Creative industries produce many one-hit wonders who struggle to repeat their initial success and fewer hit makers who sustain success over time. To develop theory on the role of creativity in ...driving sustained market success, I propose a path dependence theory of creators’ careers that considers creators’ whole portfolios of products over time and how their early portfolios shape their later capacity to sustain success. The main idea is that a creator’s path to sustained success depends on the creativity in their portfolio at the time of their initial hit—relatively creative portfolios give creators more options for leveraging their past portfolios while adapting to market changes, increasing their odds of additional hits. I tested the proposed theory using an archival study of the U.S. music industry from 1959–2010, including data on over 3 million songs by 69,050 artists, and the results largely support the hypotheses. Artists who reached their initial hits with relatively creative (novel or varied) portfolios were more likely to generate additional hits, but a novel portfolio was less likely to yield an initial hit than was a typical portfolio. These findings suggest that new creators face a tradeoff between their likelihood of initial versus sustained success, such that building a relatively creative early portfolio is a risky bet that can make or break a creator’s career.
The study of the socio-cultural approaches of the music industry is motivated by the topicality and importance of the targeted phenomenon. Through our scientifi c approach we aim to systematize the ...theories that provide scientifi c answers to the existing problems of the music industry. The comprehensive assessment of the significance and confluence between music and industry was made by analyzing the theories and socio-cultural concepts framed in diff erent socio-cultural and socio-economic paradigms, which focused on research both evolutionary aspects of music activity in the world and aspects of content, functionality and cultural impact on society. The research result, obtained from the analysis of over a hundred thematic bibliographic sources, establishes the evolution of different concepts and theories about the music industry, highlights the most relevant theories and systematizes the reference bibliography for a reconsideration of the term music industry.
•I analyze the effects of free streaming on music purchasing and piracy behavior.•I exploit the introduction of a free streaming cap by the platform Deezer.•I find that free streaming stimulates ...purchasing and piracy activity.•Streaming affects purchasing and piracy behavior of lighter streamers to a larger extent.•Results are consistent with streaming allowing discovery of products and stimulating consumption.
The tremendous growth in interactive music streaming is raising questions about its effects on the music industry. While premium subscriptions offer unconstrained access to music streaming, free services typically offer limited mobility in their usage. If streaming enhances product discovery, and if consumers value mobility, then free streaming could stimulate the use of channels that allow mobile consumption. I exploit the introduction of a listening cap by the platform Deezer to identify the effect of free and mobile-restricted streaming on the music purchasing and piracy behavior of a large set of individuals. Results show that users visited licensed and unlicensed downloading websites around 2% less than they would have had the restriction not been introduced, showing a positive effect of free streaming on these alternative sources of consumption. Results also indicate heterogeneous effects of the restriction, and back of the envelope calculations suggest that the purchasing and piracy activities of lighter streamers are stimulated by free streaming to a larger extent.
While mainstream accounts of the impact of internet technologies on the music industry have emphasised the crisis of the major-dominated mainstream recording industry, a more optimistic discourse has ...also been promoted, emphasising the opportunities that the Internet creates for independent musicians. These same new technologies, it is argued, enable artists to reach new global audiences and engage with them in ways that can facilitate more stable, financially self-sustaining independent careers. Little research has been conducted, however, on the effect of new Internet technologies on the careers and practices of independent musicians. This article, part of a pilot project on the working experiences of independent musicians, examines how musicians signed to small labels in the South-west of England use social media in their careers and discusses their understanding of its benefits and disadvantages. It concludes that social media use is an essential tool in the arsenal of an independent musician, and does provide advantages for them, but significant disadvantages have also emerged and thus the benefits of social media for independent musicians have likely been overstated.
The evidence is that blockchain has the power to start a disruptive process. If blockchain has uses for the music industry a framework will need to be defined to prevent damage. A collaborative ...approach, agile methods, and transition management are identified and suggested as a toolset to successfully shape the impact of the disrupted processes. In particular, transition management is recommended as an approach via research. Blockchain concepts are matched to the music industry through examples.
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