Debating Europe: What would save the music industry from digital piracy?

On June 26, 2015, the Internet platform “Debating Europe” of the Friends of Europe and the NGO Europe’s World, which is supported by the European Council and other European institutions the question “What would save the music industry from digital piracy?” was posed. I had the honor of starting the discussion on Skype. Find more here: http://www.debatingeurope.eu/2015/06/26/illegal-downloading/#.VY0gH0ZyfAF

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The Music Industry’s Fight Against Napster – Part 4: Napster’s Slow Death

On December 6, 1999, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sued the first file sharing platform Napster for copyright infringment. This was the start of a still ongoing campaign against file-sharing and related practises. On the occasion of the 15th anniversary of RIAA’s lawsuit against Napster, I would like to retell the story of Napster relying on Joseph Menn’s book “all that rave. The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning’s Napster” (2003) as well as on court documents and press articles.

In the fourth and last part the slow death of Napster is highlighted when Bertelsmann AG bought the sued file sharing service and failed to turn it into a sustainable business model.

The Music Industry’s Fight Against Napster – Part 3: The Trial

On December 6, 1999, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) sued the first file sharing platform Napster for copyright infringment. This was the start of a still ongoing campaign against file-sharing and related practises. On the occasion of the 15th anniversary of RIAA’s lawsuit against Napster, I would like to retell the story of Napster relying on Joseph Menn’s book “all that rave. The Rise and Fall of Shawn Fanning’s Napster” (2003) as well as on court documents and press articles.

In part 3 the trial on the preliminary injunction against Napster is highlighted that eventually let to the shut down of the file sharing service in summer 2001.

Is piracy ‘good’ or ‘bad’? – guest post by Steven Brown

Steven Brown is a Doctoral Research Student at Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland. His mixed-methods research into music piracy has appeared in diverse publications including The Psychologist,  Musicae Scientae, and Convergence.

In his guest post he reflects his long experience in the psychology in music piracy research to question if piracy is economically ‘bad’ or ‘good’. He comes to the conslusion that the answer is strongly dependent on the methodology used in the research. This is in line with my findings in the blog series “How Bad is Music File Sharing?”

Read more on Steven’s thoughts on music file sharing research here:

Book Review: Music Business and the Experience Economy. The Australasian Case

“Music Business and the Experience Economy” is the first book on the music business in Australasia from an academic perspective. In a cross-disciplinary approach, the authors deal with a wide-range of topics concerning the production, distribution and consumption in the digital age. The interrelationship of legal, aesthetic and economic aspects in the production of music in Australasia is also highlighted as well as the emergence of new business models, the role of music file sharing, and the live music sector. In addition, the impact of the digital revolution on music experience and valuation, the role of music for sports and branding, and last but not least the developments of tertiary music education, are discussed from different perspectives.

Peter Tschmuck, Philip L. Pearce and Steven Campbell (eds.), 2013, Music Business and the Experience Economy. The Australasian Case. Heidelberg & New York: Springer, ISBN: 978-3-642-27897-6.

For a more detailed book review please click here for further reading.

Music Experience and Behaviour in Young People in the UK

The study Music Experience and Behaviour in Young People is the third survey of its kind – after 2008 and 2009 – for 2011. After a presentation of the key findings of the study in the 3^rd Vienna Music Business Research Days, it’s now an honour and pleasure to exclusively present the results of the current study on the blog. The 2011 study is based on a comprehensive online survey of 1,888 of 14-24 year olds across the UK. The main conclusion of the current research is “(…) that when it comes to music and young people, everything is different, and yet everything is still the same”; compared to 2008 and 2009.

The key findings of the 2011 study are:

• The computer is no longer their main entertainment hub.
• Digital music collections are still huge.
• Digital music collections still contain 50 percent “free” music.
• Ownership is still important.
• Music is no longer the most popular entertainment type.
• There remains a very clear “value gap”.
• The popularity of file sharing has changed significantly.
• The 14-25 years olds are prepared to pay for digital music.
• But there are still challenges for streaming music online.
• Digital music consumption is still complex.
• They have a clear understanding and grasp of what copyright law is.

Please read further if you want to know more about the research results.

The Third “Vienna Music Business Research Days” in Retrospective

The 3^rd Vienna Music Business Research Days were devoted to the “New Music Consumption Behaviour”. Therefore, recent music consumer surveys for the U.K. and for Austria were presented and the hypothesis of music prosumption was highlighted. In another contribution the impact of music file sharing on the quality of new music products was measured. Further the French authority for protection of copyrights on the Internet – HADOPI – was presented and the effects of its operations on P2P file sharing were highlighted. In the following panel discussion “Three Strikes and Out” music industry and copyright expertes controversially debated the concept of graduaded response scheme (aka “three strikes” models) such as HADOPI in France. In this context the question “Are File Sharers Pirates?” was already controversially discussed by a sentenced file sharer and the author of the the book “Free Ride. How Digital Parasites Are Destroying the Culture Business”.

