Empowering Independent touring bands.
Increasing Financial Sustainability through Merchandise Management.
View Prototype
Role
UX Designer
Tools
Figma
Google Docs
Adobe Creative Suite
Project Duration
February 6th - April 10th
3 months
Challenge
The music industry is a challenging space for independent musicians to navigate, and financial insecurity is a common issue. While touring and merchandise sales can be significant sources of revenue, the high costs and commission fees involved make it difficult for many artists to make a sustainable living. Additionally, the lack of transparency in revenue sharing creates further complications and stress for musicians.
Solution
To address the issue of financial insecurity experienced by independent bands on tour, I have developed an inventory management app that allows bands to easily keep track of their merchandise, sales, and make informed business decisions based on data. Rockstock merges the rock and roll world with an organized and user-friendly system.
Design Process
Framework:
The framework used in this project is the double diamond framework that allows for a structured and iterative approach to problem-solving, involving divergent and convergent thinking at different stages to thoroughly understand and address the complex challenges faced by independent musicians.
Discover
Goals
Understand challenges faced by independent musicians on tour for sustainable income in music industry, define problem statement, and generate insights.
Discover the challenges in maintaining sustainable income on tour.
Understand independent bands pain points, motivations, and behaviors.
Identify the impact of commission fees charged by venues on merchandise sales.
Methodology
Secondary Research
Reviewed existing sources of data on the music industry.Conducted comparative analysis of commission fees.
Primary Research
Conducted in-depth interviews with 5 independent musicians.
Insights
The findings from this research were analyzed and used in the design of a platform/service that addressed the challenges of financial sustainability for independent musicians on tour.
Competitor Analysis
Evaluated direct competitors Merch Cat App and At Venu.
Research
98% of artistis
makes less than $1,000 per year on streaming services
16 times more
the average artist makes per show in Merchandise Sales than a year's worth of streaming royalties
20% to 35%
of artists revenue in merchandise is taken by venues and concession companies.
"One t-shirt is the equivalent to 5000 streams on spotify. Band Merchandise is the most direct way of supporting an artist"
While She Sleeps       
Problem Space
The music industry is a challenging space for independent musicians to navigate, and financial insecurity is a common issue. While touring and merchandise sales can be significant sources of revenue, the high costs and commission fees involved make it difficult for many artists to make a sustainable living. Additionally, the lack of transparency in revenue sharing creates further complications and stress for musicians.

An average artist makes 16 times more per show in Merchandise Sales than a year's worth of streaming royalties, since 98% of artists on streaming services makes less than $1,000 per year. However, Touring Bands are struggling to generate significant revenue from merchandise sales due to the high percentage of commissions taken by venues and concession companies, ranging from 20% to 35% of their revenue in merchandise, resulting in financial insecurity and difficulties to maintain themselves on tour.
Define
Persona
The development of a persona was crucial for my project due to my background in the music industry, which could potentially introduce bias when understanding the pain points, behaviors, and motivations of the users. To gain a deeper understanding of their needs, I conducted a primary research where I've conducted interviews with 5 musicians who have experience in touring and selling merchandise, allowing me to gather valuable insights into the detrimental impact of high commission fees on the industry. I also supplemented this with secondary research to further enrich my findings.
Synthesis
Pain Points
Merchandise inventory and sales management is a challenging task for independent musicians, time-consuming and can be a source of stress. There is a need for an efficient system to manage finances and accounting for merchandise sales.
Motivations
The primary motivation for independent musicians is to entertain people, and merchandise sales are a way to support this goal. They are even willing to invest in services that can increase their profits. Building a strong brand image is important and merchandise serves as a way to promote and control their brand.
Behaviors
Independent musicians utilize social media to engage with fans and promote their merchandise while offering discounts, giveaways and bundle deals to incentivize purchases. Tracking inventory and sales on a spreadsheet suggests they may lack access to more advanced tools.
Insights
Inventory Management
Independent musicians face difficulties managing merchandise inventory, which can lead to financial instability due to the high costs of commission fees, manufacturing, transportation, storage, and distribution.
Transparency
Lack of transparency in revenue sharing is a significant issue for independent musicians in the music industry, leading to difficulty in managing merchandise sales, inventory, and knowledge sharing with other musicians.
Promotion
Investing in promotions, bundles, give aways and branding can potentially increase merchandise sales and revenue for independent musicians.
CHad Gibbons
Vancouver, BC
Age: 28
Musician/Guitar Teacher
Bio
Chad is a 28-year-old musician and guitar teacher from Vancouver. He is the band's lead and always engages with fans on social media, tracks inventory and sales, and offers discounts and deals to attract fans and make more revenue. He sells merchandise on websites and at shows. However, he struggles with managing and tracking inventory, has a lack of clarity about revenue from merch, and has a lack of resources to manage sales. Despite these frustrations, Chad enjoys playing in bands and using merchandise as a business card. He is willing to pay for merchandise management services if it leads to increased profits.
Motivations / Goals
- Having more control over brand and merchandise sales
- Merchandise serves as a band's business card
- Willingness to pay for merchandise management services if it leads to increased profits
- The desire to entertain people with good music
- The enjoyment of playing in bands
‍
Behaviors
- Engages on social media to increase merchandise sales
- Tracks inventory and sales on a spreadsheet
- Offers discounts and bundle deals to incentivize purchases
- Selling merchandise at shows and online through Bandcamp
- Uses giveaways to promote merchandise sales.
Frustrations
- Managing finances and accounting for merchandise
- Keeping track of merchandise inventory and sales
- Lack of clarity about where revenue from merch goes
- Managing and keeping track of merchandise inventory can be a headache
- Not having the resources or knowledge to effectively manage their merchandise sales and inventory.
Apps
"It is hard to be an independent musician, but the stage is my life. I need to be able to focus on my music without worrying about, logistics, merchandise sales and finances. I want to have more control over my revenue streams, so I can make more profit and keep going on tour without having a side job."
Experience Mapping
To optimize the opportunities for independent bands during their touring journey, a comprehensive experience mapping was created. This was essential due to certain macro environmental factors that were beyond the band's control, such as commission fees imposed by venues
How might we empower Independent touring bands to have more control over merchandise sales and increase their financial sustainability on tour?
Develop
Task Flow
The themes "Inventory Management and Sales" aim to address key pain points for independent musicians in increasing their financial sustainability on tour.
Based on the user experience mapping, the flow was divided into 5 stages. To address the pain points of the user in that task flow, the focus will be on the Merchandise Creation Stage and Show Performance Stage, where the user can add inventory before the tour and sell during the concert.
Legend
Sketchs and Ideas
The first sketch idea was to focus on inventory management under the umbrella of Tour Planning. Most of the ideas were based on Trip Planning apps and live reports of sales and top products. While drawing, there was a need to put on paper all the structures and connections that the solution could give the user.
Refining Sketchs
After drawing and researching, I noticed that in order to be clearer for the user and feasible for developers to create reports, I had to utilize the retail store process where the user needs to register a product and then add stock to this product. This way, the user can include cost and selling price to generate a report. Based on that, the drawings were inspired by e-commerce, dashboards, cards, and POS systems.
Wireframes
After refining the sketches and ideas, a low-fidelity prototype in IOS - Iphone 13 was created to initiate user testing.
Objectives
The main objective of the prototype was to gather user feedback on the following tasks:

