Market Research in the Internet Age: How Record Companies Will Profit From Illegal File-Sharing 

Ava Lawrence

Northeastern University

Abstract

Since its inception, many record company executives viewed the internet as a threat to their industry’s traditional business model. There is some truth to this belief as illegal file-sharing has undoubtedly wreaked terrible damage on the music industry; displacing an immeasurable number of legal retail transactions since its rise to popularity in the late 1990s. Record companies initially responded to this growing epidemic by implementing technological safeguards to dissuade potential offenders from illegally obtaining music online and filing lawsuits to punish those who did. Recently, record companies have shifted towards harnessing the power of the file-sharing universe, enlisting specialized companies like BigChampagne to track and quantify this activity. The resultant data has the previously unrealized potential to better target consumer preferences based on geographic location; helping to revolutionize the way record companies and artist managers approach radio promotion, retail, live touring, licensing, and marketing and advertising activities.

Keywords: artist promotion, BigChampagne, file-sharing, music business, music marketing

Lawrence, Ava. “Market Research in the Internet Age: How Record Companies Will Profit From Illegal File-Sharing." Journal of the Music and Entertainment Industry Educators Association 4, no. 1 (2004): 29-40. https://doi.org/10.25101/4.2

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