Music Business Research 2018 – in retrospective

Dear all,

The music business highlight of 2018 was Spotify’s IPO on April 3^rd. The public listing of the music streaming service at the New York Stock Exchange was warmly welcomed by the investors with a price per share of US $166 and a market capitalization of US $26.5bn.[1] In the following Spotify’s stock price reached an all-time high of US $196.3 at the end of July – giving it a market capitalization of US $35.3bn. In the meantime, however, Spotify’s stock price lost more than 40 percent and currently the company is worth US $20.6bn.[2] This can only partly be explained by a bearish stock market in the second half of 2018, since the S&P 500 stock exchange index lost just 11.7 percent in the same period. It seems that investors have doubts about Spotify’s business model. The business analysis highlights increasing losses despite a sharply rising number of monthly active users – currently 83m premium subscribers and 109m ad-supported monthly active users.[3] However, the music industry major companies (except Universal Music Group) and the indie label licencing agency MERLIN sold their stakes in Spotify shortly after its IPO at a profit. The recorded music majors are the main beneficiaries of the booming music streaming market, which has grown by 41.1 percent to globally US $6.6bn in 2017.[4]. In-depth analyses of the Universal’s as well as Warner’s business performance highlight that the major companies as well as larger indie labels have increasing revenues and profits due to music streaming.

Beyond Spotify and the booming music streaming, I also want to point at the following music business related topics in 2018:

• Vivendi’s plans to sell at least 50 percent of Universal Music Group to Liberty Media (owner Sirius XM Radio Inc.), which also bought a controlling stake in US music streaming service Pandora in 2018,
• the announcement by Chinese Tencent Holdings of an IPO of its Tencent Music Entertainment Group at the New York Stock Exchange,
• the enactment of the US Music Modernization Act
• and the fight over Article 13 of the pending EU Copyright Directive.

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The 7th Vienna Music Business Research Days in retrospective

The 7^th Vienna Music Business Research Days on “Self-Management in the Digital Music Business” are already history. International music business researchers and business professionals gathered at the University of Music and Performing Arts to discuss the challenges and chances of the digital music economy.

In the Young Scholars’ Workshop graduate and PhD students from Canada, Germany, Norway, Poland, Spain and Russia presented their theses in a closed workshop in group of highly regarded music business/industry researchers. Lorenz Grünewald of the University of Applied Sciences for Media, Communication and Management Berlin was awarded for his paper “The (In)significance of the Brand: Brands & Music Culture”. The paper will be published in the International Journal of Music Business Research (IJMBR).

The conference track day on September 28 brought together music business academics from Australia, Austria, Colombia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Slovenia and Spain, who presented recent research results on the music business/industry.

The third conference day was again held in cooperation with the Waves Music Festival & Conference and was devoted to the topic of “Self-Management in Digital Music Business”.

 

7th Vienna Music Business Research Days on “Self-Management in the Digital Music Business”

The 7th Vienna Music Business Research Days on “Self-Management in the Digital Music Business” are held from Sep. 27-29, 2016 at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. As in the prior years, music business research from all around the world and music industry prfessionals will discuss current developments in the music business/industry in numerous presentations and panel discussions.

The Young Scholars’ Workshop (closed event) gathers for the sixth time students from all around the globe to present their research projects and to discuss them with renown music business researchers.

After the workshop,  Angela Myles Beechings presents her book in the keynote “Beyond Talent: the Psychology of Music Entrepreneurship and Self Management” in IKM’s Large Conference Room on Sep. 27th  from 19:30-21:00 (building E on university’s campus).

On Sep. 28th, music business researchers from eight different countries present their recent findings on the music business/industry. The topics range from the economics and psychology of music streaming and music education to team diversity in sound recording projects: Click here for the program.

The entire last conference day on Sep. 29th, is devoted to the conference’s main topic.  Martin Lücke (Macromedia University, Berlin) talks on best-practice models of career centers at music universities, before moderating a panel discussion with Gretchen Amussen (L’Association Européenne des Conservatoires, Paris), Angela Myles-Beeching (Manhattan School of Music, New York) and Stefan Simon (Music University Detmold) on the same topic.