The 3rd Vienna Music Business Research Days were opened by the Young Scholars’ Workshop on June 29. Nineteen young academics from seven countries presented their research papers, which represented the full range of music business research. The best Young Scholars’ paper was then awarded by and international jury at the end of the conference on June 30.

In the following the 3rd Vienna Music Business Research on “New Music Consumption Behaviour” is summarised and all presentations and discussions can be audio streamed. Most of the papers and power point presentation are also available as downloads.

3rd Vienna Music Business Research Days on “New Music Consumption Behavior”, June 29-30, 2012

On June 29, 2012 the 3rd Vienna Music Business Research Days at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna will be opened with the Young Scholars’ Workshop at 9.00 am. Nineteen young academics from seven different countries will present current research results on different aspects of the music economy. The programme and most of the papers can found on the conference’s wepage.

On Fri, June 29 at 19.30 a discussion on the question “Are File Sharers Pirates?” will take place in Joseph Haydn-Hall. The student Joel Tenenbaum, who was sentenced to pay a compensation of US$ 675,000 for sharing 30 music files by an U.S.-court, will discuss this question with Robert Levine, author of the book “Free Ride. How Digital Parasites Are Destroying The Culture Business, And How The Culture Business Can Fight Back” conducted by Ö1 journalist Sabine Nikolay.

The Saturday morning is devoted to the presentation of recent studies on the music consumption behavior in Austria (by Michael Huber, University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna) and in the U.K. (by David Bahanovich and Dennis Collopy, University of Hertfordshire). In addition Carsten Winter (University of Music, Drama and Media Hanover) will talk about “Prosumers and Their New On-Demand-Music Culture”.

After the lunch break, Joel Waldfogel (University of Minnesota, U.S.) will highlight in his speech the relation of “Copyright Protection, Technological Change and the Quality of New Products”. This will lead us to a presentation by Rose-Marie Hunault of the French authority HADOPI, which screens internet connections in France to prevent the exchange of copyrighted material without prior agreement from the copyright holders. In the following panel discussion “Three Strikes and Out!”, Mrs. Hunault will discuss the efficiency and other aspects of the graduated response measures with music industry and IPR experts – Peter Jenner (music manager and WIPO consultant, U.K.), Martin Kretschmer, (Bournemouth University, U.K.) and Harald Hanisch (music producer and Austrian Composers’ Society) – under the guidance of heise online journalist Stefan Krempl.
The conference will be closed with the award for the best paper of the Young Scholars’ Workshop at 18.00.

For the programme please click here:
https://musicbusinessresearch.wordpress.com/vienna-music-business-research-days-2/

You can live stream the conference from Friday 19.30 on here:
MMS://mms.mdw.ac.at/musikwirtschaftsforschung_live

You can also find us on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/ViennaMusicBusinessResearchDays

And follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/#!/VMBRD

Vienna Music Business Research Days, June 29-30, 2012 on
“New Music Consumption Behavior”
University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna
Joseph Haydn-Hall
Anton-von-Webern-Platz 1
1030 Vienna

Admission free, but please register under: music.business.research@gmail.com

The Impact of HADOPI on music file-sharing

HADOPI is an acronym of the French government agency “Haute Autorité pour la Diffusion des Œuvres et la Protection des Droits sur Internet”, which was created by the so-called ‘HADOPI law’ in 2009. Its main aim is to screen internet connections in France to prevent the exchange of copyrighted material without prior agreement from the copyright holders. If a copyright holder complains a copyright infringement, HADOPI may initiate a so-called ‘three-strike’ procedure: (1) an email message is sent to the alleged offender. The Internet Service Provider (ISP) is then required to monitor his/her internet connection. In addition, the alleged offender is invited to install a filter on his internet connection. (2) If, in the six months following the first step, a repeat offense is suspected the second step of the procedure is invoked: A certified letter is sent to the alleged offender with the same content as of the initial email. (3) If the offender fails to comply during the year following the reception of the certified letter, and upon accusation of repeated offenses, the third step of the procedure is invoked. (3) The ISP is required to suspend internet access for the offender for a period of from two months to one year.

HADOPI started its operations on October 1^st 2010 and a report entitled “Hadopi, 1¹/₂ Year After The Launch” on the effects of the graduated response measures since the first warning email was sent out, was published at the end of March 2012 (click here for the French version of the report). In the following I would like to sum up the results of the report from the music usage’s perspective.

How Bad Is Music File Sharing? – Part 24

In a recent working paper by Robert G. Hammond of North Carolina State University the impact of album pre-releases in file-sharing networks on physical and digital album sales is analyzes. The paper comes to the conclusion that album sales benefit from album leaks. “[A]n album that became available in file-sharing networks one month earlier would sell 60 additional units”. In addition the results also suggest that popular artists benefit more from file-sharing than newcomers and less establised artists. In the following the analytical and methodolocigal background and the results of this paper are highlighted.