Mustard Music Application Development

"How do we create a tool that will digitalise the database?"

Action

WorkingMouse partnered with MM to scope, design and deliver the solution, providing UX/UI design, web application development and project scoping using C#Bot and React Native. The outcome was a platform made up of three applications that worked together:

• Mustard Central (Web Application): The hub for music uploads, playlist building and client profile management.
  
• Mustard Live (Desktop Application): A player that synchronised with Central and kept music running smoothly in venues, even without internet.
  
• Mustard Live (Mobile Application): A React Native app that gave managers visibility over what was playing and limited control where appropriate.
  

The project began with discovery workshops using our Way of Working approach. The team mapped existing client journeys, created an ideal future-state journey, and documented functionality in a detailed requirements backlog. A traceability matrix connected those requirements to test cases, ensuring nothing was overlooked. User interviews and usability testing shaped accessibility decisions, while high-fidelity prototypes gave MM an early look at the solution before development began.

Performance was another major focus. Search needed to handle typos, whitespace and special characters. Early testing showed playlist searches were slow (over 10 seconds) and too much data was being processed on the client side. The team introduced infinite scrolling, shifted drag-and-drop processing to the server and refined re-fetching of playlist data. These changes cut search times to under a second. Testing included unit, API and end-to-end checks, with custom tests designed from traceability reports for extra assurance.

Once the initial release was complete, the platform moved into DevOps support. This allowed the support team to refine existing features, respond quickly to feedback and keep the applications improving over time.

Result

After 9 weeks of discovery and 6 months of development, MM launched a suite of applications that transformed how they manage music.

• Mustard Central (Web Application) gave curators control over the music library, playlist building and venue profile creation. Core features included the Uploads Manager for sorting new tracks, a Playlist Builder for concurrent editing, and a Profile Builder for scheduling moods across different zones in a venue.
  
• Mustard Live (Desktop Application) allowed venues to run curated schedules, override playlists and provide direct feedback on tracks. The app was deployed on a MINIX Mini PC, offering a simple plug-and-play hardware setup.
  
• Mustard Live (Mobile Application) reduced support requests by giving managers simple controls and clear visibility. Features like Favourite Zones, Track Visibility and Control tools meant managers could adjust the music atmosphere quickly.
  

Continuous Enhancements

With DevOps support in place, the platform continued to evolve:

• Mobile: Remote venue management was improved so managers could make live adjustments with confidence.
  
• Desktop: Offline playback was strengthened, playlist control became more intuitive and the hardware hosting process was simplified.
  
• Central (Web App): Profile and playlist tools were refined, music imports became faster, and smooth fading between songs was introduced. Spotify integration was improved, and a new feature was added to support venues with prayer time scheduling.

These enhancements meant the platform didn’t stand still. It grew alongside MM’s business, responding to venue feedback and delivering a better experience every day. Since launch, Mustard has scaled from serving around 100 customers to more than 1,000. The platform’s architecture supported this growth without loss of performance, proving its ability to handle expansion.