Led a cross-functional team to renovate the artist's revenue withdrawal process
May 2022
MyMusicSheet is a music platform that lets music performers sell their music sheets online, helping them continue their careers beyond offline performances.
One of our artists from Ukraine emailed me because she needed to withdraw the proceeds quickly after a sale. To uncover the problem, I analyzed data related to the withdrawal system.
Over 21,000 USD remained untransferred. This was because many artists stayed within the minimum withdrawal amount of 30 USD. Even if an artist's monthly sales revenue exceeded 30 USD, 520 USD remained unpaid due to incorrect local account information entered by the artist. Above all, the artist had to wait at least 30 days to receive the proceeds of the month.
PROBLEM
Artists can withdraw only if the proceeds exceed $30, the minimum withdrawal amount.
The artist had to wait at least 30 days to receive the proceeds.
Artists had to wait 10 days to get confirmation of the local account info they entered.
This was because two settlement managers did not have enough time to transfer the proceeds of 3,500 artists in a month. There was no choice but to make a minimum withdrawal amount and a settlement cycle to reduce the number of transfer targets.
No matter how tricky these three problems are, they had to be solved because of the mission we had. Helping music performers continue their careers through online music sheet sales was crucial for artists facing tough situations like the COVID-19 pandemic or war.
How did you solve it?
Providing instant withdrawal methods that are available in various countries.
First of all, Instead of relying on local account information, I found instant withdrawal methods that are available in various countries. Hoping to reduce the artist's waiting time and the manager's manual tasks.
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Considering the distribution of our artist residency and the minimum transfer amount, we decided to provide Payple, Stripe, and Paypal-me as instant withdrawal methods.
51%
17%
As this image shows, If the artist selects their resident country they can see which instant withdrawal method can be used.
Eliminating the settlement cycle that leaves artists confused and waiting.
As shown below, previously, the settlement cycle led to artists waiting more than a month to receive revenues.
The settlement status remained pending if the revenues stayed under the minimum withdrawal amount of 30 USD. Even if it exceeded this, the revenue amount was fixed at the end of the month, and the artist had to wait about a month for the Settlement to be Completed.
Pending
Before the monthly revenues are settled.
Settlement Scheduled
The monthly revenues have been settled but are not being transferred.
It changed only if the artist's revenues exceeded the minimum withdrawal amount of $30.
The settlement manager handles the artist's revenue transfer task for a month.
If the monthly revenue does not exceed the minimum withdrawal amount, the revenues are carried over to the next month.
Settlement Completed
The revenues, scheduled to be transmitted a month ago, have been sent to the artist’s local account.
If the monthly revenue does not exceed the minimum withdrawal amount for a long time, the carried-over revenue is sent at once.
But thanks to providing instant withdrawal methods the settlement cycle can be eliminated. With one click, the artist can withdraw the proceeds whenever they want.
Reduced the minimum withdrawal amount from $30 to $0.5.
Like the image below, the high minimum withdrawal amount causes a lot of inconvenience to the artist such as the settlement cycle.
Even though the minimum withdrawal amount still exists, the artist doesn't feel restricted. This is because the minimum selling price of the music sheet exceeds the minimum transfer amount of 50 cents.
As a result, the artists can withdraw the proceeds whenever they want without feeling the restriction of the minimum withdrawal amount. And, the artists from all 88 countries can now withdraw their revenue.
Artists can withdraw the proceeds whenever they want, without the settlement cycle restrictions.
Before: It took a month after the monthly revenues had been settled on the last date of each month.
After: Artists can withdraw the proceeds regardless of the settlement cycle.
Artists do not feel the restriction of the minimum withdrawal amount.
Before: The sales revenue for the following month had to exceed $30 for withdrawal.
After: The minimum withdrawal amount has been reduced to $0.50, which is more than the minimum selling price.
Artists can withdraw their revenue wherever they live.
Before: Only artists from a few countries such as South Korea, Japan, and the United States could withdraw their revenue.
After: Artists from all 88 countries can now withdraw their revenue.
There were certain restrictions on profit payments for efficient processing. To reach a consensus with a cross-functional team, I reminded them that our primary goal is to provide a better service for artists, not to make an effective process for providers. I have learned that the key to solving problems is having a strong mission that the team is passionate about