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The future of music retailing
Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services 18 (2011) 119
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jretconser
Editorial
The future of music retailing
In the last two decades, music retailing and consumption have undergone significant and ongoing changes, mainly due to advances in technology. The full impact of these changes has only recently begun to be noticeable. This Special Issue is intended to be a focus for the emerging discussion of these changes. Several of the papers included here (but not all) were originally conference contributions to the Special Track on Music Retailing of the EIRASS Annual Conferences 2009 and 2010. Ogden, Ogden and Long provide a historical overview over the changing landscape of music marketing. They investigate how music became a service/good combination that could be mass marketed. The authors take the reader through a journey beginning 36,000 years ago, to the first mass marketing of music by the early Church, and the development of recorded music with the invention of the phonograph and gramophone, followed by the introduction of broadcast media such as radio and film. It was only in the 20th century that music became a product available to almost everyone. In the 1930s, the business model for the record industry became established, a model that has not changed much until today, although digitalization in the form of CDs and, more recently, downloads, have resulted in fundamental changes to the music consumption value chain. Warr and Goode continue this outlook on music retailing into the future. Focusing very much on the present situation for the music industry, the two authors explore the changes caused by new technologies and changes in consumer behavior and consumer expectations. Based on these changes, the authors continue to develop three possible future scenarios. In the first scenario, the music industry survives more or less intact, by fundamentally changing the current business models and value provision. In the second scenario, the music industry adapts to the altered consumption patterns and expectations, but too slow and not substantially enough. In this scenario, the music industry dies slowly. The final scenario predicts a rapid decline and death of the music industry as we know it. The authors suggest that for the music to survive, the new customer expectations of ‘free’, ‘portable’ and ‘convenient’ have to be integrated into the strategies of the music retail chain. Dilmperi, King and Dennis delve deeper into one of the causes for the possible decline of the music industry—illegal downloading. The authors quantitatively explore the factors determining illegal downloading, the characteristics of downloaders, and the music genres they listen to. They also explore the type of music experience different consumer groups are seeking to gain. The authors found that the strongest motivational factor to download illegally was the notion ‘that music can be found for free’; whereas age and income were important demographic determinants of downloading (but not just of illegal downloading). 0969-6989/$ - see front matter & 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2010.12.005
Furthermore, they found that gender had an impact on the buying of recorded music and the attendance of live music performances. The next two papers explore further changes in music consumption, especially the links between music consumption and ‘tribal’ identity. McIntyre’s paper uses short poetic selections of narratives to compare the preferences of Baby Boomer and Generation Y consumers for obtaining music from shops or by downloading. This study concludes that for the two consumer groups investigated, the process of music acquisition is deeply connected to generational identity, values and associations. Nuttall et al.’s paper explores the tribal aspects of music consumption in more depth. Based on a set of focus groups, Nuttall et al. found six ‘tribes’ of young music consumers. These tribes are distinguished by their music consumption patterns, identity, technological knowledge and market awareness. Whilst half of the groups identify conform to and operate within the existing industry’s rules, the other half of the ‘tribes’ constitute considerable challenges to both the music industry and its distributors as they are both resistant to and cynical about current music marketing efforts. Cockrill, Sullivan and Norbury explore a further, very recent development in music consumption, namely the possibility that excessive music consumption may be addictive. Using a combination of a withdrawal diary study and a quantitative survey, the authors discover three types of MP3 player users, with distinctive socio-demographic and music consumption patterns. The authors conclude that there can be little doubt that for some consumers, music consumption is addictive with negative effects on their lives, although for most consumers, it is a life enhancing activity. For thousands of years, music consumption has been an integral part of human life and virtually all cultures. In recent decades, the commercialization of music and its distribution have provided many people with work and artists with previously unheard-of platforms to distribute their music. At the same time, this increasing ‘marektization’ has also led to resentment by some consumers, and new technological opportunities enable these consumers to express their resentment through illegal consumption behavior. This Special Issue hopes to encourage both academic readers and practitioners to reflect on some of the complex issues influencing the future of music retailing.
