Displacement paradigm towards digital music distribution in the recording industry

Digital music streaming are climbing but overall music revenue is declining with digital music piracy being blamed as the culprit. In a 10 year period from 2003 to 2013, global music sales dropped from $US23.3 to $US15 billion dollars with Thailand’s music industry following the trend dropping from $US 304 million in 2010 to $US 279 million in 2014. The study therefore used a structural equation model to analyze the variables affecting digital music piracy and fan music streaming's purchase intention. From the seven point Likert scale questionnaire, 350 music fans were surveyed concerning their digital music streaming activities. The qualitative research was conducted with 10 executives in music industry by the use of purposive sampling. Partial Least Square Graph software was used for model verification with the results showing that fan idolatry has the highest influence on the overall decision to stream music digitally. The results showed that the results of quantitative research is practical and acceptable hypothesis significance at p ≤ 0.05 by factors that have a direct influence positive peak and overall influence is the highest passion to affect their willingness to stream music digitally to consumers. The findings of this study concluded that the artist's passion for their music fans is the key factor in music lover’s intent to stream and pay for digital music. Fans are ultimately the most important sector of the industry and unfortunately it is one which the industry forgets about. Labels or artists who focus on only ‘looking good’ while not engaging their fan audiences are destined for a continuing decline in their sales numbers.

The world of business has evolved from the 19th century (steam, rail and electricity) to the 20th century (telephone, radio, television and, especially, the computer as the greatest information technology that converts analogue signals into a digital form including binary digits), and the 21st century (the fourth industrial revolution (4th IR) – described as the advent of “cyber-physical systems” involving entirely new capabilities for people and machines). Digital entrepreneurship is an emergent phenomenon in which new digital artefacts, platforms and infrastructure are used to pursue innovative and entrepreneurial opportunities, which, to a certain extent calls into questions the relevance and applicability of traditional understandings of entrepreneurship. The study on which this article is based investigated digital entrepreneurship’s impact on the dynamic social networking market in light of the infusion of disruptive and innovative technology. It aimed to determine the entrepreneurship capability and competence that impact on digital music change management; and to examine the extent to which digital music distribution balances the driving forces of digitisation and the restraining forces from disruptive technology. An exploratory research design was adopted using univariate, bivariate and multivariate statistical analysis techniques to analyse the data collected from 217 musicians. The study found that the Internet is capable of reliable delivery of music processes, products and services, thereby enhancing supply chain distribution competence and capability. Digital entrepreneurial innovations enable independent artists to create music according to their tastes and customer demand. Independent music production and creation drive the economic entrepreneurial dimension while technological advancements encourage digital independent music distribution.

The rapid adoption and evolving nature of artificial intelligence (AI) is playing a significant role in shaping the music streaming industry. AI has become a key player in transforming the digital music streaming industry, particularly in enhancing user experiences and driving subscription growth. Through AI automation, platforms personalize music recommendations, optimize subscription offerings, and improve customer support services. This article reviews the role of AI in driving consumer subscription behaviors on digital music streaming platforms (DMSP), with a focus on recommendation algorithms, dynamic pricing models, marketing automation, and the future of AI in the music industry. Potential challenges related to privacy, ethics, and algorithmic biases are also discussed, showcasing how AI is revolutionizing the music streaming industry.

