Detroit Symphony Orchestra

When Made took on the challenge to create a web experience worthy of that mission, one of the key features was integrating with their live and on-demand video programming.

Prior to the planned launch of the new dso.org, the orchestra was switching to Vimeo OTT as a host for their DSO Live, DSO Replay, and DSO Classroom Edition channels. Some videos were to be open to the public, while others required viewers to make an annual donation to the orchestra before they could access them.

To accomplish this within the new website, we built a viewing experience using the Vimeo OTT API, paired with the Tessitura API for user credentials and access. When a user on dso.org goes to watch a DSO Replay video, they are prompted to login or make a donation to continue. Once they’ve been successfully identified as a donor, they then have access to the full back catalogue of DSO Replay content.

In order for Vimeo OTT to grant access to videos directly, accounts need to be created on their platform, based on the user’s email address. In order for Tessitura to grant video access, a specific constituency code must be active.

The first part of this implementation is to add the constituency when someone makes a contribution online. This allows them to watch the video directly and immediately through the DSO website. Additionally, an account is created in Vimeo OTT with the customer’s email address, so that future visits directly to the hosted platform do not require a website login. This also means that these customer credentials will work for any non-web deployments of Vimeo OTT, including via TV apps.

The other piece of this puzzle was how to provide access to customers who donate in person, over the phone, or by mail. We worked with the Vimeo team and DSO’s technology team on a scheduled SQL job, creating credentialed accounts within the OTT platform for any new offline donors.

Collectively, these pieces created a seamless integration with a third party OTT system, which allows their donors the ability to view videos either on the DSO site, or on the hosted platform. Controlling free versus paid access at the video level can be controlled entirely in Vimeo, while the mechanism for which specific users can access paid content is controlled in Tessitura.