Music is everywhere — but discovering what people around us are listening to isn't.
Music has become deeply integrated into our daily lives, yet discovering what people around us are listening to remains surprisingly difficult. Platforms like Spotify make music consumption effortless, but they do little to facilitate meaningful social connections around music.
Our team saw an opportunity to explore how music could become a catalyst for community building — helping people discover shared interests and connect through a common soundtrack.
The goal: design a platform that transforms passive music listening into opportunities for social interaction and local discovery.
Music is social — but the platforms aren't.
Despite music's social nature, existing platforms primarily focus on individual listening experiences. People often:
- Miss opportunities to connect with others who share similar music tastes.
- Have limited visibility into what nearby communities are listening to.
- Discover music through disconnected channels rather than their real-world environments.
- Struggle to find social experiences centered around music discovery.
“Even close friends are often unaware of overlapping music interests — creating missed opportunities for connection and shared experiences.”
“How might we help people discover music and build meaningful social connections through shared listening experiences in their local environment?”
Music sharing is already social — people just lack the surface for it.
To validate the opportunity space, we surveyed 106 participants to better understand how people currently discover and share music.
- 106
Participants surveyed
Across demographics and listening habits.
- 59.4%
Share music weekly or monthly
Music sharing is already a frequent social behavior.
- 75.4%
Comfortable sharing location
When tied to a social music experience.
In-person is still the most common.
When people share music today, three channels lead the way:
- In-person interactions — the most common channel (84.9%).
- Messaging apps — a close second (53.8%).
- Social media — followed closely (43.4%).
Existing tools pick a side.
We analyzed major players including Spotify, Airbuds Widget, and SoundCloud. Each excelled at either music discovery or social interaction — but rarely both in a real-time, location-based context.
Location is a discovery surface — with caveats.
We reviewed research on location-based social experiences, particularly studies on the impact of geographic data in social platforms and games. A recurring theme emerged:
“Location creates opportunities for discovery and connection — but requires thoughtful privacy controls.”
Three principles for designing music as a social signal.
Music as social signal
Treat listening activity as a lightweight way for people to express themselves and discover others.
Location as context
Tie music recommendations to real places and nearby communities, not generic algorithms.
Safe discovery
Balance discoverability with user privacy and control.
MelodyMap turns listening into a discoverable surface.
MelodyMap pairs four design decisions — each grounded in survey and competitive findings — to make local music discovery social by default, while keeping users in control.
What's playing around you, on a map.
Inspired by the familiarity of Find My Friends and Spotify Friend Activity, we designed a map-based interface where users can view nearby listeners, see songs currently being played, and discover music happening around them in real time.
Passive listening data becomes an interactive social layer.
Places have soundtracks too.
Users can explore songs previously played in specific locations, discover the musical identity of a place, and build collaborative "mood playlists" from community listening history.
The experience extends beyond real-time sharing into a sense of place-based storytelling.
Playlists made together.
To deepen engagement, we explored collaborative playlist creation and music-sharing challenges — encouraging participation among friends and local communities.
Validated the gap between music and community.
Survey results provided evidence that the concept addressed a genuine user need rather than an assumed problem space — and identified a clear gap in the existing market.
What the research validated.
Music sharing is social
Already a frequent behavior in people's daily lives.
Strong interest in social discovery
Users want to find music through people, not just algorithms.
Location-based features are viable
When paired with thoughtful privacy controls.
The unmet need MelodyMap fills.
Existing music platforms support discovery or social interaction — but few integrate real-time location, music sharing, and community building into a unified experience.
That became MelodyMap's primary value proposition.
Users weren't asking for another music platform — they were asking to feel more connected.
This project taught me how to move beyond feature ideation and ground product decisions in user research. The most valuable lesson was recognizing that users weren't asking for another music streaming platform — they were looking for ways to feel more connected through music.
I also gained experience balancing competing user needs:
Discovery vs. privacy
More social exposure has to come with stronger controls.
Social vs. passive
Some users want to interact; others want to lurk.
Location vs. control
Useful context, but only with consent.
What I'd validate next.
If I continued the project, I'd focus on validating long-term engagement: how often users would actually interact with strangers through music, what privacy settings would create the right balance of safety and discovery, and which social features generate meaningful connections versus superficial engagement.
These questions would be the next step toward transforming MelodyMap from a compelling concept into a viable product.