New Release Today

Location:

United States

Partnership period:

2017-2019

Industry:

Entertainment

Technologies:

Laravel, Bootstrap, PHP, MySQL, Elasticsearch, HTML, jQuery, Javascript, Data & Analytics, SaaS Solutions,

Team Size:

1 Project Manager, 2 Full Stack Developer, 2 Backend Developer, 3 Frontend Developer, 2 DevOps Expert, 2 UX Designer

Competitive Environment

Over the past two decades, the music industry has undergone seismic shifts with the digital revolution. Streamlining of albums into individual downloadable songs, the rise of piracy enabling free MP3 file transfers and the launch of streaming platforms like Spotify forever changed consumption patterns. Listeners moved from buying full albums to on-demand access across devices altering distribution power dynamics.

For New Release Today (NRT), these digital disruptions heavily impacted their business centered around reviews of complete albums released by prominent Christian record labels who were also advertisers and content partners. As music sales declined, so did advertising dollars from labels. Technology innovations driven by streaming players like Pandora, Spotify, and Apple Music captured listener mindshare aided by algorithmic personalization and mobility.

NRT's website built on outdated content management systems struggled to match the interactivity available across streaming apps and popular music publications like Pitchfork and AllMusic. These digital native players engaged fans through embedded social comment streams, artist-driven content, multimedia capabilities, and data-driven recommendations. Native apps also allowed push notifications about new releases and personalized playlists catering to listener tastes.

While NRT had legacy credibility as a niche curator, its catalog-driven platform couldn't integrate the multimedia content, social interactivity, and personalization offered by music apps. It certainly did not provide any direct monetization beyond just advertising. Without technology modernization, NRT failed to transition editorial curation into an integrated discovery, community, and commercial platform. They were losing relevance despite their established brand equity amongst Christian music followers. It called for an urgent evolution from a static website to a dynamic community serving artists, labels, and importantly fans.

Problem Statement

From the 1990s, NRT enjoyed unrivaled equity serving Christian music enthusiasts through industry news, emerging talent features, album reviews, and event updates. However, in the 2010s, NRT website traffic plunged by over 60% within 5 years as per Google Analytics reports caused by changing fan consumption patterns.

The root causes underlying this decline included:

Technological Limitations: The website lacked many engaging features now common across modern publications. Built on inflexible content management tools, it couldn't integrate multimedia-driven artist content, embedded social comment streams, or advanced segmentation for personalized recommendations catering to varied interests like gospel versus pop. Data analytics capabilities to guide content decisions were also absent.

Non-Interactive Experience: The catalog-driven platform only allowed one-way static consumption of reviews and news lacking interactive dialogues. Fans wanted community discussions on songs, voting on talent, and connecting with artists, unavailable here.

Outdated Monetization: With declining music sales, record labels cut back on advertising and sponsorships previously contributing over 30% of revenues. The site also couldn't offer any direct monetization opportunities through commerce.

Emergence of Streaming Players: Platforms like Spotify with algorithmic suggestions, mobility access across devices, and social sharing captured user mind share. Music apps also enabled push notifications driving active consumption.

By 2017, the outdated technology foundation led NRT to lose relevance despite its credibility. Without platforms allowing personalization, conversations, commerce, and participation, NRT failed to transition its brand voice into an integrated artist-fan ecosystem meeting digital-first audience expectations even within the niche Christian segment.

Solution and Objectives

The technology vision aimed to transform NRT from a catalog-driven publication into an integrated platform positioned at the center of the Christian music universe uniting artists, labels, and fans.

