Lockn? Music Festival?s mobile application saw strong user engagement following the integration of a brand-informed, concert-based soundtrack from Feed.fm.

At the recent music festival in the Charlottesville, VA area, Feed.fm reported that its soundtrack kept users in the app for an average of 20 minutes. This average is four times of the usage time an app normally experiences.

?Music is the most consumed media on mobile phones and that consumption is dominated by industry players like Pandora, Spotify and iTunes,? said Kevin King, vice president of strategy and business development for Feed.fm. ?At the end of the day, that consumption and engagement occurs on their platform, not the brand, business, or in this case a festival.?

Significant results
According to Swrve's recent App Metrics Report, more than one-third of consumer engagement on mobile apps lasts just under one minute. This is one of the largest caveats of trying to maintain and consequently increase user retention.

Because the festival's app also provided up-to-date schedules, local vendor and food locations, and a photo booth, it offered an all-inclusive experience for festival-goers that was centered on music but not exclusive to it.

?The goal of some apps, for example, taxi booking services, is to get users in and out of their app as quickly as possible,? said Raj Aggarwal, CEO of Localytics. ?Overall, however, for many apps, especially music apps, app session length is an important metric of user engagement.?

While video ads are continuously rising in popularity from both the marketing and consumer sides, accessing and listening to music is still a top priority for mobile device users.

Having an app solely for Lockn' Music Festival meant that the exact audience was targeted, and brands such as Feed.fm received advertising for the people most likely to use their service. 

Contextual engagement
Feed.fm was able to maximize on the relevance of the music festival and therefore compete with top music mobile players such as Pandora and Spotify. To their knowledge, Feed.fm is the first app where music is entirely native.

Other apps have had tracks available to stream or download, but they have mostly been calls of action to open applications like Spotify. Feed.fm eliminated the inclusion of those sites and collaborated with the music festival?s app directly, subsequently driving brand awareness.

?If music is an important part of the brand?s personality and is a relevant to the context of the marketing or advertising tool, then it should be incorporated,? said Mr. Aggarwal. ?The key is to provide relevant and contextual experiences to app users.?

Lockn? Music Festival?s radio player powered by Feed.fm played music from all participating artists at the festival. Feed partnered with app developer CrowdTorch to bring the customized streaming experience to the festival fans.

Following the success of Lockn' Music Festival's app, Feed.fm is also in discussions with a host of other music festivals across North America for future partnerships.

?In the case of the Lockn' Music Festival app, the player was native to the experience and consequently, the consumer didn't leave the app, in fact, they kept the app open over 20 minutes," said Feed.fm's Mr. King.

Final Take
Alex Samuely is an editorial assistant on Mobile Marketer, New York