Copyright collectives are critical to the economic health of the music industry, but they are at a curious crossroads. Collective copyright management is used more extensively in the music business than ever before. Expanded collective copyright management for digital streaming is the centerpiece of the Music Modernization Act (MMA)—the most extensive revision to the Copyright Act in two decades. At the same time, major music publishers, who rely heavily on collective licensing revenue, are on a years-long mission to end collective licensing for certain digital streaming rights. These trends reflect changes that streaming technology has caused in music consumption, distribution, and revenue generation.
 Digital streaming has emerged as the dominant music consumption model, accounting for eighty-three percent of music revenues in the United States in 2020. This rapid rise to dominance naturally has profound implications for the future of music licensing. The licensing needs of streaming service providers are unprecedented in scale. Spotify, for example, currently hosts over 70 million recordings, with more than 60,000 new recordings uploaded every day. Most of these recordings encompass two copyrighted works that must be licensed separately: a copyrighted sound recording and a copyrighted underlying musical composition. Streaming services’ need for such a massive number of licenses highlights the value of collectives that enable streaming services to interface with a manageable number of licensors. It also highlights the importance of blanket licenses that permit spontaneous use of millions of works relatively free from infringement liability.
 At the same time, the importance of collective licensing to copyright owners has decreased in the streaming age. Streaming is a highly concentrated market: Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music together control two-thirds of the global streaming market. Thus, it has never been easier for copyright owners to license a handful of platforms that deliver the lion’s share of revenue. Further, technology has markedly reduced the costs of use-tracking and royalty distribution. All streams are automatically logged, and royalties are automatically distributed based on usage data. As a result, the major record labels often directly license millions of sound recordings to streaming services without using a collective.
 Historically, collective copyright management has been valuable for both copyright owners and users of copyrighted works. The primary advantage is reduced transaction costs. Across the globe, there are millions of music copyright owners and millions of businesses that use copyrighted works. In some cases, individual transactions for large numbers of works would be prohibitively costly for both sides. Collective copyright management creates a one-stop shop for licensors and licensees, drastically reducing transaction costs. Collective copyright management further benefits copyright owners by sharing and thereby reducing administrative and enforcement costs. It further benefits users by reducing potential liability for frequent and spontaneous uses, especially through blanket licensing that empowers licensees to make unlimited use of all works in a licensor’s catalog.
 The major concern with collective licensing has long been the monopoly pricing potential of collective copyright control, especially when collective licensing is combined with blanket licensing. If one entity holds the rights to license the majority of popular songs, it can exact monopoly rents from anyone seeking to use music. Radio stations, streaming services, nightclubs, and other music-centric businesses would have no latitude to seek alternatives if the rights to license the music they need were concentrated in one entity. Music licensing, therefore, has long been a heavily regulated market, controlled through a combination of compulsory licensing regimes, statutory limitations and exceptions to exclusive copyright rights, and competition authority oversight.
 The question is whether such heavy regulation is necessary going forward—or, more to the point, whether collective licensing is necessary going forward. Collective licensing has dominated the music public performance rights market for a century. The two major performance rights organizations (PROs)—American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) and Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI)—offer blanket licenses for millions of works, albeit under strict regulation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) to deter market power abuses. But this model increasingly seems like a vestige of the analog age. Today, there is a relative handful of high-value licensees operating globally. Streaming services have the technological infrastructure to work with a huge number of licensors, unlike the radio stations and nightclubs of yore. Because technology enables nearly frictionless virtual licensing and automated usage tracking and royalty distribution, a plethora of music rights and royalty administration businesses have flourished that are capable of administering direct public performance rights licensing and royalty collection on copyright holders’ behalf. The performance licensing that still involves high transaction costs—licensing of radio stations and brick-and-mortar businesses such as stores, fitness studios, and bars—accounts for less than fifteen percent of PRO revenues. Further, as I discuss in Part IV.B, licensing even in those arenas is vulnerable to disruption.
 The upshot is that music publishers, especially major publishers, are eager to eschew collective licensing in the digital streaming space so they can negotiate higher direct-licensing fees for streaming. As I discuss in Part III.C.3, publishers’ plans have been derailed for the time being by DOJ consent decrees that prohibit PROs from selectively licensing members’ works. Many licensees, on the other hand, are generally satisfied with how collective licensing currently functions in the performance rights space. The two major PROs are so heavily regulated that their blanket license offerings are comparable to compulsory licenses: The PROs’ pricing and licensing discretion is substantially curtailed under rate court and DOJ oversight. Meanwhile, competition from a new PRO (which poaches some of the legacy PROs’ most valuable catalog) and from a burgeoning music rights administration industry adds further pressure, casting doubt on the long-term viability of the legacy PROs. If the legacy PROs deteriorate and publishers seek direct licenses for performance rights, will licensees lobby for a blanket compulsory performance rights license?
 There is precedent for such a compulsory license, as a new compulsory blanket licensing regime came into effect in 2021, mandated by the MMA, for a related right: the right to make and distribute phonorecords of nondramatic musical works, including by means of “digital phonorecord delivery.” In essence, this is a compulsory license for the right to digitally deliver—via download or stream—a copyrighted song encompassed in a sound recording. The MMA also created a new collective—the Mechanical Licensing Collective (MLC) (so-called because the compulsory license covers what was traditionally called the “mechanical right,” or the right to reproduce musical works in formats used for mechanical playback)—to administer the compulsory license. The MMA comes two decades after the creation of another compulsory right prompted by digital streaming: the compulsory right available to “noninteractive” digital music services (essentially, internet radio webcasters and satellite radio broadcasters) to transmit sound recordings. A bespoke licensing collective, SoundExchange, was created to administer that compulsory license as well. In total, the licensing landscape for the U.S. digital music streaming sector involves six collectives: the MLC, SoundExchange, and four PROs. The only licenses in the streaming landscape not administered by licensing collectives are licenses for the use of sound recordings by “interactive” streaming services, such as Apple Music and Spotify. These direct licenses also happen to be by far the most lucrative licenses in the music business.
 The two compulsory streaming licenses of relatively recent vintage (and their respective collectives) seem entrenched for the foreseeable future. However, uncertainty surrounds the future of streaming performance royalties. Will major publishers seek to direct-license streaming performances and withdraw their rights from PROs? Will they seek instead to phase out streaming performance royalties in favor of a single, all-encompassing musical composition royalty stream managed by the MLC? Or will they maintain the status quo: music composition streaming royalties split into performance and mechanical royalties administered and distributed by five or more different collectives. In the long term, the third possibility seems the least likely due to the inefficiencies and lack of flexibility in the current structure. The other possibilities would not be costless, however, as bypassing the PROs for streaming royalties would markedly weaken—if not ruin—the PROs on which publishers would still rely for non-streaming performance royalties.
 In this Article, I examine the present state of collective copyright management and collective licensing in the United States and identify the factors likely to determine the future of collective copyright management due to new usage tracking technology and the rise of digital streaming. In Part I, I lay the terminological groundwork for subsequent discussion by defining and distinguishing the related concepts of collective licensing, direct licensing, compulsory licensing, blanket licensing, and collective copyright management. In Part II, I lay the necessary doctrinal

