An internal blue sky project at Napster and Obsess exploring what a music metaverse platform could look like for Gen Z and Gen Alpha fans who expect more from artist-fan connection than a streaming playlist and an Instagram post. I led this as part of the innovation team, working alongside the Head of Innovation who provided strategic direction, and collaborating with the product team during feature definition and brainstorming.
Company
Napster (Innovation Blue Sky Strategy)
Timeline
2025
—
2025
Role
Product Lead · UX · Creative Direction · Research
Project overview
As product lead on the innovation team, I drove NOVA from research through to MVP. That started with real work before anyone touched a design tool. I set up and ran a consumer survey of 121 Gen Z respondents, coordinated and led 1:1 interviews with small music artists, and synthesized findings into insight decks that shaped what we actually built. What the research revealed was a fragmented landscape where artists had no real visibility into fan behavior, platforms didn't talk to each other, and 59% of Gen Z respondents said they were open to paying for a virtual concert experience. That was the opening.
From there I defined the core features, ticketed and worked with the dev team to build them out, led the creative direction for the 3D environment and overall aesthetic, designed the UI and UX across desktop and mobile, and created the graphic assets and music used in the experience. The platform shipped with a real-time multiplayer 3D space, a timed voting system, a lyric challenge game, a merch store, and live chat. I also built the MVP demo used to sell the vision to executive stakeholders and presented it to leadership.
Challenges
Building something genuinely new inside a company that was simultaneously restructuring meant moving fast with limited runway and advocating loudly for work that didn't have a brief yet. The research phase had to justify the product before the product existed. Getting from insight to functional demo while leading research, UX, creative direction, and asset creation at the same time required a level of context switching that only works if you actually care about what you are building. I did.
Results
Live MVP demo delivered and presented to executive leadership. Consumer research validated product market fit with 59% of Gen Z respondents open to paying for virtual concert experiences.
Latest projects
An internal blue sky project at Napster and Obsess exploring what a music metaverse platform could look like for Gen Z and Gen Alpha fans who expect more from artist-fan connection than a streaming playlist and an Instagram post. I led this as part of the innovation team, working alongside the Head of Innovation who provided strategic direction, and collaborating with the product team during feature definition and brainstorming.
Company
Napster (Innovation Blue Sky Strategy)
Timeline
2025
—
2025
Role
Product Lead · UX · Creative Direction · Research
Project overview
As product lead on the innovation team, I drove NOVA from research through to MVP. That started with real work before anyone touched a design tool. I set up and ran a consumer survey of 121 Gen Z respondents, coordinated and led 1:1 interviews with small music artists, and synthesized findings into insight decks that shaped what we actually built. What the research revealed was a fragmented landscape where artists had no real visibility into fan behavior, platforms didn't talk to each other, and 59% of Gen Z respondents said they were open to paying for a virtual concert experience. That was the opening.
From there I defined the core features, ticketed and worked with the dev team to build them out, led the creative direction for the 3D environment and overall aesthetic, designed the UI and UX across desktop and mobile, and created the graphic assets and music used in the experience. The platform shipped with a real-time multiplayer 3D space, a timed voting system, a lyric challenge game, a merch store, and live chat. I also built the MVP demo used to sell the vision to executive stakeholders and presented it to leadership.
Challenges
Building something genuinely new inside a company that was simultaneously restructuring meant moving fast with limited runway and advocating loudly for work that didn't have a brief yet. The research phase had to justify the product before the product existed. Getting from insight to functional demo while leading research, UX, creative direction, and asset creation at the same time required a level of context switching that only works if you actually care about what you are building. I did.
Results
Live MVP demo delivered and presented to executive leadership. Consumer research validated product market fit with 59% of Gen Z respondents open to paying for virtual concert experiences.