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“It can be all right to have a fancy degree from a conservatory, but if you don’t have that swing within you, it doesn’t do it for me. Jazz is not something you can learn
- you need to have it inside of you!”
[Respondent from interview]
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This thesis argues that the Danish jazz scene has problems attracting new consumers and that it is connected to the fact that the Danish Jazz scene isn’t utilizing the potential of new technologies in promotion and distribution of jazz music to both existing and new consumers. Throughout this thesis we seek to disclose strategic recommendations, which can benefit the music genre by appealing to both existing and new consumers.
Addressing this issue we analyse through quantitative and qualitative data what the important values are for the jazz listeners when creating identity. The identity perspective was chosen inductive because data revealed this as an essential key to understanding the jazz listeners. Analysing this agenda, we draw on key insights in several theories regarding identity creation through music consumption. Since the field is somewhat unexplored for the jazz listeners, we answer the research question by achieving knowledge from several analytical levels.
First, we explore the identity creation through music through theories of amongst other Baudrillard, Bauman and Dolfsma to get an understanding of the identity creation from music in a mainstream perspective. Secondly, we use quantitative data from relevant reports and surveys combined with or own survey data on 500 Danish jazz listeners to get a broader picture of who the listeners are. We supplement this with expert opinions to get a feeling of up-and-coming technologies on the mainstream scene of music. Thirdly, we change the focus to be jazz specific and investigate the jazz listeners through in-depth interviews and address the possible technologies from the experts to investigate if and how they suit the jazz environment. The analysis ends with a development of an Identity Model from which we discuss the theoretical application on the jazz environment and formulate a number of recommendations to the Danish Jazz scene offering several strategic levers.
We conclude that there is a need for an embracement of the technologies and for a willingness to open up the jazz genre and make it more attractive to new jazz consumers as well as an understanding of the values contained in the jazz environment to make sure the technologies are not conflicting the existing main beliefs of the jazz listeners. We argue that if the recommendations are taken in to consideration they can help create a transformation and ultimately establish growth for the genre, while still nursing and respecting tradition.
1. TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ... 2!
1. TABLE OF CONTENTS ... 3!
2. INTRODUCTION ... 7!
2.1PROBLEM FIELD ... 7!
2.2RESEARCH QUESTION ... 8!
2.3INTRODUCTION TO THE FIELD ... 9!
2.3.1 The Creative Industries ... 9!
2.3.2 The Danish Jazz Scene ... 10!
Players on the Danish Jazz Scene ... 11!
2.4CHOICE OF EMPIRICAL FIELD ... 12!
2.5EMPIRICAL DELINEATION ... 13!
3. LITERATURE REVIEW ... 14!
3.1CHOICE OF THEORY ... 14!
3.2MUSIC AND IDENTITY ... 15!
3.2.1 Identity Creation through Music ... 16!
Meta-consumption of music ... 16!
Neo-tribes ... 18!
3.2.2 Online Consumer Behaviour ... 19!
3.2.3 Collecting Music ... 22!
Physical Music collections ... 22!
Digital Music collections ... 24!
3.2.4 The Live Experience ... 25!
Value Created Through Live Music Experiences ... 25!
3.2.5 The Price of Music ... 27!
4. METHOD ... 31!
4.1REFLECTIONS ON SCHOOL OF THOUGHT ... 31!
4.1.1 Relevance of Social Constructivism ... 31!
4.1.2 Our Role as Researchers ... 32!
4.2DEPENDABLITY AND CREDIBILITY ... 32!
4.3PROJECT DESIGN ... 33!
4.4QUANTITATIVE DATA ... 35!
4.4.1 Survey Structure ... 35!
4.4.2 Distribution – Reaching the Right People ... 36!
4.4.3 Analysing Quantitative Data ... 37!
4.4.4 Identification of Heavy Users ... 37!
4.5QUALITATIVE DATA ... 38!
