Rythmeet:a versatile music platform

Bring musicians into Cardano world providing a platform where they can meet and build groups, rent and sell instruments and discover ADA

Proposer: 2 PhDs, 8 years in research and project management

Team: 30 years cumulated in software development and project management

***Team***

Members of the developing team work for Shinetech which is a leading software development provider founded in 2001 in Beijing, in China, with additional global locations in the US, Canada, Europe and Australia. Shinetech collaborated with more than 1500 clients including world known companies like Coca-Cola, BMW, Ralph Lauren or HP. For HP, Shinetech developed its website and is still managing it worldwide, proving the seriousness and efficiency of the company (https://www.shinetechsoftware.com/).

Project manager, senior full-stack developer: Jason Hao Li

• Over 4 years of experience in full-stack web development. Expert in back-end development frameworks, front-end development, system design, business analysis and senior project manager. (CV attached)

Expert PHP developer: Finley Fei Ma

• Over 9 years of experience in PHP, Node, Front-end and 4 years project manager. Expert in PHP MVC framework, web development and CI/CD. (CV attached)

User interface designer: Keyon Keyang Du

• Over 7 years of experience in graphic design. Expert in UI and UX design and mobile app design. 4 years as UI team manager. (CV attached)

Expert PHP developer: Ranger Guan

• Over 9 years of experience in software development. Expert in front-end and multiple languages (PHP, javascript, TypeScript, Python…). Expert in web applications including E-commerce, in app creation and in Agile development methodologies. (CV attached)

***Consultants/Advisors***

Albert Feghaly: Bioinformatic specialist with PhD-level. Python, Javascript, big data, ML with 6 years in academia. Albert is developing with his team the successfully funded ''osNFTs for science popularization'' project from Fund #6.

***Problem definition***

Cryptocurrency in general, and so Cardano, is at the beginning of its expenditure, but it lacks attractivity from people that are not familiar with new technologies. The race of expenditure represents the key for success at this stage. New tools and platforms need to be created to bring these people into the cryptocurrency wave, especially into the Cardano ecosystem.

On the other side, music is universal and one of the oldest ways of communication and expression that ever existed. As with every artistic expression, everyone has their own style and skillset. Yet, not everyone has access to musical instruments, classes or rooms where to practice. The actual tools to connect with one another to learn, exchange, practice and develop their skills are very limited. Also, musical instruments can represent a big expense, especially when people do not know if they will enjoy practicing it. Currently, people mainly connect with each other by word of mouth but it has its limitations.

Our platform will be the meeting point of these 2 entities and consequently, will drastically expand the Cardano community. People need only a smartphone or a computer to jump onto the Cardano community, therefore the expenditure has no real limit.

The global musical instruments market size was valued at almost $10 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach $11.5 billion by 2030. The problem is that not everyone can afford music instruments. On the other side, the global Peer-to-Peer market was valued at approximately 68 billion in 2019 and is increasing every year.

***Our solution***

For musicians to both easily find music instruments and crew with who practice and for them to join the Cardano community, 2 criteria need to be met:

-Musicians should have access to a platform for all their needs, like finding a crew, music classes, places where to practice or music instruments/materials at a fair price using ADA

-People should be introduced to Cardano and cryptocurrency with easy tools they could use for their hobbies

***The big idea***

The project Rythmeet will include 2 main parts. The first one is the one described in this proposal and aims to bring people familiar or not with cryptocurrencies on the platform and introduce them to Cardano. The second part will be proposed later during fund 8 and will aim to allow musicians to mint and sell NFTs directly from the platform and to integrate smart contracts. Therefore, we believe that the Rythmeet platform will be the most complete and versatile platform for musicians. Such complete tool does not exist yet.

***Our solution in depth***

The first part of our platform will bring people from outside of the cryptocurrency bubble into this new technology, allowing them to connect with each other to rent or sell music instruments. Buying a new instrument can be expensive, especially when we are not sure whether we would really enjoy it. With our platform, people will be able to find people at proximity owning instruments/materials they would be willing to rent or sell. People will also be able to propose music classes. To increase the network of the platform and to be a complete tool, people will also be able to find specific musicians (guitarists, saxophonists, singers, pianists...) at proximity and connect with them to build a band or just expand the group they already have. To have an idea on the musical capacities of others before connecting, people will be able to upload few short videos on their own profile.

When living in an apartment for example, practicing music can be challenging. Moreover, finding a place where to give a concert often requires a lot of time going in bars or restaurants asking owners for this opportunity. That is why on the Rythmeet platform, people will be able to propose a place for musicians to practice or give a concert.

