Business innovation and disruption in the music industry (original) (raw)
Related papers
Daniel Nordgård
Music business research is a new multidisciplinary field that puts a number of different analytical approaches into mutual dialogue. It is located at the intersection of economic, artistic, musical, cultural, social, legal, and technological understandings of this cultural industry and it aims to generate a better understanding of the creation, distribution and consumption of music as a cultural good. As a field it is therefore characterised by methodological diversity and involves linking academic research with music business practices. The book series welcomes monographs and edited volumes that feature groundbreaking research into this dynamic and exciting field.
A Creative Industry in Transition: The Rise of Digitally Driven Independent Music Production
Growth and Change, 2012
This paper nuances our understanding of the ongoing transition within the North American music industry. It extends the existing analysis of the so-called "MP3 Crisis" by exploring the ways in which digital technologies have challenged the entrenched power of the major record labels. In particular, new insights are offered based on interviews with music industry executives who have been active in shaping the industry's response to illegal file sharing. The paper also uses interview data from musicians to investigate the implications of restructuring at the macroscale on creative talent at the microscale. As such, it documents the structures and spatial dynamics of digitally driven independent music production in Canada for the first time.
Digitalisation and Intermediaries in the Music Industry: The Rise of the Entrepreneur?
SCRIPT-ed
Prior to digitalisation, the vertical structure of the market for recorded music could be described as a large number of creators (composers, lyricists and musicians) supplying creative expressions to a small number of larger record labels and publishers. These funded, produced, and marketed the resulting recorded music and subsequently sold these works to consumers through a fragmented retail sector. We argue that digitalisation has led to a new structure in which the retail segment has also become concentrated. Such a structure, with successive oligopolistic segments, can lead to higher consumer prices through double marginalisation. We further question whether a combination of disintermediation of the record labels function combined with 'selfpublishing' by creators, will lead to the demise of powerful firms in the record label segment. If so, this would shift market power from the record label and publisher segment to the retail segment (and new intermediaries such as ISPs), rather than increasing the number of segments with market power.
2019
The Internet and modern-day technologies have changed the way people connect with the world around them. The music industry is one of the areas that is undoubtedly affected by the Internet. Music technologies have faced a drastic reorganization process due to the digital revolution that changed the way people consume, source, listen, purchase, discover, experience, produce, read and learn music. These technological advancements have induced great changes for artists, listeners, and producers. This study will attempt to investigate the business models of digital music that can be profitable in the future. As previous studies suggest (Arditi, 2017), with the introduction of the technological revolution the whole revenue mechanism has shifted. This study attempts to give insight into the changing revenue mechanism of how musicians, record labels, make money from digital music by analyzing the digital music business models from the perspective of the consumer, the record labels and the artists. The fundamental questions this study attempts to address are a) how technology has changed by presenting an overview of the music industry, b) what kind of digital music business models exist by analyzing their effects from the perspective of the listeners, artists and record labels, and c) what happens if the business model does not meet the demand of the users by explaining the ‘piracy’ phenomenon. The present research seeks to identify where digital music services in the contemporary era are heading, to investigate the effectiveness and operation of digital music services and to offer implications about what can be expected in the future. To answer the given research questions, the literature on related topics suggests that both a quantitative and a qualitative approach are considered as the necessary methods for the present study. In the first phase, drawing on relevant literature review qualitative analysis is used to present the theoretical background for the thesis. In the second phase quantitative analysis is utilized. The primary tool is the questionnaire, which contains three sections of questions. The first section focuses on the personal background of the participants, determining the type of the person under examination. The second section includes questions regarding music consumption habits. The last section analyzes listeners’ perception towards piracy phenomenon. As an artist, I will also myself make empirical analysis based on my observations and experiences during my work with Sony Music Turkey in 2015 in the conclusion.
Digitalisation and intermediaries in the music industry
2017
Prior to digitalisation, the vertical structure of the market for recorded music could be described as a large number of artists [composers, lyricists and musicians] supplying creative expressions to a small number of larger record labels and publishers who funded, produced, and marketed the resulting recorded music to subsequently sell these works to consumers through a fragmented retail sector. We argue that digitalisation has led to a new structure in which the retail segment has also become concentrated. Such a structure, with successive oligopolistic segments, can lead to higher consumer prices through double marginalisation. We further question whether a combination of disintermediation of the record labels function combined with “self-publishing” by artists, will lead to the demise of powerful firms in the record label segment, thus shifting market power from the record label and publisher segment to the retail segment, rather than increasing the number of segments with marke...
Digital disruption in the recording industry
2017
With the rise of peer-to-peer software like Napster, many predicted that the digitalisation, sharing and dematerialisation of music would bring a radical transformation within the recording industry. This opened up a period of controversy and uncertainty in which competing visions were articulated of technology-induced change, markedly polarised between utopian and dystopian accounts with no clear view of ways forwards. A series of moves followed as various players sought to valorise that I have friends upon whom to call. The greatest gratitude goes to Jeong-In Park, my daughter, who grew with my thesis, but turned out so much better despite being paid less attention than the thesis. This thesis is dedicated to her. I love you, Jeong-In. I
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
In this paper, we provide scenarios of evolution for the recorded music industry. These scenarios are based on two dimensions. First, we identify two strategies of revenue extraction in a digital world: either through the sale of content, which requires a direct or indirect protection of music files; or through the (almost) free distribution of content and the sale of complementary goods or services. Second, we argue that the informational structure of the industry is evolving from a situation in which works are selected before the production phase and promotion is centralised to a situation in which there will be no selection and/or promotion will be decentralised. We discuss each scenario in terms of market structure and diversity and provide examples of emerging business that fit with the scenarios. JEL codes: L2; L86; Z1.