PlayRightNow - Designing a media player experience for PlayNow arena

This paper discusses the process of designing a media player tailored for PlayNowTM arena with the purpose of enhancing the user experience of this media portal. The design process is divided into two main stages, the first consisting on gathering information to inform the design of a media player and the second stage involving a low-fidelity prototype of a media player. In the first stage, three main activities are carried out to inform the design of the interface: a literary review of relevant research and studies related to the way people use digital media and its effect on society; an evaluation of the interfaces and features offered by some of the existing popular media players in the market today from an interaction design point of view; and user observations and interviews on people’s relation to digital media. Based on the information and data collected from the first stage, an iterative process of design of interfaces was adapted, whereby potential users and design experts were consulted with their opinions and suggestions that influenced the sketching of various possible interfaces. Finally, a design of a media player for PlayNowTM arena is proposed, which is believed to have the potential of providing its users with a better experience in relation to digital content, as well as attracting new customers and increasing the revenue of this media portal

IFPI digital music report 2013: engine of a digital world

The global recorded music industry is on a path to recovery, fuelled by licensed digital music services and rapid expansion into new markets internationally. Recorded music is also helping drive a broader digital economy, according this report.Global recorded music industry revenues rose by an estimated 0.3 per cent to US$16.5 billion in 2012, the first year of industry growth since 1999. Digital revenues saw accelerating growth for the second year running, up 9 per cent, with most major digital revenue streams - downloads, subscription and advertising-supported - on the rise.The digital music business is globalising fast, as smartphones and new licensed services span new and emerging markets. In January 2011, the major international download and subscription services were present in 23 markets. Today, they are in more than 100.Licensed music services are demonstrably meeting consumers\u27 needs. New consumer research published today by Ipsos MediaCT, covering nine markets in four continents, shows that 62 per cent of internet users have used a licensed music service in the last six months. (A summary of the Ipsos MediaCT research is provided in annex)Canadian artist Carly Rae Jepsen topped the 2012 global singles chart with Call Me Maybe. British singer-songwriter Adele achieved phenomenal success with 21, the first album to top the global albums chart for two consecutive years since IFPI began reporting global best sellers in 2001.Despite the optimism, key barriers to further growth remain - the biggest being unfair competition from unlicensed music services. Governments have a key role to play in addressing this problem. The key priority remains to secure effective cooperation from intermediaries including advertisers, ISPs and search engines, who have a major influence on levels of copyright infringement

NFTs and the Music Industry, Is there a possibility for artists to benefit from NFTs in today's digital music market.

The primary focus of this thesis is based on Web 3.0 technology, specifically Non-Fungible-Token (NFT). This phenomenon represents an innovation in blockchain technology. NFT enables purchasing and selling of digital items such as art, music, books, images, text, etc. Due to the use of blockchain technology and the unique nature of NFT tokens, they cannot be duplicated and are nearly secure (which will be explained why later in the paper). Moreover, the purpose of this paper is to determine what this innovation is and how music artists and fans can use it to create a unique engagement with one another, how fans can support their favorite artist, and explore new opportunities presented by the NFTs, which provide artists with a unique payment system that enables them to earn more income than ever before. The paper begins with the definition and delimitation of the relevant music industry and a brief history of what has been accomplished so far in the music industry, copyright law, how NFTs have progressed, and how digitalization has impacted the music industry. In addition, the Internet and Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and Web 3.0 are explained. Lastly, I’ll discuss the advantages the Web 3.0 application has over previous innovations. A qualitative research method has been selected because the topic is uncharted, and the relationship between this specific technology and the music industry is not well-researched, so I conducted my own investigation through semi-structured interviews with experts from both industries. The most critical issues and opportunities discussed in this paper are usability and technical challenges, environmental challenges, legal frameworks, business models, the market, and political issues. The paper concludes that the primary problems within the music industry are not inherently rooted in digitalization, even though digitalization is the foundation of these problems. The problems are essentially political, with the decision-making within the music industry determining how the economy should function. Different parties remain an adversary to each other, resulting in the dysfunction of the music industry. This is why NFTs cannot resolve all systemic issues. However, if those in charge of the music industry allow it to operate properly, they have the potential to assist the industry

Blockchain Technology Based Supply Chain Systems and Supply Chain Performance: A Resource-Based View

Blockchain technology (BCT) is set to transform firms’ present ways of managing supply chains. This thesis explores how the efforts by firms to integrate BCT into their supply chain systems and activities, can enable certain supply chain capabilities and subsequently, improve supply chain performance. Using an abductive research approach, qualitative content analyses of 126 cases of firms’ efforts in BCT-based supply chain systems (BCT-SCS) across multiple industries are conducted to identify the BCT-enabled supply chain capabilities and their performance outcomes. Findings reveal that the present BCT-SCS efforts are mainly oriented towards improving the operational-level capabilities namely, information sharing and coordination capabilities rather than strategic-level capabilities namely, integration and collaboration capabilities. The predominant performance outcomes resulting from these capabilities along with the BCT-SCS are quality compliance and improvement, process improvement, flexibility, reduced cost, and reduced process time. However, the performance outcomes vary with industry type, based on the risks that the industry faces. Based on the study’s findings, an integrated framework of research propositions is presented to facilitate future empirical research

Music 2025 : The Music Data Dilemma: issues facing the music industry in improving data management

© Crown Copyright 2019Music 2025ʼ investigates the infrastructure issues around the management of digital data in an increasingly stream driven industry. The findings are the culmination of over 50 interviews with high profile music industry representatives across the sector and reflects key issues as well as areas of consensus and contrasting views. The findings reveal whilst there are great examples of data initiatives across the value chain, there are opportunities to improve efficiency and interoperability

