what activity/activities the playlist was intended for. Understanding the purpose of the playlist and what it was curated for seemed to help the user identify the ideal time/place/mood for listening, giving the user more confidence to click and listen.
Time Frame: 2 days (including gathering insights)
Next Steps
After reviewing the research results and user feedback, the client will create a new iteration of each playlist. The first 5-8 tracks of each playlist will be highly curated and A/B tested with users.
New playlist covers will be created based on user feedback and A/B tested for each of the three themes.
In addition to testing the three focus playlists, I recommend further user research and feedback on potential new playlist themes and activities based on daily routines. Below are a few specific examples:
Wake Up Classical or related “morning routine” theme for listening in the morning while getting the day started
Evening or “bedtime” playlist for winding down for the evening to incorporate with pre-bed routines like reading, journaling, restorative yoga, etc.
Identify screen-free activities that are part of user routines to inspire unique themes, such as cleaning, crafting, etc.
Tools
Spotify, Google Slides, Google Docs