Deezer has a talented team of 100+ to make it the leading online music streaming platform in France. Additionally, there are currently 26 million listeners from over 180 countries sharing 100 million shareable playlists from 20 million tracks.
Exceptionally known for the way they treat artists, Deezer is hosting ‘silent disco’ concerts starting Monday April 15-18, featuring Little Boots, Dog Is Dead, The Ramona Flowers and Fridge Magnets across Glasgow, Manchester, Birmingham and London. Silent disco headphones will be the only way participants can hear the performers- a truly avant-garde experience.
If you want to know the secret behind the Deezer success story: grab, borrow or steal some tips from Julie Chabin, Product Designer extraordinaire at Deezer, who is currently working on the Windows 8 desktop and phone app.
How important is design to user acquisition for start-ups?
The problem many companies face is a question of valuing the code over the user experience.
Getting tweets, likes, and instagrams is more about the design than the content. If the visuals are exciting, unique or share-worthy you have a hot product!
As soon as a new app comes along users immediately assess the usability as a tool, which is something they aren’t necessarily aware of. When an app is professional, simple, and looks safe it’s downloaded and purchased immediately or with minimal hesitation.
How does music help you as a product designer?
Music motivates me at work. For inspiration I would rather observe people using daily objects or watch how they change tracks and listen to music. As a product designer I’m working for the users, which is much more important than the music itself.
Where can Designers go to get better?
Everyday I read articles from:
I also look at Awwwards and Ffffound but the best way to get better is to practice, practice, practice.
What does Deezer do best?
The genesis of Deezer isn’t a story about online music streaming monetization or registering accounts overnight – the founder wanted to share tracks with his friends. Youtube at the time was not as popular in France and so it was a critical moment for French music lovers to sign up and seamlessly listen to playlists that were not as accessible on Youtube because of uploading issues.
What sucks about the music Industry?
Majors make consumers pay a lot for a download, CD, or concert tickets but don’t offer much more than that. I actually don’t understand what they want.
What concerts did you go to in 2012?
Explosion in the Sky- which is a post-rock band, Deaf Heaven concert, Scratch Massive, Kap bambino, and I also to went to a lot of festivals.
If you could do your own start-up what would it be?
I would design an online tool to share knowledge, arts and culture. I would create a platform for people to learn new things, not like Coursera or SkillShare but mostly offer a way to ask advice like on Reddit. I like the spirit of free services, you know how at Google knowledge is free by way of rapid search.
If you could be paid in something else besides $ or € or £ how could you be compensated?
Trips. I love discovery and traveling and taking vacation getaways.