BUSI 0011 | Dissertation | The Evolution of Social Media and Music

Introduction

Over the past decade, the evolution of music consumption has increased considerably and streaming has become one of the significant methods of listening to music. Apart from streaming, the expanded use of social media has also changed the music industry drastically. Declination in the music industry was recorded when in the US, music’s biggest market; revenues fell to $6.3 billion in 2009 from $14.6 billion in 1999. This gave rise to controversy such as declaring this as the end of the music business. But things started to take turn in 2015, when Universal Music Group recorded $1 billion profit from streaming (Marshall 2015). Music streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music saved the music industry drastically. Napster is said to be the founder of the first streaming platform that helped change the music industry. Thus, it can be said that steaming that was a matter of suspicion for the artists and labels, is now considered as the path back to prosperity in the digital era for the music industry.

Apart from streaming, the social media platforms have also saved the music industry, as this global platform provided an opportunity to reach out to the listeners regardless of time and location. Celebrities and labels post their music launch or the entire video on the social media platform that is accessible easily by the population around the world (Richardson 2014). For example, YouTube has signed a multi-year agreement with Universal Music Group that allows the artists pay and flexibility thereby, providing more value to the music industry. However, issues such as limited digital reproduction, showing ads, hidden subscription fees and limited earning for artists are matters of concern.

Aim of the study

The aim of the study is to analyze the evolution of social media and music streaming with its impact on the music industry.

Theoretical background

The research objectives are:

• To investigate the evolution of social media and music streaming
• To critically analyze the impact of social media and music streaming on the music industry
• To assess the relationship between social media and music streaming on music industry
• To provide suitable recommendations for improving social media and music streaming

The research questions are:

• What is the evolution history of social media and music streaming?
• What is the impact of social media and m
  
  usic streaming on the music industry?
• What is the relationship between social media and music streaming on music industry?
• What are the suitable recommendations for improving social media and music streaming?

The hypotheses include:

H₀: Social media and music streaming has no impact on music industry.

H₁: Social media and music streaming has an impact on music industry.

Declination of music industry

The era of 2000 saw the drastic declination of the music industry due to which several people were fired. Though artists like Adele and Rihanna sold millions of their records, the music industry failed to make sufficient revenues. Due to decreased revenue, the music industry lashed out fighting legal battles with teenagers who downloaded music illegally and also started investing on intellectual property rights. Such issues continuously resulted in the major collapse of the music industry when the revenue of music’s biggest market dropped from $14.6 billion in 1999 to $6.3 billion in 2009 (Wolfson 2018). In 2007, tension between the musicians and the record labels noticed along with issues such as inadequate pay and artists resisting restrictive contracts. Under such circumstances, artists performing live shows and brand endorsements were able to survive. The declination of the music industry was considered as the end of the music industry and business but from 2015 onwards things started to change in the music industry (Worldwide 2018).

Origin of music streaming and social media platforms

The issues faced by the music industry begun to fade away with the launch of music streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple music. Napster, the first music streaming platform was established in 1999 that changed the face of the music industry and saved the billion dollar business sector. In the past couple of years steaming and social media has become one of the main ways that is used for listening to music. Some of the major music steaming platforms includes Spotify, Pandora, Apple music and Google and Spotify is considered as the reason of growth behind the music streaming platform (BBC News 2018). The evolution of the music consumption has resulted in the development of streaming and social media use. The social media platform, YouTube, signed a multi-year agreement with Universal Music Group that offers pay and flexibility to the artists. In addition to, the advancement of technology has shifted the focus of the population from CD, radio and MP3 to streaming and social media platforms, as this allowed the listeners to enjoy music without downloading them (BBC News 2018).  

Benefits of streaming and social media on the music industry

The steaming and the social media benefitted the music industry largest and application of it in the music industry has resulted in reviving the downfall of the business. The music industry recorded an estimated revenue growth of $8.72 billion in 2017 this is considered the highest compared to the past decade. The revenue has raised to $1.2 billion, that is, $16.5% higher compared to 2016. The above-mentioned figures highlight that the music industry is enjoying the double-digit numbers in the past two years and there is no scope of slowing down. At the end of 2048, an estimated growth of 20% is expected for the music industry due to streaming and social media platforms (Forbes.com 2018).