Since our goal is to bring people that are not aware or comfortable with cryptocurrencies, we will allow people to pay using their own money or ADA to make people discover this cryptocurrency and become more familiar with it. We do not want to affray them with crypto and that is why our strategy is to familiarize them slowly with this part of the platform. Users will have a wallet in their Rythmeet account that they could load with their own ADA to buy or rent on the platform. Simple tutorials will be created to explain how to buy ADA for those who do not already have. To push people to use ADA, fees will be lower for transactions using ADA (8% VS 15% using other currencies). Music is present in every single country on the planet, heard in most houses and cars, therefore linking the Rythmeet platform to the Cardano ecosystem will drastically expand the network and number of transactions of this cryptocurrency.

Our vision through this platform is to help musicians to have access to everything they need to develop their hobby. That is why on our platform we will create a fundraising feature. The money will be used to pay scholarships for kids/students who cannot afford registration fees for music schools.

For the rental part, people willing to rent their instrument or place will be allowed to indicate how much security deposit they would like Rythmeet to keep on hold in case anything happens to the instrument, material or place. This part will be completed later with the integration of smart contracts to handle more easily any problem happening between users. Other people from project catalyst are already developing smart contracts integrated to the Cardano blockchain and we plan to collaborate with them for this part.

For people proposing a place for musicians to give concerts, they will have the possibility to pay artists for their performance.

***Challenges***

People coming on our platform might not be comfortable using cryptocurrencies, even with lower fees. We could propose some rewards for people using ADA for the first time. Once they will use it once, they will understand how easy it is and we are confident they will continue to use it after.

People might find complicated the fact to buy ADA from another platform and bring it into their Rythmeet wallet. That is something we already thought about and that is something we might need to develop later, maybe through collaboration with other members of the project catalyst community; a feature for people to buy ADA directly from the Rythmeet platform.

People might be afraid to rent music materials or places in case of problems happening to the material or place. This is the exact reason why we would like to develop smart contracts integrated into Cardano blockchain on the platform.

People often do not give to fundraising because they do not trust companies about how their money will be used. We plan to be totally transparent about the money collected and its use to pay scholarships. This information will be retransmitted on the platform and on social media to encourage people to give. We also plan to use this feature to promote the Rythmeet platform through influencers and known artists.

In general, our strength regarding other competitors is being part of the Project Catalyst community. Our goal being to be more and more complete and secured and once our platform will be functional, we plan to collaborate with other successfully funded projects to expand our features and perfect them for others from the community. 

***Execution steps***

Stage 1: Project Definition

The first stage of the process will revolve mostly in taking the time to formally define the legal components and every option/feature of the platform. The process and approach are easy to define, with integration of a CDN for content management requirements and development of a .NET or SQL Database for all required on-site functions. At this stage, we will have a clear understanding of what we are setting out to achieve, including:

Target audience: Defining our online target market will help the designers understand target users' preferences, study their online habits and develop wireframes and interfaces that are most likely to result in great user experience.

Competition: This is one of the key elements for the research phase and it will allow us to analyze the competitor's strengths and weaknesses and develop a strategy that will result in a market-leading website. 

Stage 2: Planning

Based on the data we collect during Stage 1, we will be able to create:

A sitemap: This birdseye view of our site is a map that determines the list of pages, their placement and relationship on the website. It includes both the user-facing elements and those intended for web crawlers only (e.g. Google). A site map helps define and organize web content, allowing our strategist and designer to go deeper into planning the look, feel and functionality for each page.

A wireframe: This, on the other hand, is the layout of each individual page of the site. It outlines and maps out the elements on the website and how the website will function.

Stage 3: Design

The user interface design stage will introduce our branding and complete the look and feel of our website. This is where we put our creative minds together to come up with a visual representation of our project. By the end of this, we will have a clear idea of what the look of the website in its entirety will be. From the home page to the inner pages, and what users will see when navigating through different sections of the website. For our consumers, this will show how they travel through different product categories, what they would see on individual product pages, and what the buying journey will look like.

Stage 4: Content Creation

By this stage, we will have entered the early stages of the actual development cycle. Once the designs and layouts of the website have been finalized, we will begin the content creation process which encompasses planning, writing and editing various forms of website content, including:

• Landing pages                                                        • Product/service description

• Testimonials                                                            • Case studies

• Blog posts                                                               • Videos

• Images                                                                    

This makes use of our skilled writers who will create assets that grab attention and help our pages rank on search engines. Much like design itself, content is an important element of our user's experience. Quality web copy and resources will give them the information they need to make their purchasing decisions, while a strategic keyword optimization will place our web content on the path of searchers with high purchase intent.