For Fans:
The portal would satiate discovery needs as the definitive source for new talent, provide tools for forging direct connections with artists, and enable participation as a community:

Personalized recommendations using machine learning algorithms to match listener preferences
Music player integration with song snippets and previews
Exclusive first access to new releases and premieres
Interactive talent interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and performances
Discussion forums and fan clubs build connections
Commerce capabilities like downloads, and merchandise

For Artists:
NRT would evolve into a marketplace enabling independent musicians and labels to reach Christian audiences bypassing traditional gatekeepers

Self-service portal for artists to upload songs, lyrics, liner notes
Advanced audience analytics providing data ownership
Embedded storefronts for downloads, merchandise
Fan communication channels for members-only content

For Industry:
NRT would offer itself as a multi-dimensional channel aiding discovery, promotions, and monetization

Unified dashboard for labels and artists reducing Fragmentation
Integrated event ticketing and exclusive experience auctions
Talent promotion programs like "Breakout Artist of the Month"
Native advertising and influencer marketing opportunities
Lead generation through robust audience segmentation

The vision was to construct NRT as an economic hub to accelerate Christian music community growth through technology.

Technology Planning

As the strategic technology partner, we formulated an agile yet comprehensive planning roadmap covering critical dimensions of people, process, and technology to guide the platform implementation:

Platform Architecture:
Proposed a cloud-native architecture leveraging specialized microservices enabling flexibility catering to likely future enhancements:

Backend: PHP/Laravel Frontend: JavaScript/Bootstrap
Modularized structure for commerce, analytics, access, etc on containers
CI/CD automation maximizing release velocity aligned to sprints

Staffing Plan:
Allocated cross-functional squad across client and provider side:

1 Lead architects setting technical vision
1 Full-stack Developer, 1 Backend Developer, 1 Frontend Developer building components
1 Cloud DevOps expert ensuring HA and scalability
1 Visual designers focused on UX

Governance Model:
Instituted rigorous review mechanisms for accountability:

Monthly steering group stock takes on KPIs
Weekly stand-ups for risk mitigation
Release retrospectives for process improvements
Ongoing end-user testing and feedback analysis

The comprehensive planning phase established strong structural guardrails through tech architecture principles, staffing models, and governance rhythms enabling flexible product build.

Phases

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Conclusion and Results

Over an 18-month technology transformation journey, NRT was reimagined from a catalog-driven music publication into an integrated platform now sitting at the epicenter of the Christian music universe connecting artists, labels, and fans.

The phased rollout oriented around user-centric design thinking allowed continuous feedback driving adoption while revenue diversification derisked finances. Some key impact dimensions include:

Fan Experience:
8X increase in site traffic and 12X in mobile
300% growth in average session duration demonstrating engagement
25 million streams in Year 1 highlighting listenership

Artist Empowerment:
Over 5K independent artists directly listed their catalog
Collectively artists earned $750K in the first year itself from downloads and events
Direct access to data-driven audience analytics provides optimization cues

Industry Opportunity:
500 plus Christian music-focused advertisers and brands activated influencer marketing promotions
$2.5 million in tickets sold for faith-based gatherings and concerts
Curated festival calendars increased discovery for quirky micro-genres

Business Evolution:
10X increase in email subscribers and 4X growth in social followers
35% of revenues now come from transactions like downloads, merchandise, and ticket fees
Lowered customer acquisition costs by 50% by leveraging community advocacy
Technologically, continuous experimentation and the ability to modularize platform domains catering to market signals were pivotal to accelerated enhancement velocities.

Through reinventing music discovery patterns harnessing personalization, mobilizing community conversations around talent, and activating commerce; NRT leveled up to lead the post-streaming era of connecting music creators with engaged audiences through an integrated experience platform.

The numbers quantitatively validate success but more meaningfully, NRT revitalized connections between Christian music and its followers catalyzing an entire ecosystem.

Key Challenge

The key technology challenge was the two-way marketplace orchestration syncing artists and fan management while maintaining UX. Core to product-market fit was effectively matching songs to listener preferences through the interplay of content analytics and discovery algorithms.

Balancing the technology with user-centric design thinking was pivotal in driving adoption across old and new customer segments.

Next Steps

NRT aims to expand into audio and video verticals through:

Podcast and video content platform
Christian music geo-radio streaming
Artist fan connection tools like exclusive digital concerts

We are thrilled to continually support NRT’s ambition of providing delightful, enriching, and uplifting faith-based content.

New Release Today

New Release Today

Competitive Environment

Problem Statement

Solution and Objectives

Technology Planning