LOCAL MUSICProduction & Marketing inINDIANAPOLIS

Studybook by Hillary Celebi

table of contents

INTRODUCTION

ANALYSIS

interview trends expert interview audience survey guided tour touchstone tour supplemental interviews data map thematic networking design principle generation

SYNTHESIS

brainwalking brainstorming cardsorting graffiti wall connect the dots

EVALUATION

AEIOU framework Prezi interview

FINAL PROTOTYPE

SUMMARY

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The AssignmentUsing a series of design research methods, we were prompted to discover a certain context and identify the problem spaces, construct and facilitate creative ideas, and implement solutions based on feedback and interviews of stakeholders and partici-pants. The main artifacts were visual representations of mostly qualitative data, which were to highlight the key findings in order for us to understand the next step. The students participating in the group were:

Hillary Celebi Kaela Mahoney Michelle Kwolek Arie Gatewood Ashley Ghearing

THE CONTEXTOur chosen context was the Indianapolis Music Scene and Community. We chose this because we wanted to work within an experience. There was also an understanding among our group that the Indy music scene is lacking in making them-selves known. Indianapolis is a fast growing city, and their are multiple musicians, shows, producers, promoters, and records labels popping up. However, even though they are there, it is hard for the community to find them or even know where to go for new local music. What makes the music scene so difficult to identify? Why does it seem that venues host mostly non-local bands? What is the Indianapolis music scene in need of?

INTR

ODUC

TION

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1: AN

ALYS

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the role of music in Indianapolis

culturE

To gain some basic knowledge of what the

music culture is like in Indianapolis, and to

get personal perspectives, we approached

two local musicians from different genres and

backgrounds to have them answer a set of

questions.

The interviews were done individually, but used

the same questions in order for us to compare

and contrast the two musicians answers. This

helped give us a sense of what their values

are and the challenges/benefits of being an

Indianapolis musician.

interview

question sheet, recording device, notebook

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tools:

participants: Diop - local hip hop musician, collaborates with others outside his own genre

Owen Yonce - local folk musician, doesnt like to collaborate with musicians outside his genre

THE FINDINGSLocal independent artists find it difficult to market themselves on a budget, especially with the online world being so saturated. They are also finding it difficult to find industry connections, even though building a music community is important. So how could local musicians gain more exposure?

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the role of industry pros in the Success of local artists

TRENDS EXPERT interview

The trends expert interviews intention was

to learn more about a specific aspect of the

Indianapolis music scene from someone other

than a musician. We decided to interview

a music writer given that they are consistantly

exposed to and analyize new bands, musicians,

and concerts.

The interview was meant to be structured,

using a question list that was constructed to

aide the participant in opening up and being

more candid as the questions progress.

However, during the interview the conversation

became more organic and less structured. This

allowed the participant to talk at his own pace,

which provided unexpected ideas and details.

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question sheet, recording device, camera, notebooktools:

participants: Justin Wesley - writer for Nuvo, interviews local and national bands and writes reviews of new music

THE FINDINGSMarketing is an important aspect of spreading your music and it seems to be a trend that those artists who are successful at it are going national. Even though some are leaving, the local music community is still growing and becoming more defined. What is an effective marketing process and how does the audience react to different methods?

Organization:

INTERVIEW NOTESNote Taker:

Date:

Contact Info:

Question:

Answer:

Quick Notes:

Question:

Answer:

Quick Notes:

Question:

Answer:

Quick Notes:

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MUSICIANS ARE COMPLETELY capable of publishing their own music now but are people buying?

MUSICIANS ARE COMPLETELY capable of publishing their own music now but are people buying?

Justin wesley, Nuvo

the LOCAL music Marketing Process &

AUDIENCE

AUDIENCE SURVEY

& GUIDED TOUR

To discover more about marketing and how

it works, we started by going straight to the

consumers. Our group created a survey that

prompted the user to answer questions about

how they hear about music and how they

would WANT to hear about music. Taking

that information, we were able to determine

a basic idea of what marketing techniques are

the most effective.

To gather a more intimate perspective of mar-

keting we did a guided tour with Joyful Noise,

a local record label. Our tour guide was the

PR manager, Daniel, and he discussed the pro-

cess of finding artists, signing them, creating

a product, and promoting it. He also talked

about the importance of producing quality

artifacts and the art form of creating records.

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1) question list, surveymonkey.com, facebook

2) field note template, recording device,

camera, questions

tools:

participants: Daniel Coles - manager at Joyful Noise General Public - music consumers & enthusiasts

THE FINDINGSThe audience gets most of their information about local mu-sic happenings from social media. Record labels, specifically, take advantage of this by consistently keeping their posts current and constant. Local record labels are also supportive of each other and promote each others work. Now that we have understood more about local music marketing, what are the production elements?

I AM AFRAID I WILL spend what little money I have on a band i dont like

I AM AFRAID I WILL spend what little money I have on a band i dont like

anonymous, survey participant

the LOCAL MUSICIANS

Production

Process

Touchstone tour

& interviews

Our touchstone tour provided us with an

intimate and first-hand experience of how

musicians produce their music and work

together on a project. We observed and

asked impromptu questions as our previous

participant, Diop, and his producer, Man Dog,

recorded and mixed a verse in their new song

they were making. Man Dog also explained

the different tools used and their functions and

walked us through how he creates a beat.

We also had the opportunity to perform some

supplemental interviews, one with a local

musician and one with a national musician. We

learned about the importance of establishing a

stronger music community and having a more

distinct source for Indianapolis to learn more

about what is happening in the music scene.

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field note template, camera, notebooktools:

participants: Diop & Mandog - Mandog and Diop work collaboratively to make an album together Eli Crow - local musician that has a difficult time sharing his music

Jordan Smith - frontman of nationally known band, Diarrhea Planet, from Nashville, TN

THE FINDINGSTouchstone tour

& interviews Producers and musicians work collaboratively on songs and depend on each others feedback, making each session unique. Also, a trend is that producers are using samples from old records or songs to create a beat to work off of. What major opportunity was found within our research of the local Indianapolis music scene?

developing a Challenge statement

data map

thematic networking

design principles generation

After multiple weeks of research, we had

collected an extensive amount of information

about musicians in Indianapolis. Learning how

they network, collaborate, produce, and market

themselves, the group decided it was time to

converge and identify what musicians need

most in the within the community.

To organize and analyze our data we created

a visual map and began making connections

between the key insights. The major idea we

found was the musician relationship between

other musicians is what is most important and

needed.

After creating multiple challenge statements

involving how to build relationships, we settled

on one defining what Indianapolis musicians

would benefit most from.

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notes, post-its, markers, paper, dry erase boardtools:

participants: Our Group - we needed to work together in order to analyze all of the data we had collected `