Dealing with digital: the economic organisation of streamed music

© The Author(s) 2020. The intervention of digital service providers (DSPs) or platforms, such as Spotify Apple Music and Tidal, that supply streamed music has fundamentally altered the operation of copyright management organisations (CMOs) and the way song-writers and recording artists are paid. Platform economics has emerged from the economic analysis of two- and multi-sided markets, offering new insights into the way business is conducted in the digital sphere and is applied here to music streaming services. The business model for music streaming differs from previous arrangements by which the royalty paid to song-writers and performers was a percentage of sales. In the case of streamed music, payment is based on revenues from both subscriptions and ad-based free services. The DSP agrees a rate per stream with the various rights holders that varies according to the deal made with each of the major record labels, with CMOs, with representatives of independent labels and with unsigned artists and song-writers with consequences for artists’ earnings. The article discusses these various strands with a view to understanding royalty payments for streamed music in terms of platform economics, offering some data and information from the Norwegian music industry to give empirical support to the analysis

Viral Inhibition of BAK Promotes Murine Cytomegalovirus Dissemination to Salivary Glands

Apoptosis induction is an important host defense mechanism to control viral infection, which is antagonized by viral proteins. Murine cytomegalovirus m41.1 encodes a viral inhibitor of BAK oligomerization (vIBO) that blocks the mitochondrial apoptosis mediator BAK. However, its importance for viral fitness in vivo has not been investigated. Here, we show that an m41.1-deficient virus attains reduced titers in salivary glands of wild-type but not Bak1(-/-) mice, indicating a requirement of BAK inhibition for optimal dissemination in vivo

Assessing the role of collaboration in the process of museum innovation

The relationship between collaboration and innovation in cultural organisations is an emerging topic that has drawn particular attention from scholars and practitioners. The main aim of this study is to assess the role of collaboration in the process of innovation in museum organisations. To achieve this aim, first, we develop a four-domain analytical framework by matching innovation types to cultural production processes to reflect the peculiarities of museum innovation. By applying this framework to the multiple case studies from four Spanish museums, we identify three main motivations (supplementing manpower, compensating for the scarcity of knowledge, improving demand-driven innovation) and four forms of collaboration (teamwork, outsourcing, consortium and conversation) and summarise the different modes of collaboration involved in various domains of production and innovation. An assessment is conducted subsequently to evaluate the effectiveness of existing collaborations in achieving technological and cultural innovation in museums. Finally, a list of implications for museums' innovation management is presented

Going means trouble and staying makes it double: the value of licensing recorded music online

This paper discusses whether a copyright compensation system (CCS) for recorded music—endowing private Internet subscribers with the right to download and use works in return for a fee—would be welfare increasing. It reports on the results of a discrete choice experiment conducted with a representative sample of the Dutch population consisting of 4986 participants. Under some conservative assumptions, we find that applied only to recorded music, a mandatory CCS could increase the welfare of rights holders and users in the Netherlands by over €600 million per year (over €35 per capita). This far exceeds current rights holder revenues from the market of recorded music of ca. €144 million per year. A monthly CCS fee of ca. €1.74 as a surcharge on Dutch Internet subscriptions would raise the same amount of revenues to rights holders as the current market for recorded music. With a voluntary CCS, the estimated welfare gains to users and rights holders are even greater for CCS fees below €20 on the user side. A voluntary CCS would also perform better in the long run, as it could retain a greater extent of market coordination. The results of our choice experiment indicate that a well-designed CCS for recorded music would simultaneously make users and rights holders better off. This result holds even if we correct for frequently observed rates of overestimation in contingent valuation studies

Entrepreneurial orientation of traditional and modern cultural organisations: cases in George Town UNESCO World Heritage Site

George Town World Heritage Site in Penang, Malaysia is well-endowed with creative and cultural resources, and has recently witnessed a rise in relevant rise in creative and cultural activities. This study examines how 'innovation culture' is inculcated and embedded within two local organisations with distinct approaches to innovation. This examination adopts and adapts the concept of Entrepreneurial Orientation, using three constructs: i) innovativeness, ii) risk-taking and iii) pro-activeness. This study administered a purely qualitative research approach by conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews and archival study of the chosen case organisations and their networks. The novelty of this research resides in the choice of case study organisations chosen (i.e. traditional versus modern) where a comparative approach was used to compare and contrast innovation culture and gauge the extent upon which entrepreneurship orientation constructs are prevalent and thriving in these organisations. By documenting the linkages in their value chains, this study managed to understand their resulting social networks and whether such network fosters the incubation of an innovation cluster for the local creative and cultural sectors. This study concluded that traditional cultural organisations tend to be more cautious and even passive in their business approach and decision-making processes, while modern and newer cultural and creative organisations lean towards a more active and dynamic outlook, albeit sometimes constrained by lack of resources, i.e. funding and facilities, as well as impeded by the nature of their informality. These findings can contribute towards shaping pragmatic human resource and creative industry policies for city planners and policy makers, particularly in the George Town World Heritage Site, as well as serving as point of reference for other world heritage sites in the world