The Value Gap in Music Markets in Canada and the Role of Copyright Law

The objective of this study was to describe the implementation of Company Environmental Performance Programme (PROPER) on palm oil processing company in Riau Province and to analyze the effect of determining factors such as the announcement of company performance in the mass media, banking factor, global market demands, legal sanctions and the company's commitment to the implementation of the PROPER. Samples were selected at purposive random from palm oil processing plants located in Riau province which participated in PROPER in the year of 2013-2014. Data analysis were performed by multiple linear regression. The result shows that there was significant influence of the variables of the announcement in the mass media, banking factor, global market demands, legal sanctions and the company's commitment to environmental performance (PROPER). Variation of the independent variables (announcement in the mass media, banking factor, global market demands, legal sanctions and company’s commitment) could explain only 36.1% of the dependent variable (PROPER) while the remaining 63.9% is explained by other variables. Analysis of single determinant such as announcement in the mass media and global market demands has nonsignificantly positive effect on the environmental performance (PROPER). While the smooth provision of credit by banks and legal sanctions has non-significantly negative effect on the environmental performance (PROPER). On the other hand, the company's commitment in managing the environment has significant positive effect to the environmental performance (PROPER).

As the music industry evolves with the advancement of technology, consumers have shifted their music consumption from physical albums to digital formats of music. Music streaming has become the mainstream of the music industry and it has changed the value chain of the traditional music industry. Despite contributing a significant amount of revenue to the music industry, whether music streaming industry is able to make a profit is still questionable. This research studies the future profitability and development of the music streaming industry. The case study chose the leading company, Spotify, of the industry as the focus. Spotify is aim to go public in 2018 but its major concern is its negative net income performance. Although various reports indicate that Spotify is being valued at $13 billion, it has to prove to the investors its ability to make money after going public. The secondary data collected are being analyzed and categorized in order to ascertain the comparison is meaningful. Porter’s five forces and value chain analysis are used to evaluate the main factors for music streaming platforms to be successful. Platform-mediated network and business model canvas are used to indicate Spotify’s core competencies and provide strategic suggestion for future implementation. The findings suggest that Spotify has valuable resources such as wide user base, technology, and human resources that enable them to be the market leader. Yet, the high payout rate to right’s owners and high royalty rate are preventing Spotify to make money. Spotify needs to make a better licensing deal with the record label and continually work on technology development that cater to the consumers’ needs. Meanwhile, geographically expansion, strategic alliances with other industries, and expand the business to related areas are possible solutions for Spotify to capture more market value.