Antje Cockrill School of Business and Economics, Swansea University, United Kingdom E-mail address: [email protected]
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jretconser
Editorial
The future of music retailing
In the last two decades, music retailing and consumption have undergone significant and ongoing changes, mainly due to advances in technology. The full impact of these changes has only recently begun to be noticeable. This Special Issue is intended to be a focus for the emerging discussion of these changes. Several of the papers included here (but not all) were originally conference contributions to the Special Track on Music Retailing of the EIRASS Annual Conferences 2009 and 2010. Ogden, Ogden and Long provide a historical overview over the changing landscape of music marketing. They investigate how music became a service/good combination that could be mass marketed. The authors take the reader through a journey beginning 36,000 years ago, to the first mass marketing of music by the early Church, and the development of recorded music with the invention of the phonograph and gramophone, followed by the introduction of broadcast media such as radio and film. It was only in the 20th century that music became a product available to almost everyone. In the 1930s, the business model for the record industry became established, a model that has not changed much until today, although digitalization in the form of CDs and, more recently, downloads, have resulted in fundamental changes to the music consumption value chain. Warr and Goode continue this outlook on music retailing into the future. Focusing very much on the present situation for the music industry, the two authors explore the changes caused by new technologies and changes in consumer behavior and consumer expectations. Based on these changes, the authors continue to develop three possible future scenarios. In the first scenario, the music industry survives more or less intact, by fundamentally changing the current business models and value provision. In the second scenario, the music industry adapts to the altered consumption patterns and expectations, but too slow and not substantially enough. In this scenario, the music industry dies slowly. The final scenario predicts a rapid decline and death of the music industry as we know it. The authors suggest that for the music to survive, the new customer expectations of ‘free’, ‘portable’ and ‘convenient’ have to be integrated into the strategies of the music retail chain. Dilmperi, King and Dennis delve deeper into one of the causes for the possible decline of the music industry—illegal downloading. The authors quantitatively explore the factors determining illegal downloading, the characteristics of downloaders, and the music genres they listen to. They also explore the type of music experience different consumer groups are seeking to gain. The authors found that the strongest motivational factor to download illegally was the notion ‘that music can be found for free’; whereas age and income were important demographic determinants of downloading (but not just of illegal downloading). 0969-6989/$ - see front matter & 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jretconser.2010.12.005
Furthermore, they found that gender had an impact on the buying of recorded music and the attendance of live music performances. The next two papers explore further changes in music consumption, especially the links between music consumption and ‘tribal’ identity. McIntyre’s paper uses short poetic selections of narratives to compare the preferences of Baby Boomer and Generation Y consumers for obtaining music from shops or by downloading. This study concludes that for the two consumer groups investigated, the process of music acquisition is deeply connected to generational identity, values and associations. Nuttall et al.’s paper explores the tribal aspects of music consumption in more depth. Based on a set of focus groups, Nuttall et al. found six ‘tribes’ of young music consumers. These tribes are distinguished by their music consumption patterns, identity, technological knowledge and market awareness. Whilst half of the groups identify conform to and operate within the existing industry’s rules, the other half of the ‘tribes’ constitute considerable challenges to both the music industry and its distributors as they are both resistant to and cynical about current music marketing efforts. Cockrill, Sullivan and Norbury explore a further, very recent development in music consumption, namely the possibility that excessive music consumption may be addictive. Using a combination of a withdrawal diary study and a quantitative survey, the authors discover three types of MP3 player users, with distinctive socio-demographic and music consumption patterns. The authors conclude that there can be little doubt that for some consumers, music consumption is addictive with negative effects on their lives, although for most consumers, it is a life enhancing activity. For thousands of years, music consumption has been an integral part of human life and virtually all cultures. In recent decades, the commercialization of music and its distribution have provided many people with work and artists with previously unheard-of platforms to distribute their music. At the same time, this increasing ‘marektization’ has also led to resentment by some consumers, and new technological opportunities enable these consumers to express their resentment through illegal consumption behavior. This Special Issue hopes to encourage both academic readers and practitioners to reflect on some of the complex issues influencing the future of music retailing.
Antje Cockrill School of Business and Economics, Swansea University, United Kingdom E-mail address: [email protected]