Music on Main
Digital Media Strategy
The Project
Music on Main runs a successful live concert series in Vancouver. They've grown an international reputation for vital new genre-bending music over 10 years and 250+ events. David Pay, Artistic Director, describes their programming as "storytelling for the post-classical age". After ten years of growth and success, the organization wished to extend storytelling beyond the concert hall to the digital realm.
The Challenge
The desire to develop an online offering cut right to the core of the organization's values. What is the essential elements of Music on Main that makes it valuable and unique? How could we translate the experience online? How do our patrons use digital devices? How do they access digital media? How might they access it in the future?
How could the value of the concerts be preserved across digital space and time? How could we add value to existing audiences? How could we reach new ones?
Further, Music on Main were wary of falling into a common trap - spending time and money to develop a digital service that was unmaintainable. What could make this project feasible and sustainable from the outset?
The Process
Chroma was engaged for a Discovery phase to answer these questions. We undertook three efforts to understand the problem and uncover insights: a design workshop, surveys, and one-on-one interviews.
Chroma led a design workshop with key members of the Music on Main community. On a sunny Saturday, staff, board members and patrons gathered together over coffee and sticky notes. The objectives:
Understand the experience of Music on Main audience
Establish the core values of the organization
Gather ideas and context for the development of the project
Online surveys were crafted to gather data from a wider population of concert-goers and establish measurable metrics. We surveyed:
Patron’s engagement with digital devices and media
The impact of Music on Main’s performances
One-on-one interviews were conducted to uncover insights and reveal the audiences' experiences, frustrations, revelations and desires. We explored people’s individual habits to deeper understand how people used digital devices, watched and listened to music.
The Solution
We collected research and insights from the Discovery phase into a research summary and design. Now that we had answers to the questions posed at the beginning of the project, we synthesized the research and outlined a digital strategy for Music on Main.
Four different strategy approaches for digital storytelling emerged from the research
Each of these approaches were assessed against the organization’s values and evaluated for feasibility
Drawing on this new understanding about their audience’s media consumption habits and digital device usage, a storytelling strategy was put forth to share the live music experience outside the concert hall using video.
We outlined production, technology, content strategy, workflow and distribution channels.
Music on Main now has a path forward to reach their audience in their own home and on their own devices. They are also poised expand their mission and brand across the world.