After the panel discussion, music consultant Johannes Ripken highlights his concept of “Organic Artist Development”.

After the lunch break (14:00),  Stephen Power highlights in a keynote speech his very personal approach of “Self-Management in the Digital Music Business”. Stephen Power is a very successful music producer working with Robbie Williams, Blur, Diana Ross etc. In the following panel discussion, the successful Austrian music producer and vice-president of the Austrian Composers’ Society, Harald Hanisch, moderates a panel with Roxanne de Bastion (musician, London), Keith Harris (manager of Stevie Wonder, London), Stephen Power (music producer, London) and Johannes Ripken (musik consultant, Kiel) the challenges of “Self-Management in the Digital Music Business”.

The last conference day will be closed with awarding the best paper of the Young Scholars’ Workshop.

Conference program: https://musicbusinessresearch.wordpress.com/vienna-music-business-research-days-2/

How to get there and campus map: https://musicbusinessresearch.wordpress.com/vienna-music-business-research-days-2/conference-site-how-to-get-there/

Video-Livestream on Sep. 29th: http://www.mdw.ac.at/mdwMediathek/livestream/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ViennaMusicBusinessResearchDays

Twitter: https://twitter.com/VMBRD

Introducing our guests: Keith Harris (manager of Stevie Wonder, London)

The 7th Vienna Music Business Research Days from Sep. 27-29, 2016 are devoted to “Self-Management in the Digital Music Business”. International music business experts, therefore, discuss the challenges and chances of artist self-management as well as the future development. Find the program here.

In the afternoon of Sep. 29th, a top-class panel discusses “Self-Management in the Digital Music Business” in Joseph-Haydn-Hall from 15:30-17:00. Keith Harris, manager of Stevie Wonder, is one of the panelists. Keith started in the music industry in 1974 working for Transatlantic, a small independent UK label. In 1976 Keith joined EMI Records where he initially worked for several in-house EMI labels in the promotions department. These included Rocket where he worked on the Elton John album ‘Blue Moves’, Fantasy, Ariola and EMI International. He then joined Motown becoming General Manager working with artists such as Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder. He left in 1978 to work with Stevie Wonder and became Operations Manager for his companies.

In 1982 he formed his own management company and was involved in the management of various UK based artists, while also continuing to represent Stevie Wonder. He is a Senior Fellow of the University of Westminster School of Music, Film and Fashion where he has lectured since 1993. He is a former Chairman of the MMF, the managers’ trade body, and he is the Chairman of Musictank. Keith joined PPL in 2006 and was made an Honorary Doctorate by the University of Westminster in November 2007.

 

 

Introducing our guests: Peter Jenner (Sincere Management, London)

Peter JENNER © Walter Wobrazek 10.06.2010

The 6^th Vienna Music Business Research Days 2015 focus on “Financing Music in the Digital Age”. International experts and academics discuss new and alternative revenue sources for the music scene such as music streaming for the classic music business, crowdfunding and business angel funding.

London-based music manager Peter Jenner is one of the discussants of the panel on “Music Start-up Funding in the Digitized Music Economy” in Joseph Haydn Hall from 15:15-16:45 on Oct. 1, 2015.

Peter Jenner is legendary in the music business. One time manager to Pink Floyd, The Clash, Ian Dury & Billy Bragg amongst many others, he is now at the forefront of the debates surrounding the digital use of music. He is President Emeritus (IMMF), Director (UK MMF) and on the advisory board of FAC. He is also a visiting professor for the University of Hertfordshire and the University of Adger in Norway. For more details, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Jenner (not all of it accurate).

For more details of the program of the 6^th Vienna Music Business Research Days at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (Anton-von-Webern-Platz 1, 1030 Vienna) see here: https://musicbusinessresearch.wordpress.com/vienna-music-business-research-days-2/

Call-for-papers: 5th Vienna Music Business Research Days

The 5^th Vienna Music Business Research Days will be held at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Austria, on October 01-03, 2014.