iTake-Over: The Recording Industry in the Digital Era sheds light on the way large corporations appropriate new technologies related to recording and distribution of audio material to maintain their market dominance in a capitalist system. All too commonly, scholars have asserted too confidently, how the rise and reign of digital music has diminished the power of major record labels. In iTake-Over, music scholar David Arditi argues otherwise, adopting a broader perspective by examining how the recording industry has strengthened copyright laws for their corporate ends at the expense of the broader public good, which has traditionally depended on the safe harbor of fair use. Arditi also challenges the dominant discourse over digital music distribution, which has largely adopted the position that the recording industry has a legitimate claim to profitability at the detriment of a shared culture. iTake-Over more specifically surveys the actual material effects that digital distribution has had on the industry. Most notable among these is how major record labels find themselves in a stronger financial position today in the music industry than they were before the launch of Napster. Arditi contends that this is largely because of reduced production and distribution costs and the steady gain in digital music sales. Moreover, instead of merely trying to counteract the phenomenon of digital distribution, the RIAA and the major record labels embraced, and then altered, the distribution system. Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, the RIAA lobbied for legislation, built technologies, and waged war in the courts in order to shape the digital environment for music distribution. From mp3s to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), from the Audio Home Recording Act (AHRA) to iTunes, the major record labels and the RIAA, instead of trying to torpedo the switch to digital distribution, engineered it to their benefit—often at the expense of the public interest. Throughout, Arditi boldly asserts that the sea change to digital music did not destroy the recording industry. Rather, it stands as a testament to the recording industry’s successful management of this migration to digital production and distribution. As such, this work should appeal to musicians and music scholars, political scientists and sociologists, technologists and audio professionals seeking to grasp this remarkable change in music production and consumption.

It has been almost a decade since the emergence of music streaming services (MSS) started changing the economic fortunes of the music industry globally. The International Federation for Phonographic Industry (IFPI) reports that since 2015 streaming has consistently dominated the music industry revenue, currently accounting for more than 67% of total global recorded music revenue (IFPI, 2023). In the Global South, this growth has been marked with the recent interest of global giants in the music streaming industry such as Boomplay and Spotify seeking to gain grounds in several Sub-Saharan countries including Ghana. Despite the significant growth and interest in the contemporary music industry, the specific dynamics and framework within which streaming operates in the context of Ghana’s music industry is yet to be explored. This study thus aims to explore and conceptualize the influence of digital entrepreneurs in the streaming business ecosystem in Ghana, utilizing an Actor-Network Theory (ANT) analysis. With the rise of music streaming and the advent of independent music production and distribution, a new category of entrepreneurs known as “digital musicpreneurs” have emerged as key players in reshaping the music industry landscape.Drawing on the ANT framework, this paper adopts a comprehensive approach to analyze the intricate interactions, relationships, and power dynamics between these digital musicpreneurs and various actors within the music industry business ecosystem in Ghana. This study seeks to provide a conceptual understanding of the transformative impact of these entrepreneurs on the ecosystem, taking into account the unique challenges and opportunities faced by the Global South music industry. In its analysis, the following dimensions are considered. First, the study explores the dynamic interactions between digital musicpreneurs and other actors, including musicians, producers, record labels, distributors, and the dominant digital platform in Ghana, Boomplay. Also, this study delves into the role of technology, particularly digital platforms and online tools, in mediating the activities of digital musicpreneurs, with a particular emphasis on how these technologies are utilized and accessed in Ghana. It explores how digital musicpreneurs leverage technology to create and distribute music, engage with audiences, and develop innovative business models, considering the infrastructural and digital divide challenges faced by the Global South. Furthermore, this paper focuses on understanding how digital musicpreneurs contribute to value creation within the music industry ecosystem in Ghana. It explores their innovative approaches to music production, marketing, and monetization, while considering the specific economic constraints, market dynamics, disruptions caused by their entrepreneurial activities and their implications for the Global South music industry. Finally, this paper analyzes the network effects and ecosystem evolution resulting from the influence of digital musicpreneurs and explores how their actions and collaborations shape the industry’s competitive landscape, foster innovation, and drive ecosystem growth. By adopting an ANT analysis with a Global South perspective, this study will generate insights that have implications for various stakeholders in the Ghana music industry, including digital musicpreneurs themselves, musicians, record labels, policymakers, and industry practitioners.

This study examines the interplay between cultural capital and market dynamics in Kenya’s contemporary music production industry, interrogating how digital platforms, genre hybridisation, and shifting audience preferences reshape the valuation and operationalisation of cultural capital. Drawing on Bourdieu’s (1986) theory of cultural capital, the research employs a qualitative phenomenological approach, incorporating interviews with industry stakeholders, content analysis, and document review to explore tensions between cultural authenticity and commercial viability. Findings reveal that digital platforms like Boomplay and Mdundo act as gatekeepers, institutionalising cultural capital through metrics-driven validation while prioritising hybrid genres such as Gengetone and Afro Neo-Benga. These platforms create a feedback loop where streaming data influences production decisions, compelling artists to negotiate between local identity and global market demands. The study highlights a critical misalignment between formal music education and industry needs, exemplified by producers’ struggles to integrate embodied cultural capital (e.g., traditional musical knowledge) with technical proficiency in global genres. The analysis underscores the dual role of cultural capital as both an artistic resource and market force, emphasising the need for curricula that bridge technical expertise with deep cultural literacy. This research contributes to broader debates on cultural commodification, digital intermediation, and the evolving role of cultural capital in Africa’s creative economies.