The Symptom Monitoring with Feedback Trial (SWIFT):protocol for a registry‑based cluster randomised controlled trial in haemodialysis

BACKGROUND: Kidney failure prevalence is increasing worldwide. Haemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis or kidney transplantation are undertaken to extend life with kidney failure. People receiving haemodialysis commonly experience fatigue, pain, nausea, cramping, itching, sleeping difficulties, anxiety and depression. This symptom burden contributes to poor health-related quality of life (QOL) and is a major reason for treatment withdrawal and death. The Symptom monitoring WIth Feedback Trial (SWIFT) will test the hypothesis that regular symptom monitoring with feedback to people receiving haemodialysis and their treating clinical team can improve QOL. METHODS: We are conducting an Australia and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant (ANZDATA) registry-based cluster randomised controlled trial to determine the clinical- and cost-effectiveness at 12 months, of 3-monthly symptom monitoring using the Integrated Palliative Outcome Scale-Renal (IPOS-Renal) survey with clinician feedback, compared with usual care among adults treated with haemodialysis. Participants complete symptom scoring using a tablet, which are provided to participants and to clinicians. The trial aims to recruit 143 satellite haemodialysis centres, (up to 2400 participants). The primary outcome is change in health-related QOL, as measured by EuroQol 5-Dimension, 5-Level (EQ-5D-5L) instrument. Secondary outcomes include overall survival, symptom severity (including haemodialysis-associated fatigue), healthcare utilisation and cost-effectiveness. DISCUSSION: SWIFT is the first registry-based trial in the Australian haemodialysis population to investigate whether regular symptom monitoring with feedback to participants and clinicians improves QOL. SWIFT is embedded in the ANZDATA Registry facilitating pragmatic recruitment from public and private dialysis clinics, throughout Australia. SWIFT will inform future collection, storage and reporting of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) within a clinical quality registry. As the first trial to rigorously estimate the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of routine PROMs collection and reporting in haemodialysis units, SWIFT will provide invaluable information to health services, clinicians and researchers working to improve the lives of those with kidney failure. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12620001061921. Registered on 16 October 2020 SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13063-022-06355-0

The politics of the digital single market:Culture vs. competition vs. copyright

This paper examines the implications for European music culture of the European Union’s Digital Single Market strategy. It focuses on the regulatory framework being created for the management of copyright policy, and in particular the role played by Collective Management Organisations (or Collecting Societies). One of the many new opportunities created by digitalization has been the music streaming services. These depend on consumers being able to access music wherever they are, but such a system runs counter to the management of rights on a national basis and through collecting organisations who act as monopolies within their own territories. The result has been ‘geo-blocking’. The EU has attempted to resolve this problem in a variety of ways, most recently in a Directive designed to reform the CMOs. In this paper, we document these various efforts, showing them to be motivated by a deep-seated and persisting belief in the capacity of ‘competition’ to resolve problems that, we argue, actually lie elsewhere - in copyright policy itself. The result is that the EU’s intervention fails to address its core concern and threatens the diversity of European music culture by rewarding those who are already commercially successful

Decrease in shunt volume in patients with cryptogenic stroke and patent foramen ovale

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In patients with patent foramen ovale (PFO) there is evidence supporting the hypothesis of a change in right-to-left shunt (RLS) over time. Proven, this could have implications for the care of patients with PFO and a history of stroke. The following study addressed this hypothesis in a cohort of patients with stroke and PFO.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The RLS volume assessed during hospitalisation for stroke (index event/T0) was compared with the RLS volume on follow-up (T1) (median time between T0 and T1 was 10 months). In 102 patients with a history of stroke and PFO the RLS volume was re-assessed on follow-up using contrast-enhanced transcranial Doppler/duplex (ce-TCD) ultrasound. A change in RLS volume was defined as a difference of ≥20 microembolic signals (MES) or no evidence of RLS during ce-TCD ultrasound on follow-up.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was evidence of a marked reduction in RLS volume in 31/102 patients; in 14/31 patients a PFO was no longer detectable. An index event classified as cryptogenic stroke (P < 0.001; OD = 39.2, 95% confidence interval 6.0 to 258.2) and the time interval to the follow-up visit (P = 0.03) were independently associated with a change in RLS volume over time.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>RLS volume across a PFO decreases over time, especially in patients with cryptogenic stroke. These may determine the development of new strategies for the management in the secondary stroke prevention.</p