Journal of the Music & Entertainment Industry Educators Association | Volume 13, Number 1 (2013) |
Along
with the shift in the distribution of prerecorded music from retail outlets to
online and satellite sources engendered by digital technology came changes in
the roles of the various participants and the introduction of new participants.
With displacement taking place, the authors wish to assess the relative
importance of newly created revenue streams in the digital era. This study
focuses on the economic implications of changes in network relationships
fostered by digitized music and consequently the method of analysis is Social
Network Analysis (SNA). This is the first study of its kind to assess the
relevance of the revenue streams from a network perspective. Results show that
traditional agents in the music industry (songwriters, artists, music
publishers, record labels) have retained their relatively strong positions
since the year 2000. However, some new agents (revenue streams) in the digital
era are significantly reorganizing the network as a whole. When weighted for
economic impact, digital aggregators/ interactive service payments, digital
performance royalties/SoundExchange, the YouTube Partner Program, as well as
crowdfunding, rank in the top half of economic relationships. The study offers
quantifiable validation to its findings and informs us that the “new” revenue
sources have not yet achieved their full economic potential but are already
well positioned to undermine the dominance of the more traditional revenue streams
in the music industry.
Keywords: music industry, recording industry, social network analysis, revenue streams, digital music, network science
Renard, Stanislas, Gregory Faulk and Peter Spang Goodrich. “Network
Perspectives on the Relevance of New Revenue Streams in the Digital Era Music
Industry.” Journal of the Music and Entertainment Industry Educators Association 13, no. 1 (2013): 149-179. https://doi.org/10.25101/13.8