As the biological behaviour of even early stage renal cell cancer (RCC) strongly correlates with tumor size, it has been argued that the inclusion of RCC up to a maximum diameter of 7 cm into a common subgroup classified as T1 according to the 5th edition of the TNM system would not adequately represent the different biological aggressiveness of these malignancies. Taking this into account, the TNM classification, which now categorizes T1 RCC as T1a and T1b according to a cutoff size of 4 cm, was recently modified. However, only a few larger investigations, mainly based on univariate statistical analyses, that support the suitability of this cutoff are at present available from the literature. Therefore, it was the aim of the present investigation to determine the tumor size that best separates patients with low responses from those with high risk for tumor progression by univariate (log rank test) and multivariate (Cox regression model) statistical analyses. Between 1981 and 2000, 652 patients (443 males and 209 females) underwent tumor nephrectomy in our clinic for the diagnosis of RCC. Of these, 243 patients revealed primary tumors with a local growth not extending beyond the renal capsula at the time of surgery. For the different cutoff levels (starting from 2 cm in increments of 1 cm up to 8 cm) that were selected to subdivide the patients into groups according to the maximum tumor diameter, the correlation between tumor size and overall survival was determined by univariate and multivariate statistical analyses. It became evident that although during univariate analysis the prognostic value of a cutoff size of 4 cm was confirmed, multivariate analysis identified the highest relative risk for cause-specific death (2.93) for patients having tumors larger than 5 cm in maximum diameter. Therefore, the 5 cm cutoff seems to best determine the clinical prognosis of patients undergoing tumor nephrectomy for early stage RCC. The present study demonstrates the need for multivariate statistical approaches when the latest modification of the TNM classification system is critically evaluated.

The second edition of iTake-Over: The Recording Industry in the Streaming Era sheds light on the way large corporations appropriate new technology to maintain their market dominance in a capitalist system. To date, scholars have erroneously argued that digital music has diminished the power of major record labels. In iTake-Over, sociologist David Arditi suggests otherwise, adopting a broader perspective on the entire issue by examining how the recording industry strengthened copyright laws for their private ends at the expense of the broader public good. Arditi also challenges the dominant discourse on digital music distribution, which assumes that the recording industry has a legitimate claim to profitability at the expense of a shared culture. Arditi specifically surveys the actual material effects that digital distribution has had on the industry. Most notable among these is how major record labels find themselves in a stronger financial position today in the music industry than they were before the launch of Napster, largely because of reduced production and distribution costs and the steady gain in digital music sales. Moreover, instead of merely trying to counteract the phenomenon of digital distribution, the RIAA and the major record labels embraced and then altered the distribution system.

The goal of this paper is to sketch the value chain and the business models of the online distribution of music. The perspective of the online digital music market is rather deceiving but the opportunities seem to remain high. Considering the rise of the P2P networks of free music digital files, it seems reasonable to assume this new way to distribute music meets consumer needs. Based on a review of the literature and executive interviews, the paper presents the traditional distribution models; then it addresses how P2P piracy deals with the copyright issues, and describes some emergent business models that could be an answer to illegal digital music distribution.

Innovation scholars have paid special attention on the managerial approaches that incumbents should adopt to promptly respond to the emergence of disruptive innovations. These approaches include, among the others, the use of open innovation or the establishment of ambidextrous organizations. However, this body of research has not analyzed how incumbents use these approaches over time, although they are very often confronted with waves of disruptive innovations that cyclically take place along the lifecycle of an industry. This paper looks into this issue through a historical analysis of the global music industry. For each of the three waves of disruptive innovations that have hit this industry over the last 15 years (i.e. digital music distribution, permanent digital download and music streaming), we analyze the reactions of incumbents in terms of managerial approaches they adopted to respond to the emergence of the disruptive innovation. Therefore, we develop a model suggesting how incumbents evolve over time their responses to cycles of disruptive technological changes.

The music industry is facing the development of online P2P networks, direct download services and other forms of digital piracy, while at the same time the format and promotion of pre-recorded music are undergoing major transformations with the advent of MP3 and new forms of collective promotion, particularly through online communities and social networks. The chapter is organized as follows. First, I analyze how digital piracy and digital music distribution are changing the demand for pre-recorded music. Next, I review new business models and give perspectives on how cloud services will challenge existing offers. I conclude the chapter and discusses the policy implications of digital music distribution.