The use of social media and streaming platform has influenced the expansion and is solely responsible for 65%, that is, two-third revenue growth of the recorded music. In 2017, the streaming revenue increased to $5.7 billion from just $4 billion in 2016 and $2.3 billion in 2015. An estimated 43% growth each year has been recorded that is considered huge for the music industry compared to the downfall in the past. In addition to, streaming supported with advertisements still continues to increase though it is less than on-demand if compared to the revenue. However, streaming without ads generated $659 million revenue in Spotify in 2017and the numbers are increasing continuously (Forbes.com 2018).

Challenges of using streaming and social media on music industry

With the irreplaceable benefits that streaming and social media platforms offer, there are some potential challenges that restrict the use of streaming and social media for the music industry. One of the major challenges streaming and social media imposes on the music industry is intellectual property and use rights (Worldwide 2018). In addition to, the deal made between the artists and the record company determines the percentage of the earnings that the musicians and the intellectual property right holders get directly. Another challenge has also been noticed is the playing of advertisements. While music is played on the streaming platform and the social media platform, various ads are being played without permission. This disturbs the mood and concentration of the listener thereby, making it a challenge (BBC News 2018).

Future of streaming and social media on music industry

Previous year marked the complete arrival of the streaming platform in the music industry. For instance, Beyonce’s Lemonade was streamed 115 million times in the first week itself while Views was streamed 245 million times. Taking into account the profits streaming and social media has offered to the music industry, it can be said that it is a trend that has begun recently. According to the Recording Industry Association of America streaming accounts up to 51.4 % of the music revenue in the US thereby, suggesting 34% increase in 2015 and 9% in 2011. The future of the music industry is very much dependent on streaming and social media, as the listeners are habituated with the technological advancements and comfort it provides while listening to music (BBC News 2018).

Justification and contextualization

This research is important because this will help in investigating the impact of streaming and social media on the music industry. The change in the music industry in quiet notable and this research will help in shedding light on the past and present of the music industry. In order to investigate the impact on the music industry, this research will emphasize and discuss the origin and expansion of streaming and social media over the past decade. This research will help in focusing on the the increased rate of technological advancement over the years that resulted in the change of the demands and priorities of the music industry (Borja, Dieringer and Daw 2015).

The aim of this research is important because this research will help in understand and analyze the shift of change in the music industry. This research will help in analyzing the shift by taking into account the history of the music industry over two decades. It is important to find the impact of streaming and social media because these two technological developments helped the music industry to revive from the death (Wlomert and Papies 2016). In addition to, this study will be built on the existing body of evidence. This research will incorporate relevant information from various authentic secondary resources that talks about the declination of the music industry in the 1990’s followed by mentioning how streaming and social media due to technological advancement saved the music industry from collapsing.

This research is important because this will also help in identifying the potential gap that is associated with steaming and social media. Though streaming and social media has helped the music industry to revive, there are potential issues associated with the two technologies. This will provide an opportunity in better understanding the root or the cause that is giving rise to such issues in respect to streaming and social media. Identifying the issues in terms of streaming and social media will help the music industry to develop strategies for overcoming the issues. Plans for overcoming streaming and social media issues are essential, as these will help in improving the music industry and will be able to reach out the music lovers regardless of location and time (Nguyen, Dejean and Moreau 2014).

This research responds to the existing need of understanding the significance of streaming and social media. The information about the history of the music industry followed by the main reason of declination for the music industry in the past lays the foundation of the study. This is followed by information about the different streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple music and Napster and social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. This research will also provide facts and figures from various authentic resources that include the past and present records of the music industry. As a result, this research will help in understanding what made the music industry collapse and how technology such as social media and streaming helped in reviving the million dollar industry (Aguiar and Waldfogel 2015).  

