Background

Sodatone provides a web and data platform that helps WMGs labels to discover, evaluate performance and track unsigned and WMG-signed artists. Its primary purpose is to be a tool for Recorded Music's A&R Teams.

Problem

In today's workflow, A&R managers rely on A&R researchers to provide new streaming insights 1–3 days before artist meetings. However, the data may already be outdated by the time it's used for decision-making. Given the rapidly evolving streaming and social landscape, a single day's delay in engaging an artist can put WMG labels at a disadvantage. How might we enable A&R teams to access real-time artist insights so they can identify, evaluate, and engage artists faster?

Solution

The Sodatone mobile app enables A&R teams to quickly assess an artist's performance, helping them decide whether to escalate the evaluation to another team member to evaluate further on the web, or if they should pass or defer.

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Target user groups

A&R teams (A&R managers, A&R VPs or Directors, A&R admins and A&R coordinators) – As this group has various needs, A&R managers are the primary target persona; they are constantly on the go and required up-to-date artist performance data.

GA launch

The v1 app is designed to have the most critical data needed to access an artist's performance. With this version of the app, users can:

• Keep track of recently identified artists by themselves or their team.
• Monitor identified promising unsigned artists to spot any spikes in streaming growth that may justify fast-tracking conversations, so as to ensure they don’t get signed by a competing label.
• Stay equipped with the latest performance data to walk into artist meetings fully prepared.

Impacts

The v1 mobile app was rolled out to all users on March 2024, with the objective of making it easier to access Sodatone on-the-go. Approximately 65% of web weekly active users have opted to download the app in the first month.

Data availability: From 3-day delays to real-time access

The app has transformed data availability from a 3-day wait to real-time access. Users can now instantly check the latest streaming and engagement data for artists they’re tracking, all within the mobile app.

Enhanced data readability for mobile

Before the launch, A&Rs relied on the web version on their phones, which presented an overwhelming amount of data and wasn’t fully optimized for mobile use. Now, with the app, they can easily access a more streamlined and user-friendly experience across all regions where Sodatone is available.

User feedbacks on UX

Overall impression on UX and design is positive, the majority of respondents mentioned they were able to navigate the app and understand the data without any issues:

• "This feels easier to use than the desktop version."
• "I love the interface on this, it's very easy to navigate and clear to me."
• "Feels easier to use than the web. The design is very very clean."