4.5.1 Expert Interviews ... 39!
4.5.2 Interviews With Heavy Users ... 40!
4.5.3 Jotting ... 41!
4.5.4 Going Native ... 42!
4.5.5 Analysis Strategy - Thematic Analysis ... 42!
4.5.6 The Use of Thematic Analysis ... 43!
5. MARKET CHARACTERISTICS ... 46!
5.1MARKET RESEARCH ... 46!
5.2SURVEY AND MARKET SEGMENTS ... 48!
5.2.1 Complete Sample of Respondents ... 48!
Geographical Diffusion of Respondents ... 49!
Sample Demography – Who are the Respondents? ... 49!
Respondents Use of Music ... 50!
5.2.2 Segmentation of Respondents ... 52!
Determining the live music Segment ... 53!
Determining the physical medium Segment ... 53!
Determining the digital medium Segment ... 54!
Overview of the Three Segments ... 54!
5.2.3 Analysis of Survey Segments ... 55!
Geography ... 55!
Age ... 55!
Education ... 55!
Musician? ... 55!
Jazz consumption in Percentage of Total Consumption ... 56!
Concerts Attended pr. Year ... 56!
CD's Bought pr. Year ... 56!
Download/streaming - Percentage of Total Consumption ... 57!
Sources of Inspiration ... 57!
Importance of Reviews for Buying Behaviour ... 57!
5.3“EXPERTS SAY”-TRENDS AND TENDENCIES ... 57!
5.3.1 Trends on the Live scene ... 58!
5.3.2 Trends in Physical Mediums ... 58!
5.3.3 Trends in Digital Mediums ... 59!
5.3.4 Coming up with Concrete Examples and Cases ... 60!
The Live Experience ... 61!
The Physical Medium ... 62!
The Digital Medium ... 63!
Both Digital Medium and Live Experience ... 64!
6. ANALYSIS PT. I ... 65!
6.1WHAT DOES MUSIC MEAN? ... 65!
6.2MUSIC AND SOCIAL LIFE ... 66!
6.3FEELING SPECIAL ... 68!
6.4OWNERSHIP,ACCESSIBILITY AND THROWING AWAY ... 71!
6.5NEW SOURCES OF INFORMATION ... 72!
6.6WHAT IS MUSIC WORTH? ... 73!
7. ANALYSIS PT. II – THE TECHNOLOGIES ... 76!
7.1TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE LIVE EXPERIENCE ... 76!
7.1.1 Interactive Set Lists ... 76!
7.1.2 Download of Concerts ... 76!
7.1.3 Live Streaming of Concerts ... 77!
7.1.4 Geo-marketing ... 77!
7.2TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE PHYSICAL MEDIUM ... 78!
7.2.1 CD’s with Extra Content ... 78!
7.2.2 Customized Merchandise ... 78!
7.3TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE DIGITAL MEDIUM ... 79!
7.3.1 Niche-streaming ... 79!
7.3.2 Hardware Streaming box ... 79!
7.3.3 Better Search Technologies ... 80!
7.3.4 Smart phone Apps ... 80!
8. DISCUSSION PT. I ... 82!
8.1IDENTITY MODEL FOR THE JAZZ LISTENER ... 82!
8.2IDENTITY AND MUSIC CONSUMPTION ... 84!
8.2.1 Meta-consumption ... 85!
Consumption and Collection of Digital Music ... 86!
8.2.2 Feeling Special ... 87!
Information Online and Reluctance to Participate ... 87!
Collecting behaviour for jazz listeners ... 89!
Paying to Feel Special ... 91!
8.2.3 Neo-tribes ... 92!
8.3THE UNIQUENESS OF THE LIVE EXPERIENCE ... 94!
8.4DEALING WITH BARRIERS OF THE JAZZ WORLD ... 96!
9. DISCUSSION PT. II – THE TECHNOLOGIES ... 99!
9.1TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE LIVE EXPERIENCE ... 99!
9.1.1 Interactive Set Lists ... 99!
9.1.2 Download of Concerts ... 100!
9.1.3 Live Streaming of Concerts ... 100!
9.1.4 Geo-marketing ... 101!
9.2TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE PHYSICAL MEDIUM ... 102!
