Digitizing Street Music: A Web Solution to Expand Buskers' Reach and Income

In today’s digital age, the challenge is clear: how can we bring the craft of busking—performing music in public places—into the modern online world and simultaneously help expand audiences while increasing buskers' income through the online platform?

The project had tight deadlines and frequent adjustments. With just 2-3 months to build a web application, we faced technical challenges: It needed to stream music, offer samples, categorize songs into albums, and provide a free song after scanning. Despite these hurdles, we focused on delivering a seamless, functional solution within the time frame.

We took a clear and structured approach to address the challenge, beginning with a detailed requirement analysis and wireframes. This was followed by scoping approval to ensure alignment with the client's vision. 

We developed an innovative solution for buskers, offering a platform to address all the challenges. Our approach? A custom web application that digitizes street performances and offers 20-second samples for discovering new artists. How? By linking music to QR codes—one for the artist, another for their album. This supports musicians and adds an ethical dimension by bridging technology and art. Despite budget and time constraints, the result redefines how street music connects with a global audience.

We used Figma for design iterations and Drupal for backend functionality throughout development. The process involved several challenges, such as integrating a music player, integrating the payment gateway, and generating invoices through SuperFaktúra - an online application for quickly generating invoices. As the client required the solution to be applicable globally, we had to account for VAT calculations across different countries, ensuring each region's final price was accurate. We simplified the process for the music purchase flow: a cart, recap, registration, and billing address, followed by payment. For free songs, we streamlined it to direct registration and a thank-you message.

We also focused on making the application responsive on mobile and adjusting the logo size in Figma. The music player was integrated with React, ensuring it continued playing songs even when the phone screen was locked, making the experience even more comfortable for users. We maintained consistency with the core brand elements, including the logo and colors.

The project delivered a seamless, user-friendly web application that digitized street performances, enabling buskers to reach a global audience and increase their income. Leveraging Drupal for backend flexibility, we ensured the platform could handle global VAT calculations and integrate payment gateways. The music player, built with React, provided uninterrupted playback, even with the phone screen locked. Our structured approach, combining design, development, and user experience focus, allowed us to meet tight deadlines and deliver a functional, scalable solution. 

The result is a platform that meets immediate needs and sets a foundation for future growth and innovation in the digital music space.