Alternative Marketplaces Research Articles

Mirroring the inequalities of mainstream music platforms: popularity, revenue, and monetization strategies on Bandcamp

ABSTRACT In the era of digital music streaming, understanding the monetization and popularity dynamics of online audio distribution platforms is crucial for both researchers and music industry professionals. While much of the existing research has focused on mainstream platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music, we study Bandcamp, an alternative marketplace that, among other things, empowers independent artists to upload and sell their music. Leveraging a rich dataset of one million Bandcamp sales, we investigate the distribution of popularity and revenues among artists on the platform. Our analysis reveals a substantial level of inequality, with a small core of musicians concentrating most of the purchases and revenues. Surprisingly, our results also indicate that many artists adopt a monetization strategy that involves devaluing their products, potentially leading to a cherry-picking of songs by consumers. These findings shed light on the challenges faced by alternative music distribution services and emphasize the need for further exploration of a fairer and more sustainable business model for independent artists.

Perilaku Kolektor Seni Indonesia Dalam Memilih Hic Et Nunc Sebagai Lokapasar NFT (Non-Fungible Token)

Public interest in cryptocurrencies and NFTs has increased since the Covid-19 pandemic, especially for artists and art lovers. The function of NFTs is to apply the usability of credits or royalties to a work. Hic et Nunc is an alternative marketplace that is known to be environmentally friendly compared to other Ethereum-based marketplaces that are known for high gas fees and ecological issues. Unfortunately, in the midst of its popularity, Hic Et Nunc was discontinued without any warning and its website is no longer accessible. This situation created sites that mirrored Hic Et Nunc such as objkt.com or henext.xyz. This research discusses the factors that make art collectors have loyalty to Hic Et Nunc by staying and not switching to the dominant market location. The research method was based on a descriptive qualitative approach with in-depth interviews with 3 informants, all of whom are active art collectors and loyal to the Hic Et Nunc marketplace. Based on consumer behaviour theory and market theory, the results stated that collectors are influenced by their work, social and cultural environment. Besides, the factors for choosing Hic et Nunc as a marketplace include being an alternative platform to the dominance of Ethereum, a digital investment medium and recognition by the social environment. Keywords: NFTs, Hic et Nunc, Collectors, Marketplaces

Blockchain-based Smart Contract for Decentralized Marketplace

The advance of information technology has a growing influence on one of the most popular social trends: online shopping. The rising popularity of online shopping among the general public, as indicated by the growth in the number of online purchasers each year, has prompted business owners to pursue online ventures. The marketplace is intrinsically tied to online buying activity that connects merchants and customers, allowing customers to search for various goods and services from various providers. However, service failures are vulnerable to centralized market systems that emerge frequently. When the company's services to customers fail to satisfy consumer expectations. A breakdown in purchasing and selling essential services, including product delivery and customer support, is referred to as service failure. As a result, not only does this harm confidence, but it may also cause clients to migrate to an alternative marketplace. The marketplace's competitiveness is based on consumer confidence. The decentralized marketplace can address this security concern. A decentralized marketplace is meant to build a system that does not require the confidence of a third party using blockchain technology and smart contracts that can record all transactions clearly and consistently, allowing them to serve as a single point of truth between distrusting entities. The findings largely support the feasibility of Ethereum Smart Contracts to construct a decentralized marketplace. However, there are some places where further study and development are needed.

When socio-political pressure is more powerful than the boss: workplace language policies by Kurds that restrict Kurdish

As interpretations of results from small-scale research sites are incomplete without consideration of the social structures that frame them (Block, in: Gardner, Martin-Jones (eds) Multilingualism, discourse and ethnography, Routledge, New York, 2012), the current study uses the theoretical lens of agency to examine the language policies of four of Istanbul’s Kurdish-owned eating establishments with respect to socio-political structures. Set in a context in which Turkish nationalist ideologies trickle down to long-standing and pervasive stigma toward Kurdish at local levels (Coskun et al. in Scar of tongue: consequences of the ban of the use of mother tongue in education and experiences of Kurdish students in Turkey, DISA, Diyarbakir, 2011; Saracoglu in Kurds of modern Turkey: migration, neoliberalism, and exclusion in Turkish society, Tauris Academic Studies, New York, 2011; Polat in Crit Inq Lang Stud 8:261–288, 2011; Schluter and Sansarkan in Icduygu, Goker (eds), Rethinking migration and integration: bottom-up responses to neoliberal global challenges, The Isis Press, Istanbul, 2014), Kurdish workplaces represent rich sites for investigating the relative influence of differently scaled structures on individual free will. Based on ethnographic data collected through observations and interviews, the results, which align with Ortner’s (Anthropology and social theory: culture, power, and the acting subject, Duke University Press, Durham, 2006) and Archer’s (Being human: the problem of agency, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000, Making our way through the world: human reflexivity and social mobility, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007) conceptualizations of agency, indicate that while structures severely constrain managers’ ability to determine policy, a small number of opportunities also exist to resist these structures. In contrast to much of the literature that emphasizes the dominance of global scales in the current neoliberal era (Cf. Heller in J Socioling 7(4):473–492, 2003; Blommaert in The sociolinguistics of globalization, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2010; Flubacher and Del Percio in Language, education and neoliberalism: critical studies in sociolinguistics, Multilingual Matters, Bristol, 2017; Lorente in Scripts of servitude: language, labor, migration, and transnational domestic work, Multilingual Matters, Bristol, 2017; Block in Political economy in sociolinguistics: neoliberalism, inequality and social class, Bloomsbury, London, 2018), nationally scaled structures feature most prominently. A center-periphery distinction emerges with respect to the magnitude of the nation’s influence over policy: peripherality, in agreement with Kelly-Holmes (in: Pietikainen, Kelly-Holmes (eds) Multilingualism and the periphery, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2013) and Hiss (Lang Soc 46:697–718, 2017), comes with diminished pressure to adhere to the norms of the center. These findings both underline the considerable power of Turkish national structures over individuals in this setting while indicating a small space for alternative marketplaces (Woolard in Am Ethnol 12:738–748, 1985).