Methodology

For this study, positivism philosophy, deductive approach, descriptive design and interview and survey research strategy will be used. The positivism philosophy will be used for this study, as this will offer provision for making quantifiable observation and use factual knowledge for determining the impact of streaming and social media on music industry. Additionally, the application of positivism philosophy will support the use of statistical data that will ensure validity and reliability of the study (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill 2016).

The implementation of deductive approach will be appropriate for this study, as this will support referring to previously existing information about the music industry, reason of the downfall of the music industry, the contribution of streaming and social media and how it saved the music industry from collapsing. Based on the information, suitable observations can be made on the benefits and issues it puts on the music industry (Vaioleti 2016).

Descriptive design will be appropriate because this will help in exploring the issues of using streaming and social media as well as considering the origin of the issues. This will help in suggesting suitable recommendations in the latter half of the study (Lewis 2015).

The application of both survey and interview research strategy will be appropriate because this will facilitate gathering data from a large population. Collecting data from a large population helps in reducing biasness and enhancing the quality of the work, as percentages and averages can be considered for analyzing the data. Additionally, the use of interview will be justified, as this will help in gathering in-depth opinions and views about how streaming and social media has saved the music industry from collapsing by communicating with the interviewees personally (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault 2015).

Both non-probability and random probability sampling technique will be used because both the survey strategies have been selected. Random probability sampling technique will allow equal chances for all the individuals within the population to be a part of the survey strategy that will make it easy to analyze the impact streaming and social media on the music industry. In addition to, non-probability sampling technique will help in selecting the participants personally by judging their suitability according to the research topic. This will help in understanding whether streaming and social media has offered another life to the rapidly declining music industry (Burrel and Morgan 1979).

Primary data collection will be justified for this study, as this will support collection of recent data from the individuals those are enjoying music due to streaming and social media. This will help in knowing the benefits that streaming and social media offers to the music industry that is absent previously and resulted in the declination of the million dollar business sector. Both quantitative and qualitative data analysis technique will be used. This will help in using statistical approach for the survey research strategy thereby, ensuring data reliability and validity. Qualitative data analysis will help in interpreting the interview verbatim thereby, enhancing the quality of the collected data from the managers (Bryan 2006).

Participants

For this research, 100 individuals using streaming and social media for listening to music will be selected. In addition to, this research will also select 5 managers from the steaming and social media platforms as interviewees for gathering in-depth views about how these two technologies has saved the music industry. The participants for the survey will be recruited by using random probability sampling technique. This sampling technique will be selected for recruiting the participants, as this will allow each individual within the large population to be a participant in this study. Additionally, for recruiting the interviewee participants, non-probability sampling technique will be used, as this will help the researcher in selecting the participants by judging their suitability and keeping in mind to gather information regarding how streaming and social media has saved the music industry and marked billion dollar business sector (Callahan 2014).

Data gathering

This entire research will be completed within a span of 4 months as this study will have to be conducted from the initial stage of setting aim, objectives and hypothesis followed by conducting extensive research for the literature review and applying appropriate methods for collecting data and analyzing it in accordance with the research topic of the impact of streaming and social media on the music industry (Denzin and Lincoln 2005). Taking into account the vastness of the research area, different stages will be used. The different stages will include collection of data, sorting of data followed by analyzing and interpreting the data. As mixed method will be used for this study, initially survey will be conducted and based on the survey results and analysis, interview questions will be developed for interviewing (Koerner 2014).

Main activities	1st  week	2nd – 4th week	5th – 7th week	8th – 10th  week	11th – 13th week	14th – 16th week
Topic selection
Reviewing literature
Developing Research methodology
Collection of primary data (online survey and interview)
Analysis and interpretation of data
Findings
Conclusion and Recommendation
Final submission

 

Time table

Access and ethics

The ethical issues that might arise for this study are confidentiality and forceful participation. While commencing with the research work, one of significant research ethics that is mandatory to follow is confidentiality. While proceeding with the research work, the identity of the participants as well as the data gathered from them will have to be kept confidential and cannot be disclosed without their consent (Ardichvili and Jondle 2009). Also, the data will have to be gathered from participants those are willing to be a part of the study and forceful participation is against the research ethics. Thus, it will be safe to make the participants sign the consent forms before participating in this study.

