The market place for music of all genres has radically changed in the last five years and since the emergence of broadband and faster networks, the way that we buy and listen to music has also changed dramatically. However, even with these new and speedy methods of buying music, sales of CDs still out perform those of digital music files. I have discovered that one possible reason for this is the fact that people simply like to shop. There is something about browsing through the shelves of HMV, while listening to the latest releases and picking out the new must-have albums that just cannot be recreated with online music shops. But digital music sales are predicted to rise dramatically, and with newer and more sophisticated technology being introduced onto the market, how can graphic designers compete and continue to design while taking these new technologies into account?
One solution that I have been developing combines users’ love of the social interaction associated with shopping with new technologies associated with digital music. It is vital that with this shift in how people buy music that the traditional music shop begins to compete in this environment instead of seeing digital music purchasers as competition. To bridge this gap I have developed an in-store digital music solution that combines touch-screen interactivity and multimedia that mimics the traditional music shop and so maintains the social elements of shopping that purchasers enjoy. This solution also simplifies the transfer of digital music to users’ devices by allowing purchasers to download music files directly to their mobile phone, iPod or MP3 player via an in-store wireless network.