Digital disruption in the recording industry

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 music on the digital music networks, culminating in an emergence of successful streaming services. This thesis examines why there was a mismatch between initial predictions and what has actually happened in the market. It offers a detailed examination of the innovation processes through which digital technology was implemented and domesticated in the recording industry. This reveals a complex, contradictory and constantly evolving landscape in which the development of digital music distribution was far removed from the smooth development trajectories envisaged by those who saw these developments as following a simple trajectory shaped by technical or economic determinants. The research is based upon qualitative data analysis of fifty five interviews with a wide range of entrepreneurs and innovators, focusing on two successful innovation cases with different points of insertion within the digital recording industry; (1) Spotify: currently the world’s most popular digital music streaming service; and (2) INgrooves: an independent digital music distribution service provider whose system is also used by Universal Music Group. The thesis applies perspectives from the Social Shaping of Technology (“SST”) and its extension into Social Learning in Technological Innovation. It explores the widely dispersed processes of innovation through which the complex set of interactions amongst heterogeneous players who have conflicting interests and differing commitments involved in the digital music networks guided diverging choices in relation to particular market conditions and user requirements. The thesis makes three major contributions to understanding digital disruption in the recording industry. (1) In contrast to prevailing approaches which take P2P distribution as the single point of focus, the study investigates the multiplicity of actors and sites of innovation in the digital recording industry. It demonstrates that the dematerialisation of music did not lead to a simple, e.g. technologically-driven transformation of the industry. Instead a diverse array of realignments had to take place across the music sector to develop digital music valorisation networks. (2) By examining the detailed processes involved in the evolution of digital music services, it highlights the ways in which business models are shaped through a learning process of matching and finding constantly changing digital music users’ needs. Based on the observation that business models must be discovered in the course of making technologies work in the market, a new framework of ‘social shaping of business models’ is proposed in order to conceptualise business models as an emergent process in which firms refine their strategies in the light of emerging circumstances. (3) Drawing upon the concepts of musical networks (Leyshon 2001) and mediation (Hennion 1989), the thesis investigates the interaction of the diverse actors across the circuit of the recording business – production, distribution, valorisation, and consumption. The comprehensive analysis of the intricate interplay between innovation actors and their interactions in the economic, cultural, legal and institutional context highlights the need to develop a more sophisticated and nuanced understanding of the recording industry

DIGITAL ASSETS TRANSMISSION BETWEEN ORGANIZATIONS: MUSIC INDUSTRY CASE

This research addresses the following experiences as a contribution to the topic of Blockchain applications. First, the modeling of a Music Industry revenue distribution problem. Second, the Integration of Blockchain platforms and Legacy software. Third, the design of an algorithm that solves the distribution of Digital Assets across organizations within the Music Industry. Ultimately, the analysis of the Performance of Blockchain platforms (Ethereum and Hyperledger) in terms of Latency and Throughput. Additionally, the purpose of the research is to show that the modeling of a Music Industry payment system is possible using Blockchain Technology. Therefore, the old business model of the Music Industry, which possessed flaws and inefficiencies, could potentially change into a trustless environment benefiting all the participants y paying their contributions instantaneously. Moreover, the necessity of a solution is reinforced by an internship experienced in a MITACS project in conjunction with a company called Membran to design and implement a Blockchain solution that shortens the gap between Spotify and the payment to the Labels and Artists. The system distributes value by automatically calculating payments whenever the Digital Assets (Music Tracks revenue) are imported. The application defines specific roles and variables to simulate the Music Industry. For example, Distributors as an entry point and Artists at the end of the chain. Although, any participant within the network can create agreements and benefit from the distribution. The implementation of this research took the Hyperledger Composer framework to use the Hyperledger Fabric Blockchain as the Private Distributed Ledger, and the public Blockchain Ethereum with the Ganache Client for development purposes. Extensive research of the strengths and weaknesses of these technologies included the descriptions of features like the consensus algorithms, modular architectures, and smart contracts. Ultimately, the performance of these technologies compared Hyperledger Composer and Ethereum in terms of Latency and Throughput. The conclusion of this research pointed that Hyperledger Composer with features like the role-based architecture for applications, Programmable ChainCode (Smart Contracts), and Business Network Definitions, is better suitable for modeling customized solutions and outperforms Ethereum in terms of performance when testing the same number of transactions, the same logic of the chain code and the same machine environment

Mobility is the Message: Experiments with Mobile Media Sharing

This thesis explores new mobile media sharing applications by building, deploying, and studying their use. While we share media in many different ways both on the web and on mobile phones, there are few ways of sharing media with people physically near us. Studied were three designed and built systems: Push!Music, Columbus, and Portrait Catalog, as well as a fourth commercially available system – Foursquare. This thesis offers four contributions: First, it explores the design space of co-present media sharing of four test systems. Second, through user studies of these systems it reports on how these come to be used. Third, it explores new ways of conducting trials as the technical mobile landscape has changed. Last, we look at how the technical solutions demonstrate different lines of thinking from how similar solutions might look today. Through a Human-Computer Interaction methodology of design, build, and study, we look at systems through the eyes of embodied interaction and examine how the systems come to be in use. Using Goffman’s understanding of social order, we see how these mobile media sharing systems allow people to actively present themselves through these media. In turn, using McLuhan’s way of understanding media, we reflect on how these new systems enable a new type of medium distinct from the web centric media, and how this relates directly to mobility. While media sharing is something that takes place everywhere in western society, it is still tied to the way media is shared through computers. Although often mobile, they do not consider the mobile settings. The systems in this thesis treat mobility as an opportunity for design. It is still left to see how this mobile media sharing will come to present itself in people’s everyday life, and when it does, how we will come to understand it and how it will transform society as a medium distinct from those before. This thesis gives a glimpse at what this future will look like