Wednesday 5 June 2013

Working papers using data from French record companies and French musicians

Firstly, what is a working paper?

A working paper is a publication that authors make available ahead of being formally published in a journal or other resource. Often, some changes occur between the publication of the working paper and the finished article. As such, they can be considered the research equivalent of a literary work-in-progress.

More popular amongst some disciplines (and indeed some countries) than others, these resources have the benefit of being available for anyone to read - including you.

And so, the first working paper reviewed in this blog post comes to the conclusion that digitization allows record companies to produce more albums, targeting niche markets. Importantly, the authors note that this does not result in greater sales. The findings synchronise with the 'long tail effect' theory (Anderson, 2006). Check it out.

The second, builds on the 'stage in the game' phenomenon discussed in this blog last July where piracy is seen to affect artists differently. One core finding is that artists who do more live performances are more tolerant of piracy.

With hundreds of related working papers out there, why create a blog post about these two?

Well, these two are not only in novel in as much as they draw from data from record companies and musicians, but they draw from French data. With much research from USA, it's good to see research from other countries where there have been some valuable contributions from mainland Europe in music piracy research, including from Spain, Netherlands and Sweden (as well as my native United Kingdom).

Get on out there with some creative Google search terms. See what you find.

Tweets when I'm not listening to Daft Punk (and often when I am) @musicpiracyblog

References

Anderson, C. (2006). The Long Tail. Hyperion: New York.

Bacache, M., Borreau, M. and Moreau, F. (in press). Piracy and Creation: The Case of the Music Industry. European Journal of Cultural Economics.

Borreau, M., Gensollen, M., Moreau, F. and Waelbroeck, P. (in press). "Selling Less of More"? The Impact of Digitization on Record Companies. Journal of Cultural Economics.





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