Innovating in the music industry : Blockchain, Streaming & Revenue Capture

• Autor(a) principal: Moreira, Maria Alice Bosseljon Roche
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/31171
• topic: Music; Music industry; Blockchain technology; Business model; Business model innovation; Strategic innovation; Technology; Royalty distribution; Royalty payment; Copyrights; Transparency; Trust; Música; Indústria da música; Modelo de negócios; Inovação em modelos de negócios; Inovação estratégica; Tecnologia; Distribuição de royalties; Pagamento de royalties; Direitos autorais; Transparência; Confiança; Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Economia e Gestão

Music industry revenues experienced a boom when digital music became available and the music business reinvented itself. Even with the existence of piracy, the business has been growing since 2015. A lot of the credit goes to streaming platforms that introduced the notion of access instead of ownership as the dominant business model (BM). However, the main financial beneficiaries are the platforms, labels, and publishers (the middlemen), whereas musicians receive little from streaming their creations. This is due to an outdated royalty distribution system that was applied to the new BM. This study aims to propose an updated BM by innovating the industry’s payment framework with the use of blockchain technology (BT). It would create a fair and transparent accounting system as well as promoting trust for all professionals in the system. Secondary data on strategic innovation, the music industry, and business model innovation were analyzed in this study. Qualitative and quantitative primary data was collected through a survey and semi-structured interviews conducted with industry professionals. Results revealed that BT could be a game-changer in the way the industry accounts for and pay royalties. However, there is little knowledge about the use of BT so no immediacy to bring about its implementation. Also, the industry lacks incentives to change the BM as big players run the show leaving musicians without little agency to bring about change. Finally, the study concludes that even though BT is a possible solution, the industry might not yet be accepting of this kind of change.