- Adding Products and Stock to Inventory.

- Completing a Sale on the Live Store POS
View Prototype
Usability Test
Three rounds of usability tests with 5 users were conducted to determine where improvements could be made and identify new ideas to satisfy user expectations and needs.
Results
Overall, the tests revealed several major issues that need to be addressed, including:
‍
- Confusing inventory flow and unclear grouping of items
- Lack of clarity regarding product information and low stock notifications
- Unclear terminology and labeling of functions
- The POS interface is too similar to the inventory interface
- Inventory process is too long and confusing
Based on user tests feedback, the main flow of the app was simplified and shortened by one screen. The inspiration for this came from Bandcamp merchandise registration. Other improvements were considered, such as the use of better terminology, providing clear information, and differentiating POS from Inventory Screen.
Deliver
Branding Development
The challenge was to merge the rock and roll world with an organized and easy-to-use system while creating a brand. To achieve this, we began by creating a mood board, defining a color palette, selecting typography, and designing a unique wordmark.
Moodboard
Logo
The word "stock" implies control over inventory, while the word "rock" suggests strength and power.
Typography
Color
Solution
Increasing Financial Sustainability through Merchandise Management.
View Prototype
Interact
Responsive Marketing Website
Desktop
Mobile
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Design Impact
01 - Improves Financial Sustainability:

The inventory management app empowers independent touring bands by helping them better manage their merchandise inventory, track sales, and receive live reports of merchandise sales, enabling data-driven decisions, identifying popular merchandise items, and optimizing inventory for increased revenue and financial sustainability on tour.
02 - Enhances Merchandise Sales Control:

The app provides features such as low stock warnings, allowing bands to proactively manage inventory and avoid stockouts, maintaining control over merchandise sales, minimizing lost sales opportunities, and maximizing revenue from merchandise sales on tour.
03 - Streamlines Product Registration:

The app streamlines the process of registering products, making it easy for bands to add new merchandise items, manage product information, and track inventory, saving time and effort, ensuring accurate product information, pricing, and inventory management for efficient merchandise sales operations.
04 - Provides Real-time Sales Data:

The app provides real-time reports of merchandise sales, enabling bands to track sales performance, identify popular products, and make informed decisions about restocking or pricing strategies, optimizing merchandise sales and revenue generation for improved financial sustainability on tour.
05 - Integrates POS System:

The app includes a built-in POS system, allowing bands to easily process merchandise sales transactions, accept various payment methods, streamlining the sales process, reducing manual handling of sales transactions, and providing a professional and convenient sales experience for customers
06 - Offers User-friendly Interface:

The app features a user-friendly interface, making it easy for bands to manage their merchandise inventory, track sales, and access real-time reports, with intuitive navigation, a clear product registration process, and simple inventory management features, increasing app adoption and effectiveness in empowering independent touring bands.
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Next Steps
    1. Usability Test with HI-FI prototype
    2. Improvements based on feedback
    3. Design and test the Report section