International Journal of Music Business Research – April 2018, vol. 7, no. 1

The first article of this issue of the International Journal of Music Business Research (IJMBR), “Exploring bounty and spread: key changes in the Danish music streaming economy” by Rasmus Rex Pedersen examines the structural effects of the transition to the access-based business model of music streaming, at a time when the global music streaming market is growing and developing quickly. The second article is “Blockchain: A new opportunity for record labels” by Opal Gough, which points to the opportunities for the music industry from blockchain technology, especially the chance to develop an international industry database for musical compositions and sound recordings as well as streamline processes, remove inefficiencies and improve cash flow. The concluding article of this issue is “Compulsory licensing in Ecuador’s music industry: A daring strategy within the new intellectual property law in order to regulate music piracy” by Abner Pérez Marín. This paper examines compulsory licensing in relation to the management of music piracy in Ecuador and describes how, in October 2016, Ecuador’s Government replaced its Intellectual Property Code with the Organic Code of the Knowledge’s Social Economy and Innovation, branded as Código Ingenios. Daniel Nordgård’s book review of “Digital Music Distribution: The sociology of online music streams ” by Hendrik Storstein Spilker rounds up the IJMBR’s April 2018 issue.

 

Volume 7, no 1, April 2018

Editorial by Dennis Collopy, pp. 4-5

Rasmus Rex Pedersen: Exploring bounty and spread: key changes in the Danish music streaming economy, pp. 6-25

Opal Gough: Blockchain: A new opportunity for record labels, pp. 26-44

Abner Pérez Marín: Compulsory licensing in Ecuador’s music industry: a daring strategy within the new intellectual property law in order to regulate music piracy, pp. 45-71

Book review by Daniel Nordgård: Digital Music Distribution: The sociology of online music streams by Hendrik Storstein Spilker, pp. 72-74

 

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Music Business Research 2016 – in retrospective

Dear readers of the music business research blog,

2016 seems to be the pivotal year in the recorded music industry. Although no annual statistics have been published until yet, we can take it for granted that the positive trend of 2015 continued in 2016. In 2015, the global recorded music market expanded by 3.4%. The US-market slightly grew by 0.9% and the German recorded music sales even increased by 4.4%.

The booming music streaming market was of course the main driver for the economic recovery of the recorded music business in 2015 and we can expect a further growth in 2016 and the upcoming year. The revenue growth of the streaming business compensated for the decline in CD sales, despite decreasing music download sales as highlighted in “The fate of the CD – an international CD-market analysis”. However, an in-depth analysis of the statistics unveils very different market dynamics in various countries. Whereas music streaming is the main business of the recorded music industry in Scandinavia, CD sales are still relevant in Germany and in Japan (see “The Music Streaming Market Revisited, 2011-2015”).

Book Review: The Death & Life of the Music Industry in the Digital Age by Jim Rogers

Jim Rogers’ PhD-thesis at Dublin City University was recently published under the title “The Death & Life of the Music Industry in the Digital Age” at Bloomsbury/London. He interviewed 30 music business professionals in the UK and Ireland from 2007 to 2010 to answer the main research question if the Internet caused a crisis in the music industry that is signalling its final collapse or if it, in contrast, resulted in an intensive restructuring and reordering within the industry.

He concludes that the music industry has not undergone a fundamental structural upheaval but was reshaped by an evolutionary change. Rogers observes more continuities than discontinuities in the music industry and states that most of the music industry actors do more or less the same things but in a different way. In the following I highlight how the author comes to such a conclusion.

The recession in the music industry – a cause analysis

Filesharing is made primarily responsible for the decline in sales in the phonographic industry, especially in the CD segment (see the current IFPI Digital Music Report). However, serious research on filesharing behavior (see Huygen et al 2009, Andersen/Frenz 2007, Oberholzer-Gee/Strumpf 2007 (working-paper March 2004), Blackburn 2004) shows that filesharing use does not necessarily have a negative impact on physical and digital sales. But if this is not the case, then there must be other causes for the now decade-long recession. In the following I would like to discuss alternative explanations for the recession in the music industry and try to substantiate them empirically.