The impact of disintermediation on independent music business models

This work presents an exploratory study of how the disintermediation phenomenon, which has been occurring among the main economic agents of the music industry, is affecting independent musicians’ business models and practices. This phenomenon results from a shift in the technological paradigm, in which the access to global communication networks and digital tools has caused disruptive changes to the current production model, to the access conditions of producers to markets, and to the power relations between economic agents. This study locates within the creative industries scope of research, particularly in music business research. It aims to analyse and expose part of the work reality of producers in one of the most important sectors of the creative industries. Concerning methodology, this study adopts realism for its philosophical stance, in order to address the problem, by carrying out objective discovery and theory development, through objective descriptions of reality. Taking this into consideration, the chosen research strategy has been the case study. A set of seven independent music artists has been purposely selected, based on the strategic approach they take in business and in the evolutive path they are pursuing. Personal semi-structured interviews were conducted with five of these artists, in order to obtain information concerning their business models and practices, which provided the primary data for analysis. The data of the remaining two independent artists was obtained from mixed sources. Additionally, in order to complement this study, data reports from the Artists Revenue Streams (ARS) study have been used as secondary data. This study, led by the Future of Music Coalition (FMC) in the US, assesses whether and how musicians’ revenue streams are changing in this new music landscape. This study indicates that the effects of disintermediation, induced by a technological paradigm shift, are mostly observable in the way independent artists are becoming selfsufficient. They have been leveraging on technology to take on business functions, such as management, funding, distribution and promotion. However, concerning disintermediation, these functions reveal different levels of incidence. This is determined by the power that record labels, the traditional intermediary, maintain over financing and promotion. In the evolutionary path of an independent artist, the need for a professional structure typically grows along the way. This structure maybe maybe provided either by a record label, or by assembling a professional team or resorting to independent services. The consequences of disintermediation can be further demonstrated through some illustrative signs; record labels are readjusting, what can be seen through the renegotiation and the adoption of other contract models, and the lessening of investment in certain traditional business functions. Furthermore, the bargaining power of artists has increased, which grants them more control over their career direction, over the development of their brand, and most importantly, of their creativity.Este trabalho apresenta um estudo exploratório sobre o fenómeno da desintermediação, decorrente entre os principais agentes económicos da indústria da música, e o modo como este está a afectar os músicos independentes, no que diz respeito aos seus modelos e práticas de negócio. Este fenómeno surge em consequência de uma alteração do paradigma tecnológico, em que o acesso às redes de comunicação globais e às ferramentas digitais provocou alterações disruptivas no modelo de produção vigente, nas condições de acesso dos produtores aos mercados e nas relações de poder entre agentes económicos. Este trabalho insere-se no âmbito de investigação nas indústrias criativas, e em particular, no negócio da música. Assim, tem como objectivo analisar e expor uma parte da realidade do trabalho de produtores num dos sectores mais relevantes das indústrias criativas. Em termos de metodologia, este trabalho aborda a problemática através de uma postura filosófica que adopta o realismo, de modo a proceder à descoberta objectiva e ao desenvolvimento de teoria, suportados por descrições objectivas da realidade. Tendo isto em consideração, foi realizada uma investigação teórica, baseada na revisão bibliográfica, e uma investigação empírica, que teve por base o caso de estudo como estratégia de investigação. Nesse sentido, selecionou-se um conjunto de sete músicos independentes, que se destacam pela abordagem estratégica ao negócio e pelo percurso evolutivo que têm seguido. Foram realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas, pessoalmente, a cinco dos músicos para recolha de informação relativa aos seus modelos e práticas de negócio, e que constituíram os dados primários de análise. Para os dois casos restantes, os dados foram obtidos de fontes mistas. Adicionalmente, de forma a complementar este estudo, utilizaram-se os relatórios do estudo Artist Revenue Streams (ARS) como dados secundários. Este estudo foi levado a cabo pela Future of Music Coalition (FMC) nos EUA, e averigua os factores envolvidos na evolução das fontes de rendimento dos artistas musicais. O estudo aponta que os efeitos da desintermediação, que advém do choque tecnológico, se verificam ao nível da autossuficiência demonstrada pelos artistas musicais independentes. Eles têm vindo a assumir funções de negócio, como a gestão, o financiamento, a distribuição e a promoção, tendo a tecnologia um papel preponderante na sua facilitação. No entanto, para cada uma destas funções, a desintermediação apresenta níveis de incidência distintos. Isto é determinado pelo poder que a editora, o intermediário tradicional, mantém no âmbito do financiamento e da promoção. No trajeto evolutivo de um artista independente, surge a necessidade de recorrer cada vez mais a uma estrutura profissional, podendo esta ser uma editora, ou em alternativa a sua própria, construindo uma equipa profissional ou recorrendo a serviços. Adicionalmente, a desintermediação compreende outras consequências; a forma de funcionamento das editoras alterou-se, o que se reflete pelo reajustamento ao nível da renegociação e alteração dos modelos de contrato e pelo desinvestimento em certas funções; o poder de negociação dos artistas aumentou, o que lhes permite deter mais controlo sobre a sua carreira, sobre a forma como a sua marca é desenvolvida, e principalmente, sobre a sua criatividade