9.2.1 CD’s with Extra Content ... 102!
9.2.2 Customized Merchandise ... 103!
9.3TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE DIGITAL MEDIUM ... 103!
9.3.1 Niche-streaming ... 103!
9.3.2 Hardware Streaming box ... 104!
9.3.3 Better Search Technologies ... 105!
9.3.4 Smart phone Apps ... 105!
10. RECOMMENDATIONS ... 107!
10.1EMBRACING THE IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION ... 108!
10.2COMPENSATING THE NEED FOR TANGIBILITY ... 109!
10.3ADDRESSING THE QUALITY ISSUE ... 110!
10.4STRENGTHENING THE LIVE EXPERIENCE ... 111!
11. CONCLUSION ... 114!
12. FUTURE RESEARCH ... 115!
13. BIBLIOGRAPHY ... 116!
13.1BOOKS &ARTICLES ... 116!
13.2SURVEYS AND REPORTS ... 119!
13.3INTERNET RESOURCES ... 119!
14. APPENDIX: TABLE OF CONTENTS ... 121
2. INTRODUCTION
Our interest in innovation within Danish jazz music stems from our personal interest in the jazz scene. From many years of interest in the genre, we have developed a love for the music, and a clear feeling that the Danish jazz scene has an enormous talent mass with the potential to match that of other great jazz nations. In short, we feel that in Denmark, jazz is not something you have to import to get a certain quality – high quality jazz is produced and available on the domestic market.
From our interaction with the jazz scene, we have a clear impression, that often actors within the scene, not only in Denmark but generally, are prone to be somewhat “self-sufficient”, in the sense that jazz is considered more a form of art than a commercial product – something which is backed up by the research of Kubacki (2007) amongst others. Over the years, this has build up an image of the jazz genre as somewhat closed, which is hardly the best way to attract new potential listeners and reach new consumers. However, from our interaction with the genre and the milieu surrounding it, combined with our studies in the field of creative management, we have the clear sense that there is a new wave of mainly young professionals, eager to find a way of combining the art-for-arts-sake aspect with attracting new consumers, reaching new markets and making the genre more sellable.
2.1 PROBLEM FIELD
In an age where time is a scarce resource and media- and entertainment offers are more than plentiful, it is of crucial importance that any supplier of experience goods invests time and effort in understanding how to best promote herself and her product to potential consumers.
In the past there has been an underlying idea that the notion of making art more sellable is in a way selling out and compromising your artistic integrity. However, we believe that this can indeed be done in a way where the artistic integrity is combined with more exposure, better catering to the needs of existing consumers and the attraction of more consumers.
With these observations in mind, we were motivated to investigate how consumers and especially jazz listeners consume music in the technological landscape of today, and the implications of this on the niche genres. We investigate what music means to the music consumer in relation to identity creation and self-realization to be able to apply the tendencies to the jazz listening audience and from this pool of tendencies and norms
formulate specific recommendations to players engaged with jazz music production and promotion on physical mediums, digital mediums and as live experiences.
Newer trends in the industry such as digital exchange of music and an increasing focus on entertainment and live appearance of the artist, is being addressed mainly by the large mainstream players in the industry, which in turn means that the solutions and services constructed often caters predominantly to the needs of the mainstream (and more revenue creating) genres, leaving the niche genres to take or leave the solutions available. We investigate what possibilities emerging technologies can create for an “art-for-arts-sake”
niche genre such as jazz, in reaching a broader audience and catering to existing consumers on the new digital platforms that are becoming a bigger and bigger part of our daily lives.
Our investigation and recommendations are structured within three fields of the industry:
The selling of music on a physical medium, the selling of music on a digital medium and the selling of music as live experiences.
2.2 RESEARCH QUESTION
The observations and motivation explained in the problem field has led us to the following research question:
How can the actors on the Danish jazz scene utilize the potential of new technologies in their promotion and distribution of jazz music to both existing and new consumers?
