In an increasingly remote working world, even creatives like artists and musicians have found themselves detached from one another. On top of this, anyone looking for an opportunity to start a career in the music industry is facing an even bumpier ride.
Getting access to professionals who have made their way in the music industry has become more challenging than ever. Without having any connections and experts to guide them, it is easy for aspiring musicians to become frustrated and disheartened.
Opportunity: Creating a much-needed music mentor marketplace
Elmo Lovano, the founder of Jammcard, a network of vetted music professionals, is a change-makers and status-quo shakers who recognized the opportunity to create a community for musicians looking for guidance when choosing their music career path.
But, once the pandemic broke out, he started to see how they could pivot around this core functionality and then came up with the idea to build another service: Mentorship. He recognized people’s need to always have somebody to look up to, someone who can offer advice about which path to take. And this is how the idea of Jammcard Mentors was born.
Jammcard’s ambition was to provide everyone, from music professionals and beginners learning the ropes to creative entrepreneurs and enthusiasts looking for a unique perspective, with the access to music experts to help them make it in the industry.
Having worked with Jammcard on building an invite-only app for music professionals designed to facilitate bookings, communication and networking among users, HTEC Group moved on to step two — building Jammcard Mentors — a music mentor marketplace offering 1-on-1 live video mentorship sessions with leading music pros.
Simplifying the process of connecting with a music mentor
First, we started working on the booking functionality that allows users to book a music mentor based on the service they need (recording session in the studio, live performance, etc.) and negotiate the terms, the rate, and the service that would be provided.
In less than six months, HTEC developed the first working prototype. The idea was to provide visitors with an easy and straightforward way to view the platform’s offerings and choose the mentor they want to contact.
Mentors are classified into different types, allowing users to easily scroll, browse, and see what’s available with the click of a button. Once they book the mentor, the users join the waitlist and wait to be notified about the available slots. There are two rates—the session may last for half an hour or one hour, which then determines the rate.
Finally, the users receive an email that they have the upcoming session, which is then streamed online. For these purposes, we integrated with a third-party service, Twilio, to facilitate the video streaming part and used their APIs to customize our UI side and bring the Jammcard experience to the user.
Challenges: Time zones and schedules
One of the challenges HTEC had to deal with was time management due to different time zones among users and mentors. Handling and implementing calendars, moving slots, rescheduling cancellations, and similar activities in different time zones can be tricky. But we also managed to support this functionality.
Our future ambitions are to add CMS features with an admin panel and further customize the mentorship page.
Impact: Breaking down music industry barriers
This mentorship platform not only simplifies the process of finding the right expert that perfectly matches the users’ requirements, but it also enables more efficient sessions without having to leave the comfort of your home.
Jammcard’s mentor marketplace is changing the way people face the challenges of working in the music industry. It opens the door to a world of music mentors who are ready to share their wealth of knowledge and experience and help music enthusiasts thrive on their chosen path.
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