Analysis and Evaluation of SafeDroid v2.0, a Framework for Detecting Malicious Android Applications

Android smartphones have become a vital component of the daily routine of millions of people, running a plethora of applications available in the official and alternative marketplaces. Although there are many security mechanisms to scan and filter malicious applications, malware is still able to reach the devices of many end-users. In this paper, we introduce the SafeDroid v2.0 framework, that is a flexible, robust, and versatile open-source solution for statically analysing Android applications, based on machine learning techniques. The main goal of our work, besides the automated production of fully sufficient prediction and classification models in terms of maximum accuracy scores and minimum negative errors, is to offer an out-of-the-box framework that can be employed by the Android security researchers to efficiently experiment to find effective solutions: the SafeDroid v2.0 framework makes it possible to test many different combinations of machine learning classifiers, with a high degree of freedom and flexibility in the choice of features to consider, such as dataset balance and dataset selection. The framework also provides a server, for generating experiment reports, and an Android application, for the verification of the produced models in real-life scenarios. An extensive campaign of experiments is also presented to show how it is possible to efficiently find competitive solutions: the results of our experiments confirm that SafeDroid v2.0 can reach very good performances, even with highly unbalanced dataset inputs and always with a very limited overhead.

Wild greens knowledge and consumption: a qualitative exploration of human agency in the Southern Arizona food system

This qualitative, single case study explores the influence of the dominant food system (DFS) on the knowledge and consumption of three wild greens (amaranth, lambquarters, purslane) by 24 Latinxs living in Tucson, Arizona (AZ), USA. The three greens are each considered to be traditional Latinx foods. In addition to the natural occurrence of the wild greens, Tucson was selected as the study site due to its rich and diverse food tradition and deep agricultural history. A pattern of decline in the knowledge and consumption of the wild greens is observed according to three overlapping themes: generational awareness, consumer demand and scarcity, and accessibility. The bureaucratic controls that bring calculability, efficiency, and predictability to the DFS are found to be influential in the decline in wild green knowledge and consumption by the study participants. The downward knowledge and consumption pattern is further considered in the context of participant agency within the DFS. Implications for practice include strategies for more purposefully leveraging community settings and alternative marketplaces to revitalize the knowledge and consumption of wild greens and other traditional foods. Recommendations are also provided for future research on the effects of rationalization within the DFS on human agency and traditional food consumption.

"Espouse Community, Practice Competition: Institutional Logics in Modern American Public Markets"

The public market is a hybrid organization that takes its place alongside festival markets and farmers markets as a type of alternative marketplace emergent in the late twentieth century. Through...

How Copyright Keeps Works Disappeared

A random sample of new books for sale on Amazon.com shows more books for sale from the 1880s than the 1980s. Why? This article presents new data on how copyright stifles the reappearance of works. First, a random sample of more than 2,000 new books for sale on Amazon.com is analyzed along with a random sample of almost 2,000 songs available on new DVDs. Copyright status correlates highly with absence from the Amazon shelf. Together with publishing business models, copyright law seems to deter distribution and diminish access. Further analysis of eBook markets, used books on Abebooks.com, and the Chicago Public Library collection suggests that no alternative marketplace for out‐of‐print books has yet developed. Data from iTunes and YouTube, however, tell a different story for older hit songs. The much wider availability of old music in digital form may be explained by the differing holdings in two important cases, Boosey & Hawkes v. Disney (music) and Random House v. Rosetta Stone (books).

An exploratory investigation of aberrant consumer behaviour in Libya: a sociocultural approach

Studies concerning aberrant consumer behaviour (ACB) are dominated by research conducted in the West. By examining the impact social and cultural factors have on the management and understanding of ACB in Libya, a Muslim country, this paper extends knowledge by exploring this issue in a different setting. Materials were collected by conducting in-depth interviews with 26 sellers in Libya and ACB was explored in three different contexts: grocery stores, computer stores and hotels. The study finds that the sellers use alternative marketplace behaviours to manage ACB to that described in the literature, namely informal, community-based approaches that reflect accepted societal and cultural norms. Furthermore, the study finds that not all activities reported to be ACB in the literature are perceived to be misbehaviour by the Libyan sellers.