2.3 INTRODUCTION TO THE FIELD
This short introduction to the creative industries and the players in the jazz genre aims to give an impression of the scope of the field we are investigating.
2.3.1 THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES
In Creative industries – contracts between art and commerce, Richard Caves (2000) defines the creative industries as “supplying goods and services that we broadly associate with cultural, artistic, or simply entertainment value” (Caves 2000, p.1). The creative industries possess a number of characteristics that differentiate them from other industries – Caves (2000) lists the following seven properties of creative industries as opposed to other, as Caves (2000) call them “humdrum”, industries:
• Nobody knows – demand is uncertain, and no producer of a creative good can be 100% sure of how the consumer will react to a product.
• Art for art's sake – traditionally, workers are assumed to take on work with the overall aim of earning money. The creators of creative products however, are often driven by other factors than shear economics.
• Motley crew – many creative outputs rely on a broad range of diverse skills often supplied by a number of different artists who are likely to have different artistic values.
• Infinite variety – even though two creative products, like two movies, might be similar in many aspects, not two products are 100% identical.
• A list/B list – in creative industries, some artists will always be more popular than others.
• Time flies – costs of creating a creative product are potentially high (e.g. cinema films), and prompt realisation of revenues can be important for any project.
• Ars longa – with the creation of many creative products follows the right of intellectual property of the product, a value that can generate a turnover for years after the creation.
Most creative enterprises are what would be characterised as ”high-risk enterprises”, meaning amongst others that they operate with a considerable amount of market uncertainty (the ”nobody knows”-property) and hence are very dependent on their networks. Furthermore they undergo quite complex production processes, in which many differentiated skills are
required. An important consideration to be made in this process is the ”make or buy” conflict – how much of your production do you integrate into your organisation (and at what costs/benefits), and how much do you outsource to your network? (Caves 2000, p.8)
The goods produced are subject to a number of uncertainties. Most creative goods are
“experience goods” whose value is realised only after its consumption (Bhattacharjee et al., 2003). There are no standards or quality norms to follow for most experience goods, which (depending on an organisations desired level of innovation) can make the production process complex. These uncertainties and risks lead into another fundamental term in the creative industries: not everybody can be successful, but the growth of the hit culture means that if you make it, often you make it big. However, it has proven critical to never fall into routines as peoples’ taste is ever changing and product lifecycles are shortening more and more, continuous innovation in any creative organisation is necessary (Lampel et al. 2000, p.265).
Hence, any player within the market of the creative industries is in a constant need to innovate to be able to keep up with a changing market. If these players don't develop and innovate they will fall behind and potentially lose market share. The competition is high. The offers to customers are manifold and consumer behaviour is, like the market, ever changing.
Consequently, innovation is an inevitable part of successfully marketing, whether within fashion, film or any genre within the field of music.
2.3.2 THE DANISH JAZZ SCENE
Diving into the creative industries and further into the field of music, we find the musical genre of jazz. As other musical genres, jazz is pr. definition a part of the creative industries as it employs artistically and socially creative people in a combination of on-market and in- house production of entertainment products.
After enjoying massive attention and success in the 1930's and 40's, the emergence of genres such as rock and roll drew the attention of the mass audience away from the jazz genre, which has for the many past decades been characterised best as a niche genre. A 2010 report commissioned by the Danish Arts Council reports that when asked which genres they had been in contact with over the past month, only 25% of Danes mention jazz (Rambøll 2010, p.148).
This puts jazz at the bottom of a list of the seven most commonly used genre classifications –
substantially lower than genres such as pop and rock (enjoying respectively 75% and 66%) and under the classical music genre (27%) (Rambøll 2010, p 148).
Players on the Danish Jazz Scene
The following section aims to outline the field of the Danish jazz scene. This outline is not meant to be exhausting of the field as it could easily take up the better part of a thesis, but simply serves to present a visualisation of the structure of the scene.
