Senior Project – Computer Science and Economics (ID) - 2015
SoundByte: iOS Mobile Application For Music Discovery
Project Author: Jeffrey T. Cohen
Advisor: Prof. Matthew Anderson
How mcuh time do you spend on new music per week?
(Question 7)
What percentage of the time do you and your
friends agree on a song being good or bad?
(Question 11)
2+ Hours
Objective
In order to test my idea as a hypothesis, I created a series
of twelve questions and used those questions to interview
potential users of SoundByte. The questions were intended to
inform me on the behavior of the respondents music discovery
tendencies, beliefs, and behaviors.
When conducting consumer interviews it is imperative to
ask questions in a nonbiased manner to get genuine responses.
If the interviewee thinks the interviewer is searching for a
specific answer, their responses are likely to be skewed.
Therefore, I created the questions below with the intention of
not alluding to any specific responses.
To create a technically viable solution to optimize
music discovery efficiency.
Hypothesis
Avid music listeners want a simple way to share and
discover music with their peers in a timely manner.
Solution
Creating SoundByte, an iOS mobile application that is
intended to optimize user experience and efficiency for
music discovery. The application has a simple interface and
revolves around creating a peer-to-peer network that relies
on users sharing 30-second song clips with their respective
followers.
70-80%
<30 minutes
60-70%
0 minutes
<60%
0
When an entrepreneur decides to pursue an idea like
SoundByte, they often fall into a trap known as the startup loop
of despair[1]. The diagram in Figure 1 shows the vicious and
expensive cycle of conceiving an idea, building a product,
branding the product, and then seeking out customers (as seen
below).
Are you an avid music listener? (Question 1)
loop[1],
1
2
3
4
5
Controller
For my iOS application, I am
using a Model-viewcontroller (MVC) for my
architectural design. The
MVC design divides the
software application into
three interconnected parts
to enhance simplicity and
efficiency.
After building the product, an entrepreneur has to build a
brand behind the product with various marketing tactics.
Knowing the customers that your product appeals to is
essential when trying target certain consumer bases. In the
future, once I have built the application, I will have to work
on branding the product.
30-60 Seconds
References
[1] Kander, Diana. All in Startup: Launching a New Idea When
Everything Is On the Line. Wiley, 2014.
<30 Seconds
No
0
How long does it take when listening to a song to
realize that you like or dislike it? (Question 9)
6
Yes
7
Controller – Can send commands to the model to update the
model’s state. It can also send commands to the view to
change the view’s presentation of the model.
60-90 Seconds
0
6
View – Visual representation of output information for the user
based on changes in the model. The view is responsible for all
user interactions.
8
2
5
Model – Organizes data, rules, and logic for SoundByte.
Communicates with Parse.com and other APIs for querying
information from the database.
90+ Seconds
4
4
Model /
Database
12
10
3
View
The graphs in this section outline some of the interview
responses among the 12 respondents.
Figure 1. Startup Loop of Despair, Diana Kander, All In Startup (2014)
2
User
Are you an avid music listener?
What services do you use to listen to music?
How do you discover music?
How often do you and friends share music?
What apps do you use to share music with peers? Why?
What are the benefits and negatives of the those apps?
How much time do you spend on new music per week?
Do you find that your time spent looking for new music is wellspent?
9. How long does it take when listening to a song to realize that
you like or dislike it?
10. What do you think of your peer’s music tastes?
11. What percentage of the time do you and your friends agree on
a song being good or bad?
12. Which one is better for reliability on finding music, music
websites / services or friends?
The Process
1
Model-View-Controller Design
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
“Soundbyte provides the simplest and fastest way to
discover music from the people that know you best,
without any extra nonsense.”
Figure 2. Startup Loop, Diana Kander, All In Startup (2014)
80-90%
1-2 Hours
Customer Interview Questions
Value Proposition
The much more methodical solution, the startup
demonstrates a less expensive and more efficient alternative.
The process revolves around coming up with an idea, asking
potential customers if they see the idea as a viable solution to a
pain or if it could provide added value to their lives. If the
responses suggest that the entrepreneur's idea is indeed viable,
then that entrepreneur should move into the building process,
followed by the branding process (as seen below).
90%+
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
6