How Copyright Makes Books and Music Disappear (and How Secondary Liability Rules Help Resurrect Old Songs)

A random sample of new books for sale on Amazon.com shows more books for sale from the 1880’s than the 1980’s. Why? This paper presents new data on how copyright stifles the reappearance of works. First, a random sample of more than 2000 new books for sale on Amazon.com is analyzed along with a random sample of almost 2000 songs available on new DVD’s. Copyright status correlates highly with absence from the Amazon shelf. Together with publishing business models, copyright law seems to deter distribution and diminish access. Further analysis of eBook markets, used books on Abebooks.com, and the Chicago Public library collection suggests that no alternative marketplace for out-of-print books has yet developed. Data from iTunes and YouTube, however, tell a different story for older hit songs. The much wider availability of old music in digital form may be explained by the differing holdings in two important cases Boosey & Hawkes v. Disney (music) and Random House v. Rosetta Stone (books).

Alternative marketplaces in the 21st century: Building community through sharing events

ABSTRACTWe examine alternative consumption including collaborative consumption, sharing, and unconsumption (i.e., postconsumption activities such as upcycling, reuse, recycling, etc.) at non‐monetary‐based private and public sharing events including Really Really Free Markets (RRFMs). These alternative marketplaces (RRFMs) were initially organized by the Anarchist Movement as a form of resistance to the capitalist economic model. However, many consumer groups now utilize this model to stage public sharing events as a means of raising awareness about various issues including sustainability and overconsumption. Participants bring, share, and take goods without any expectation of monetary or other exchange. There is limited research on collaborative consumption and sharing in non‐monetary marketplaces. We address this gap by exploring alternative marketplaces, organized by consumers for consumers, utilizing qualitative research methods. Our findings indicate that a sense of community is both a driver of participation and an outcome of these events. Organizers and participants utilize these venues to share knowledge and possessions for various ideological and practical reasons. Our findings also indicate that these events challenge the entrenched notions of exchange and reciprocity. Our research contributes to the literature by highlighting the importance of community, collaboration, and changing consumer mindsets to the success of such sharing efforts. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

FAIRNESS IN RECURRENT AUCTIONS WITH COMPETING MARKETS AND SUPPLY FLUCTUATIONS

Auctions have been used to deal with resource allocation in multiagent environments, especially in service‐oriented electronic markets. In this type of market, resources are perishable and auctions are repeated over time with the same or a very similar set of agents. In this scenario it is advisable to use recurrent auctions: a sequence of auctions of any kind where the result of one auction may influence the following one. Some problems do appear in these situations, as for instance, the bidder drop problem, the asymmetric balance of negotiation power or resource waste, which could cause the market to collapse. Fair mechanisms can be useful to minimize the effects of these problems. With this aim, we have analyzed four previous fair mechanisms under dynamic scenarios and we have proposed a new one that takes into account changes in the supply as well as the presence of alternative marketplaces. We experimentally show how the new mechanism presents a higher average performance under all simulated conditions, resulting in a higher profit for the auctioneer than with the previous ones, and in most cases avoiding the waste of resources.

Balancing energy strategies in electricity portfolio management

Traditional management of electricity portfolios is focused on the day-ahead market and futures of longer maturity. Within limits, market participants can however also resort to the balancing energy market to close their positions. In this paper, we determine strategic positions in the balancing energy market and identify corresponding economic incentives in an analysis of the German balancing energy demand. We find that those strategies allow an economically optimal starting point for real-time balancing and create a marketplace for flexible capacity that is more open than alternative marketplaces. The strategies we proffer in this paper we believe will contribute to an effective functioning of the electricity market.

Market structure and market share: Understanding the NYSE’s competitive position

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is at the center of an increasing chorus of market professionals who complain that investors are at the mercy of a system that caters to exchange specialists. While structural change may be necessary to address the NYSE’s governance issues, talk about wholesale structural change in the trading of NYSE‐listed securities is misguided. As this paper discusses, the real issue is the lack of competition among the marketplaces that trade NYSE‐listed shares. The article is intended to contribute to the market structure debate by exploring the market structure of the NYSE, the competitive environment for exchange‐listed securities, the limitations associated with the current structure, and what changes might be pursued. In particular, the author calls attention to the “trade‐through” rule, implemented through the Intermarket Trading System (ITS), which benefits the NYSE by discouraging orders from being routed to alternative marketplaces

Global Processes and Local Identity among Mayan Coffee Growers in Chiapas, Mexico

This case study of the organic farmers' cooperative Indigenas de la Sierra Madre de Motozintla (ISMAM) explores the construction of identity as a dialogic process in which external elements are appropriated to permit resistance and creative adaptation to global processes. Building on indigenous Mam respect for nature, ISMAM forges a corporate image that responds to symbolic demands of the alternative marketplace and a self‐image reaffirming traditional values in a modern context.