School of Rock: Tuning into Structured Empowerment (A)

In summer 2021, School of Rock was a youth-oriented music education company with 291 franchise- and company-owned schools globally. Before CEO Rob Price’s hire in 2017, School of Rock’s nonconformist rock ‘n’ roll culture led to variability in teaching styles, educational outcomes, and risks for copyright violations. The previous administration’s attempts to standardize curriculum and processes led to friction with franchisees. Price smoothed over the tension by better listening to franchisees and clarifying core policies while giving franchisees freedom in certain areas. One of Price’s major initiatives was the Method App which provided a structure to empower and guide work at the school branches, featuring nearly 100 show programs and 1,000 copyright-compliant song choices tagged with the associated skill levels, musical concepts, and corresponding show programs. When the app launched as a minimum viable product (MVP) in October 2019, it struggled to gain traction. Some franchisees felt the MVP’s functionality was flawed; others worried that the app threatened their pedagogical independence. Price’s team considered several options to increase adoption: a listening tour to communicate the app’s value and collect feedback for improvements; an exclusive marketing campaign for schools with a minimum level of app usage; and incentives based on School of Rock’s balanced scorecard that measured performance and other metrics. Which one or more of these options would drive app adoption without reigniting tension between franchisees and the corporate office?