In Denmark, the main political body of all culture is the cultural ministry, funding and initiating a large part of the economically heavy cultural initiatives. Under the ministry is a number of councils, boards, and administrative bodies however, as the aim of this thesis is not to present recommendations for changes in cultural politics or political administration of the jazz genre this part of the industry is largely to be disregarded.
On a semi-political level are the various organisations catering to the musical genres as a whole (in the case of jazz, JazzDanmark), the musicians (e.g. Danish Musicians Union and Danish Artists Union), and the composers (e.g. Danish Jazz-, Beat- and Folk-authors). Many of these are partially publically funded, but operate on independent budgets, giving them leeway to support concrete initiatives and actions.
On the organisational level are the various organisations administering the rights of rights- holders, e.g. KODA (administering public performance rights), NCB (mechanical rights) and Gramex (performance rights).
On the live scene, there is a large amount of venues, some of which are jazz specific (jazz clubs) and some of which have jazz only as a part a broader genre scope and some of which are small, local initiatives, while others are publicly funded regional venues. Furthermore, a number of jazz festivals (such as Copenhagen Jazz Festival) arrange annual (or biannual) series of concerts, often in cooperation with a number of the before mentioned venues.
Looking at recorded music, a number of record labels in varying size exist. These work, like the venues, in close cooperation with artists and are not uncommonly run or partially run by performing artists. They make recordings of music by artists available to the public on physical mediums and/or digital music files, often in cooperation with distributors who have access and infrastructure to distribute content and physical products to a (world)wide network of retailers.
The retail part of the milieu is mainly made up of two segments: retailers of physical mediums (mainly CDs) – either in the form of traditional brick-and-mortar shops, online shops or mail-order/record clubs – and retailers of digital music. Of the latter two main forms exist; sellers of digital music as pay-per-download and the newer streaming services where consumers do not actually buy the music but pay for access to the music through a monthly subscription. Common for the two types of digital retailers however is that no shops or services exist that carry jazz exclusively, while for physical sales albeit it few some retailers exist that cater to the jazz genre specifically and exclusively. A relatively new addition to the retailing is the ability for artists to sell their own releases directly through websites, fan pages etc. presenting a new window of possibility for artists who have not wanted to or not been able to release their music through the “traditional” channels.
Artists include musicians (performers) and composers, lyricists, arrangers etc. although often within the field of jazz many musicians also compose, write and arrange music for themselves. The large part of the musicians work on a freelance basis, taking work on e.g.
music schools in periods where jobs are few or keeping a part-time job all the time to anticipate slow periods. Few musicians hold semi- or fulltime positions in orchestras such as the Danish Radio Big Band.
Important to the jazz genre is the media. While traditional media channels such as TV, radio and newspapers has shown a decline in the coverage of the jazz genre over the past years, jazz content is slowly starting to emerge on the newer, mainly Internet based platforms such as blogs, social media and music/video streaming sites, suggesting that these will come to play an important role in the promotion of jazz music in the future.
An integral part of the milieu is the consumer to which most of the above mentioned actors seek to market their content to and around whose needs this thesis has its focus.
2.4 CHOICE OF EMPIRICAL FIELD
The choice of subject for the thesis was stimulated by our personal interest in the genre and access to it and further by a recently published report, where jazz was documented to be one of the smaller musical niche genres in Denmark (Rambøll, 2010).
Taking into consideration the massive presence of the jazz genre both internationally and in Denmark specifically sixty to seventy years ago, we wanted to present recommendations for
the genre as a whole, that relates to specific players within the field, to enable the positioning of the jazz genre as stronger than is the case today.
2.5 EMPIRICAL DELINEATION
The following empirical basis is used in the investigation:
Survey - To investigate the features of the Danish jazz listener, we conducted a survey including questions relating to demographics and to listening behaviours of participants. The survey was distributed through relevant channels to 500 Danish jazz listeners.
Expert interviews - Because of the closed nature of the jazz genre we wanted information from experts in the field of mainstream music, as we believe they are more actively searching for new methods and examining the new technology in order to most efficiently market the music to consumers. We contacted a range of important professionals within the mainstream Danish music scene from record labels over rights management societies to venues.