Limitations

The potential limitation for this study will be the use of mixed methods for collecting and analyzing the data. This study will be considerably complex in nature, as both survey and interview methods will be used. The use of mixed method will give rise to two different set of data that needs to be interpreted separately initially but will have to be combined while deducing conclusion. In addition to, conducting interview will also act as a limitation though in-depth data can be collected as it will be time-consuming. As the interviewees have no restriction in sharing their views, interview process will be lengthy thereby, making interpreting the recorded verbatim confusing (Mackey and Gass 2015).

Reflexivity

After approval of the topic, I will be setting the aim, objectives, questions and research hypothesis. My role as a researcher will be crucial for this research, as I will be conducting extensive research and gather relevant and required data from different secondary resources for investigating the impact of streaming and social media on the music industry. My choice of design for this study will help in gathering large as well as in-depth data from the individuals listening to music and has encountered the transition of the music industry before and after the use of streaming and social media.

Rigor

The problem with my choice of investigation is that mixed method has been used that emphasizes on collecting data from the individuals. It would have been better if secondary data collection technique will be used, as this will allow developing themes in respect to the impact of streaming and social media on music industry. The use of secondary data collection technique would have helped analyzing the past and present scenario of the music industry with various data and figures from authentic resources making the investigation more fruitful. However, in order to make the research process trustworthy, the finding and interpretation of the primary data collection process will be supported by the information provided in the theoretical background (Neuman 2013).

References

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Ardichvili, A. and Jondle, D. 2009. Integrative literature review: Ethical business cultures: A literature review and implications for HRD. Human Resource Development Review, 8(2), 223-244.

BBC News. 2018. Streaming fuels music industry boom. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-42554813 [Accessed 5 Dec. 2018].

BBC News. 2018. YouTube signs Universal Music deal. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-42420218 [Accessed 5 Dec. 2018].

Borja, K., Dieringer, S. and Daw, J., 2015. The effect of music streaming services on music piracy among college students. Computers in Human Behavior, 45, pp.69-76.

Bryman, A. 2006. ‘Integrating quantitative and qualitative research: How is it done?’ Qualitative Research, Vol. 6, no. 1 pp 97-113

Burrell G and Morgan G 1979. ‘In search of a framework’,  Sociological paradigms and organizational analysis. London: Heinemann. (pp. 1-40)

Callahan, J. L. 2014. ‘Writing Literature Reviews: a reprise and update’. Human Resource Development Review. 13(3): pp. 271-275.

Denzin NK and Lincoln YS 2005. ‘Paradigmatic controversies, contradictions, and emerging confluences’, The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks: CA and London. (pp. 163-188)

Forbes.com. 2018. Streaming Music Helped The Music Industry Grow By Double-Digits In 2017. [online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/hughmcintyre/2018/03/23/streaming-music-helped-the-music-industry-grow-by-double-digits-in-2017/#387810d47d69 [Accessed 5 Dec. 2018].

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Lewis, S., 2015. Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Health promotion practice, 16(4), pp.473-475.

Mackey, A. and Gass, S.M., 2015. Second language research: Methodology and design. Routledge.

Marshall, L., 2015. ‘Let's keep music special. F—Spotify’: on-demand streaming and the controversy over artist royalties. Creative Industries Journal, 8(2), pp.177-189.

Neuman, W.L., 2013. Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Pearson education.

Nguyen, G.D., Dejean, S. and Moreau, F., 2014. On the complementarity between online and offline music consumption: the case of free streaming. Journal of Cultural Economics, 38(4), pp.315-330.

Richardson, J.H., 2014. The Spotify paradox: How the creation of a compulsory license scheme for streaming on-demand music platforms can save the music industry. UCLA Entertainment Law Review, 22(1).

Saunders, M., Lewis, P. and Thornhill, A., 2016  Research Methods for Business Students. Harlow, Essex: Pearson.

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