Case Study - Music Choice

“It was an excellent ethnographic study: affordable, interesting and had a profound effect on how we as an organisation viewed our customers.”
Sam Morse, Head of Research, Music Choice

Music Choice, the Internet and Digital Interactive TV (DiTV) music content provider, was in the process of conducting strategic research in order to re-launch and re-brand their iTV site. They were looking to completely overhaul their service based on a thorough understanding of the relationship between people and music in the living room.

By becoming a syndicated partner in Teleconomy’s Living Room research project, Music Choice were able to influence the creation of a tailored framework of questions designed to better develop a unique proposition based on customer needs. The syndication model also meant that other companies were involved in funding the research, making it extremely cost effective, and gave Music Choice access to more generic findings about the context of use.

The Living Room project researched 15 different family groups across the UK in a deep ethnographic study. Small CCTV cameras were used to observe behaviours across a 2-month period. The family groups also took part in a series of depth interviews where we explored their reasons for using certain media, their use of the Living Room at different times, and the influence of family and friends.

Teleconomy’s research in analysing consumer behaviours meant that Music Choice were able to define why people listen to music. The reasons included the need to escape, to create a social atmosphere, to wind up or down, to create an occasion or just for the pure pleasure of listening to a new CD. We were able to show Music Choice why they needed to be more consumer-orientated, and they were then able to build new product and service offerings that address the real needs and desires of people listening to music. These are due to be launched in 2003. Sam Morse, Head of Research at Music Choice, comments:

“The research was academically rigorous and enabled us to pull out relevant commercial insights that could be practically actioned within Music Choice.”

The Living Room research had a big impact on Music Choice’s internal culture and made them much more aware of the broader context in which music is consumed and the interrelation between other media in this environment.

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