Membership
From One-Time Transactions to Recurring Fan Relationships
(Details)
(Challenge)
Connecting artist needs with platform strategy
The Market Gap: Creator economy platforms like Patreon dominate subscription-based fan relationships, but music platforms remain stuck in transactional models. Artists on EVEN had loyal fanbases but no infrastructure to convert them into recurring supporters. The two-week Release window created churn: fans engaged briefly, then disappeared until the next drop. The Strategic Opportunity: EVEN had something Patreon didn't: deep integration with music releases and distribution. By adding membership, we could offer artists both immediate launch revenue (Releases) and long-term stability (recurring subscriptions), creating a hybrid model that captures the full fan journey from discovery to patronage. My Role: I led product design and acted as product lead for both Backstage (artist tools) and Fan Marketplace (fan experience). I owned strategy, user research, product definition, and design execution. I conducted discovery research, interviewed users, analyzed insights, and prioritized the roadmap. I led a team of 2 designers and partnered with 2 tech leads, dev, operations, and artist relations.
(Goal)
Create a sustainable membership product that:
Enables artists to generate predictable, recurring revenue beyond Release windows Converts one-time buyers into long-term community members Reduces creator overwhelm through scalable, self-service tools Validates that fans value ongoing access over transactional content consumption Success meant: High artist adoption, strong fan conversion, low churn, and a product that could scale from 1 artist to hundreds without breaking.
(Solution)
Product Principles
1. Relationship Infrastructure, Not Paywalls Membership should feel like joining something, not buying access. Design for belonging, proximity, and identity — not discounts. 2. Reduce Creator Cognitive Load Artists are musicians, not product managers. Tools must be intuitive, self-service, and require minimal ongoing effort to maintain communities. 3. Access Over Consumption Fans value closeness to artists more than passive content. Design for intimacy, early access, creative process visibility, and recognition.
Two-Layer Architecture for Scale
Rather than build a custom membership experience from scratch, we adapted the proven two-layer architecture from EVEN's Release feature: a main container (Membership) that contains folders organized by media type (audio, video, text, images). This decision prioritized speed and scalability — we could ship a pilot in 2 weeks, validate with real users, and iterate toward V1 without rebuilding core infrastructure.
Product Architecture
Phase 1: Pilot (2 weeks) Manually created membership for 1 artist, 500 subscribers. Fan Marketplace only. In-product surveys + 1:1 user interviews. Phase 2: Iteration (2 months) Adapted pilot based on feedback. Replicated for 5 additional artists. Refined onboarding, purchase flows, and pre-purchase conversion surfaces. Phase 3: V1 (Live) Self-service Backstage tools launched. Artists can now create, manage, and launch memberships independently. Live on both Fan Marketplace and Backstage.
Three Key Product Decisions
1. Flexible Monthly Contributions We allowed fans to change their membership tier or pause contributions monthly — unconventional for subscription models. Most platforms lock users into tiers to reduce churn. But our research showed fans felt guilt and obligation when they couldn't afford to stay. By giving them control, we reduced emotional friction. Result: only 15% churn despite flexibility, because fans felt empowered, not trapped.
2. Pre-Purchase Conversion Flow We designed intent-driven surfaces before checkout: showing fans what they'd unlock, highlighting artist messaging, and surfacing social proof (e.g., "Join 200 fans supporting [Artist]"). This wasn't just UI — it was psychological reframing: membership as community participation, not transaction. Result: 22% of fans who visited a membership page converted.
3. Artist Self Service We prioritized speed-to-launch for artists. Backstage onboarding guides artists through setup in ~3 days (content prep) + 1 day (social announcement). We removed operational bottlenecks by making the system self-service, reducing EVEN's manual workload and empowering artists to control timing. Result: 65% adoption rate among artists offered the feature.
(Impact)
Business Outcomes
✅ 15 artists launched memberships (40% growth expected; active waitlist) ✅25% adoption rate among artists offered the feature ✅ Recurring revenue infrastructure established, EVEN now generates MRR beyond two-week Release windows ✅ Platform retention improved, members visit regularly vs. transactional one-time buyers
User Engagement
-Fan Conversion: 63% of Release buyers converted to membership subscribers (pilot artist; expected to stabilize lower as feature scales) -Page-to-Subscribe Conversion: 22% of fans who visited membership pages subscribed -Retention: Only 15% churn despite flexible contribution model -Artist Speed-to-Launch: Average 4 days from Backstage setup to live membership
(Next)