The conference organizers invite scholars (from the postdoctoral level on) who have a research focus on music business/industry related topics to submit a paper proposal for the conference day on October 03, 2014: pdf-version of the call-for-papers

Indicative themes on all music business research areas, include, but not limited to:

• Past, current and future developments in the music industry (recorded music industry, live music sector, music publishing, music retailing and wholesaling, music instruments industry etc.);
• Music market research and music charts research;
• The economic and social situation of musicians as well as the labor market for musicians;
• The management of musicians and music institutions;
• The marketing of music;
• Music branding and sponsoring;
• Public and private funding of the music sector (including new forms of music funding such as crowdfunding);
• Case studies on music companies and other music institutions;
• Legal aspects of the music business (contracts, copyright, competition law/policy etc.);
• Music licensing and collecting societies;
• Music media (radio, TV, online-based media etc.);
• Economic aspects of music genres (classical, pop/rock, jazz, world music markets etc.);
• Business-related music education;
• Music export;
• etc.

Please send an abstract of your proposal to vmbrdays@gmail.com no later than April 30, 2014.

For further information , please click here:

4th Vienna Music Business Days

The 4^th Vienna Musis Business Research Days will be held on the “Future of Music Licensing” in Joseph Haydn Hall at the University of Music Performing Arts Vienna (Anton-von-Webern-Platz 1, 1030 Vienna) from June 20-21, 2013. This international conference gathers scholars from different disciplines, but also business professionals and decision-makers from state and private bodies to discuss the future of collective music licensing as well as the future of copyright in a digital society. In addition young scholars present their recent findings on music business industry topics in an international workshop.

 

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

 

You can follow the 4^th Vienna Music Business Research from 19:30, June 20 (CEST until 18.00, June 21, 2013 (CEST) on a live audio stream: http://www.mdw.ac.at/mdwMediathek/livestream/

 

For the conference program, please click here.

 

Media coverage of the 4^th Vienna Music Business Research Days 2013

Musikmarkt. Das Branchenmagazin, “Zwischen Theorie und Praxis. Die Wiener Tage des Musikwirtschaftsforschung”, Issue 22/2013, p. 44.

Salzburger Nachrichten, “Ein Ständchen kann teuer werden”, June 14, 2013.

Futurezone, “Experten diskutieren Musiklizenzierung in Wien”, June 17, 2013.

The Gap, “The Next Big Thing”, June 19, 2013.

 

 

Call for Papers: Young Scholars’ Workshop 2013

On June 20th, 2013, the Young Scholars’ Workshop on music business research topics will take place within the 4th Vienna Music Business Research Days on “Digital Music Rights Management”. Young scholars’ from all academic disciplines and at all levels of MA & PhD are encouraged to submit their paper proposals (of about 1,000 characters) until December 31, 2012 to viennamusicresearch@ijk.hmtm-hannover.de. A maximum of 12 papers will be selected for presentation by an international jury until January 31, 2013. The full papers are due until May 6, 2013. The workshop will take place at the Institute of Cultural Management and Cultural Studies (IKM, Anton-von-Webern-Platz 1, 1030 Vienna/Austria).

Find here the pdf-version of the call for papers.

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

Music Business Research in 2011 – in retrospect

Dear friends of the music business research blog. I would like to thank you for your interest in my blogging activity and before starting into 2012, I would like to look back to 2011. It was a very eventful year for the music business/industry. The number of recorded music major companies shrank to ony three. The global live music market was faced a downturn after a long boom period. Apple, Goolge and Amazon.com introduced their music clouds to the public. Spotify was not only launched in the U.S., but also in Belgium, Austria and Switzerland. iTunes has become available in most of the Eastern European countries as well as in Latin America. The EU extended to copyright term for sound recordings from 50 to 70 years – to name only a few events.

However, from a music business research perspective, one of the highlights was the second Vienna Music Business Research Days on “New Music Distribution Models” held at University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. In talks, discussions and in the first Young Scholars’ workshop the recent developments in the dissemination of music by streaming, download and cloud-based services were highlighed by music business researchs and music industry professionals. The summaries of all the talks and discussions can be read in the blog as well as streamed for listening.

In the following you can find all academic theses & papers, which have been added for downloading in 2011. In addition find a list of important music business/industry studies and books published last year. You can also find a top-10-list of the most visited blog-posts and some more information.