Abstract

"In response to a problem that occurs among amateur DJs, CrowdQ aims to address and solve the need for increased audience engagement during live DJ performances. The motivation behind this project stemmed from the need for seamless communication between DJ and partygoer. This communication can often be a distraction for the DJ. An example of this is explained by a journalist who previously worked in the industry, “So when you’re interrupting a DJ to request your favorite song, you’re not only distracting them but breaking their focus and flow which can be extremely off-putting for a DJ” (Campbell). This led us to explore several innovative solutions which have been combined into what is CrowdQ. The team has developed a web application that allows song request submissions from the crowd directly to the DJ. Through CrowdQ, attendees can request some of their favorite tracks with just a few simple steps. This creates a dynamic list that the DJ and crowd can view and interact with by upvoting or downvoting requests. Songs with the highest upvotes will receive the most attention, rising to the top of the list. To achieve this, the DJ can display a QR code that easily allows the crowd to connect to that Session to view and update the list of requests in real time. The team pitched the idea to several DJs throughout the Greater Cincinnati area and requested feedback and criticism from these individuals. The team also learned about what features the DJs were most excited about, as well as features that they would not particularly take advantage of. One feature that the DJs were disinterested in was a playback feature, allowing the DJ to play a song directly from the queue. This allowed the developers to further refine the project scope and focus on what features of the application will best aid the user. After the first iteration of the application, the team found that there was much opportunity to innovate further. A few examples of this were to add more details to the Session, such as location. This allows the users to see where the event is taking place, and sort by events that are closest to the user (Meaning the listener, not the DJ). Adding the location to the Session transforms the application into a much more social platform. Another feature that came to fruition after the initial iteration was to save the Session data to a database, allowing the DJ to look back at the requested songs to study each crowd's engagement individually."