Stage 5: Development

This stage includes coding and our developer's job is to make the site function properly. Our developer will create the homepage followed by the other landing pages, based on the website hierarchy. The process also includes combining all the previously designed elements and building an actual website. The front-end development of the website will be a nominal task. The back-end development will consume more time and will be built carefully and methodically.

Stage 6: Testing

Testing is one of the most significant phases. At this point, our developers will check the functionality of all the elements on our website. The aim is to detect any issues, such as broken links and compatibility with different devices to ensure everything works properly. They will use validators to check the code making sure it follows the current standards, test the site's speed as well as test for mobile responsiveness. Once they finish the manual and automated testing, our website will be ready to go into a live server and launch.

Stage 7: Maintenance

The last - and the never-ending - phase of the website development timeline is maintenance. As our project grows, we will need to increase the number of pages and add more functionalities and features. We will need to carry out certain tasks on a regular basis, including:

• Editing existing content                                              • Adding blog posts

• Fixing bugs and issues                                                • Dosing site backups

• Installing plugins

Since digital and web design trends constantly change, we will also need to keep our site up-to-date both UX and SEO-wise.

***Project timeline***

Week 1 and 2: Setup the website with initial ecommerce platform frameworks, install plugins and spread project documents to the development team members and discuss for comprehension

Week 3 to 5: Develop the processes which enable rent and trade of physical items (Checkpoint 1: $15,000 for this part)

Week 6: Develop features for payment and to allow web users to trade with Cardano (ADA)

Week 7: Develop features for each account, like changing profile, sharing information through social medias (Checkpoint 2: $10,000 for this part)

Week 8: Develop feature between accounts, like rating, review, text chatting

Week 9: System test for receiving and inspection, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), solve problems found through system test.

Week 10: Launch, solve issues found by users. This will be the end of the MVP phase (Checkpoint 3: $10,000 for this part)

Next months: Further business analysis and add features based on users' opinion.

***Budget***

Developers: $24,000 for 2 months

Server rental: $300 per month: 3600$ final

Designer: $3400 final

Marketing: $4000 final

Total = $35,000

***Revenue Model***

The Rythmeet revenue model has been constructed to be sustainable, durable and self-sufficient.

For the music classes, instrument/material rental, instrument/material sales and places to rent, the teacher/renter/seller will obtain 100% of the price they want. Fees will be added on a base of 8% if the purchaser pays using ADA or 15% if the purchaser uses another currency. Both prices will be indicated on the platform to push people to use ADA.

An option to put the announcement on the top of the list will be available for a fee of 2$ or the equivalent of 1.50$ in ADA per week.

For people looking for a music group to give a private concert for remuneration, there will be 8% fees using ADA or 15% using other currencies on the total amount paid.

For the fundraising part, no commission will be taken by the platform and the full amount will be used to pay scholarship for music schools.

Once our platform will reach a high enough level of activity (minimum 15,000 users per months), it will host advertisement that will generate a complementary revenue.

The money generated will go towards website development and marketing, funding prize pools to encourage people to join the Rythmeet community and be active on it, and ultimately, funding Scholarships for students unable to afford music schools. 

***Project evolution***

The idea is to expand this platform with the creation of a second part that will be proposed for the fund 8. We want to integrate a tool allowing artists to mint their own Rythmeet (rm)NFTs directly into this platform. That will complete the Rythmeet project allowing musicians to meet each other to create bands, renting/buying music instruments, taking classes and then sell their creations. For this part, the Cardano's blockchain will allow people who have no access to a bank account to buy or make profits from rmNFTs. Moreover, it adds security with encrypted transactions, linked and stored across a network of computers. At this step, we are planning to collaborate with other successfully funded projects from project catalyst. Numerous proposals are made on NFT based features development. Being part of the project catalyst community will be our strength to develop our platform efficiently.

We also want to develop a feature for people to buy ADA directly from our Rythmeet platform. Using the Cardano blockchain will add security for transfers.

We also want to integrate smart contracts to the Rythmeet platform, especially for the rental feature. It will make people being more confident into this feature and make the litigation process easier.

All these features will be part of Fund #8 proposals and will be developed in collaboration with other Project Catalyst members and under an open license to help the community to grow.

***Definition of success***

3 months: The Rythmeet website is launched and the first users begin to register

6 months: All technical problems have been solved and the website works smoothly. We reach 5,000 users and 15% of them use Cardano currency. We are developing the NFT part in parallel (if our 2nd proposal is accepted in Fund #8).

12 months: We reach 15,000 users and 50% of them are using Cardano currency. People begin to give money to the fundraising project. We will also have launched the new Rythmeet platform 2.0 including NFT minting and sales if our 2nd proposal is accepted in Fund #8.