Change and growth of Australian music value chains

The Australian music industry is growing and developing yet specific information about the ways in which distribution systems develop is limited. In this study I examined the growth and change of the Australian music value chain. This includes the development of digital distribution systems and the effect that peer-to-peer technology has on system development, specifically the disintermediation between consumers and artists to the detriment of the multinational value chains. The drivers of this change are broken into social and technical elements in order to describe the growth and change occurring. The method used included a comprehensive literature review and use of secondary data from key music industry associations. The Australian music industry is a subset of the global industry and is led by foreign markets and their methods in which music content moves from the creators to the consumers. The consumption patterns of Australian music consumers are changing. The overall value of the music industry is dropping as the new digital downloads market emerges and the overall volume of sales increases; this reflects similar trends in foreign markets. CD single sales have dropped and digital single sales (in MP3 format) have increased. However, there needs to be a balance in the future development of Australian music distribution systems between the needs of music consumers and the sustainability of music companies, where there is both connectivity and steady revenue flow. There are technical elements that have caused a movement away from the traditional forms of music distribution as new technologies facilitate the change, such as Apple's iPod and broadband Internet connections. Advancement of distribution systems has increased piracy levels and the response has been the implementation of digital rights management (DRM), which prevents connectivity. There are also social elements that affect growth and change such as connectivity, or the consumers freedom to choose when, where and how to listen to their music. When music product has a restriction placed upon it its value to the consumer drops. Multinational music companies have failed to recognise the value users place on the freedom to pick and choose and have tried to control rather than to co-develop systems that meets both parties needs

Component-based software architectures and multi-agent systems: mutual and complementary contributions for supporting software development

Dans cette thèse, nous explorons les diverses contributions que les systèmes multi-agents (SMA) et les architectures à base de composants (CBSA) peuvent mutuellement et complémentairement s'apporter l'un à l'autre. Dans un premier temps, nous définissons, illustrons, analysons et discutons une méthodologie du développement des SMA, un modèle de composants (SpeAD), un langage de description d'architecture (SpeADL) et une méthode de conception (SpEArAF) qui facilitent et guident la description et l'implémentation des SMA. Cette réponse complète au développement des SMA est assistée par un outil (MAY) et a été appliquée à un grand nombre d'applications. Dans un second temps, nous explorons à travers divers expériences l'aide que peuvent apporter les SMA auto-adaptatif aux CBSA. Les agents et leur réorganisation continuelle jouent à la fois le rôle de moteur de la construction et de l'adaptation dynamique de l'architecture, mais aussi du conteneur qui connecte ses éléments en pratique.In this thesis, we explore the various aspects of the mutual and complementary contributions that multi-agent systems (MASs) and component-based software architectures (CBSAs) can provide to each other. On one hand, we define, illustrate, analyse and discuss an architecture-oriented methodology of MAS development, a component model (SpeAD), an architectural description language (SpeADL) and a design method (SpEArAF) that ease and guide the description and the implementation of MASs. This complete answer to MAS development is supported by a tool (MAY) and has been applied to many applications. On the other hand, we explore through various experiments how self-adaptive MASs can be used to support CBSAs. The agents and their continuous reorganisation act both as the engine of the construction and of the dynamic adaptation of the architecture, and as the runtime container that practically connects its elements together

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

The ownership of online news: a political economy analysis of www.FOXNews.com and www.news.yahoo.com

This dissertation explores the ownership of online news content within the broader context of diversity of news sources in the public sphere. The free flow of diverse sources of news and information is critical to democratic governance and public discourse. Research has highlighted the central role the Internet can play in facilitating this discourse and thus contributing to the political process. This research explores the diversity of news online by examining the ownership of news sources online. The project uses a qualitative case study approach and basic quantitative methods to conduct analyses of the homepages of News Corporation’s www.FOXNews.com and Yahoo! Inc.’s www.news.yahoo.com. Four key elements are addressed: (1) the commercial imperatives of News Corporation and Yahoo! Inc., as these imperatives relate to the ownership and production of online news content online, (2) the ultimate owners of sources of news content cited on www.FOXNews.com and www.news.yahoo.com, (3) the corporate relationships between News Corporation and the ultimate owners of news content on www.FOXNews.com and between Yahoo! Inc. and the ultimate owners of news content on www.news.yahoo.com, and (4) the types of news content on these Web sites and the organization of the news content on the homepages. Findings indicate that the overall corporate commercial imperatives of News Corporation and Yahoo! Inc. guide the production, aggregation, and distribution of news content on the homepages of www.FOXNews.com and www.news.yahoo.com. International news agencies and a small group of media corporations are dominant as ultimate owners of news content on the homepages of www.FOXNews.com and www.news.yahoo.com. In addition, both News Corporation and Yahoo! Inc., have extensive corporation content sharing relationships with major media companies already dominant in traditional media. The results indicate that media conglomerates already dominant in the production, aggregation, and distribution of traditional media are also dominant online. The ostensibly many brands of news content are, in fact, owned by few ultimate owners. Such ownership gives media corporations enormous power and the potential to influence public discourse on important matters of governance and political life

12th Annual Student Academic Conference: Showcasing the Work and Talents of MSUM Students

Minnesota State University Moorhead Student Academic Conference abstract book.https://red.mnstate.edu/sac-book/1011/thumbnail.jp