Put the Concert Attendee in the Spotlight. A User-Centered Design and Development Approach for Classical Concert Applications

As the importance of real-life use cases in the music information retrieval (MIR) field is increasing, so does the importance of understanding user needs. The development of innovative real-life applications that draw on MIR technology requires a user-centered design and development approach that assesses user needs and aligns them with technological and academic ambitions in the MIR domain. In this paper we present such an approach, and apply it to the development of technological applications to enrich classical symphonic concerts. A userdriven approach is particularly important in this area, as orchestras need to innovate the concert experience to meet the needs and expectations of younger generations without alienating the current audience. We illustrate this approach with the results of five focus groups for three audience segments, which allow us to formulate informed user requirements for classical concert applications.