Downloading or buying a music album gives its listeners no insight into the lengthy process it took to make it. How do we show the process of creating an album? How do we open up its DNA - the building blocks of each song, each moment that went into the making? The goal of The DNA Project was to draw people into the process and get them excited about an album while it’s actually being made. This creation story is built up with various data points that lead the fan through the artist’s process of making an entire album. Through all the individual pieces that make up each song, people can interact with the full creation timeline, dive into the data, and find a new way to engage with the artist.

By clicking through a song’s posts step by step and experiencing a full album from start to finish, the hope is that the tracks sound different when the final edit is played. Users leave with a deeper understanding of how data points are connected and affect each other. The platform is still running (4 out of 10 songs has been completed) - so final results and effectiveness have not yet been measured. But since its launch thousands of music fans have visited the site and participated in j.viewz’s process, redefining the way musical data is created and consumed in this digital age.

The DNA Project was built to give users a direct connection to the artist j.viewz and his creative process in making his next album. The platform allows him to post all the moments leading up to a song’s completion so that fans can follow along. Through video, image, text and audio posts, the layers of each song build up along a timeline. Users get access to every moment: the collection of sounds and beats, writing and recording sessions, even a song’s naming process. Once collected all this creation data lives on the platform, providing a way for fans to get a deeper understanding of each track’s origins and components - its musical DNA.

Users visiting the site can explore all the creative data, upload their own content to inspire j.viewz, and join conversations with the artist and other fans. Users can also download sound bites and use them in their own creations. Content gets added to the site by j.viewz, can leave the site with a fan and take on a new life in someone else’s musical creation. This dialogue between artist and fan forms a continuous ‘remix’ of data that can spark new ideas and alter the final product. In this way the data journey has no end point.