Fifteen in-depth interviews with heavy users of jazz music – To gain a deep understanding we did fifteen in-depth interviews with heavy users of jazz music found amongst the respondents of the survey divided to three segments: physical, digital and live.
3. LITERATURE REVIEW
The data collected through the survey has been the motivation for the literature review along with the problem field and research question. The themes that we investigate are the following:
Identity Creation Through Music: The curiosity was motivated through the problem field as a deeper understanding of what the music does for the personality of the jazz listener, to be able to give recommendations, which take into consideration the creation of identity.
Furthermore, theory on neo-tribes and meta-consumption is investigated.
Online Consumer Behaviour: From the notion of a digital music collector it became relevant to look at the online consumer. The problem field and the importance of online presence motivated this theme, through which we look into the online behaviour of the jazz listeners.
Collecting Music: This theme is encouraged by the survey, as around 90% of the respondents are classified as heavy users of music, compared to the previous research presented in 4.1, in that they buy more than two CD’s pr. year. This was the motivation to investigate the aspect of collecting music in both physical and digital format, to be able to identify how this affects the Danish jazz listener.
The Live Experience: The area is motivated by the survey, which shows the majority of respondents to be heavy users of the live experience. Hence, it was found relevant to look into the values and feelings of the jazz listeners connected with the experience of a live concert.
The Price of music: Here we investigate the importance of money and price when buying music. This section is motivated by the problem field and focuses on the importance of price for the jazz listeners. We have disregarded the issue of piracy since the inclusion of this aspect could quickly take up the vast majority of a thesis; hence we focus solely on the legitimate use of music. As the survey respondents are spending a lot of money on music and because the money spent is what makes wheels of the industry turn around, we find this theme to be highly relevant.
3.1 CHOICE OF THEORY
We have chosen to see the field of jazz as a representative delineation of society assuming that trends in the identity building and value perspectives for the mainstream music listener is also represented within the jazz listener. The field of jazz is a delineation of society; and the theory about identity and consumer behaviour is a delineation of the theory within the field. The theory chosen is determining for how we interpret the data.
Bauman (2004) is chosen because of his relevance within the field of identity. He deals specifically with the conditions of the post-modern human and identity creation in the ever- changing society of today. Baudrillard (1970) is used as a supplement to Bauman’s theory because of his particular focus on consumption, symbolic value of goods and interpersonal recognition. Their social constructivist approach to the world provides a shared platform for understanding their theories, each complimenting the other. The theory is used to identify what characterizes the factors within music that are identity creating and by using these theories the analysis is able to identify what aspect of jazz music is connected to the self- realization of the music consumer. Because we are investigating identity creation through music consumption to be able to give recommendations to the professional players within the field of Danish Jazz, the theory becomes a solid foundation.
The theories of Bauman and Baudrillard are supplemented with theory and articles relating more specifically to music and consumer behaviour in the field of music and in the digital age. Since these are relatively new subjects and since it is most interesting to use the newest possible literature as the focal point in our investigation is the application of new technologies we have chosen to construct our literature review from smaller works and articles, piecing together an honest and updated representation of the available theory on the subjects in question.
3.2 MUSIC AND IDENTITY
This chapter is the theoretical foundation for the discussion. The chapter includes theory on the value of music for consumers and we amongst others look in to theories about identity creation and consumption. Going into the specificities of music, we present theories on music consumption, collecting behaviour, online consumer behaviour, the value of the live experience, and the price of music.
3.2.1 IDENTITY CREATION THROUGH MUSIC
The power of music has been recognized to have a strong effect on people, an effect that can be physical as well as psychological (Cervellin & Lippi 2011). Music consumption relates to the creation of the self, as Nuttall et al. (2011) state.
Years ago the national states were trying to force the identity of the individuals to be nationalists. However, as the individuals realized that it was not a valid foundation for the creation of identity, and they had other options and choices, the question about identity creation appeared: ”After all, asking ’who you are’ makes sense to you only once you believe that you can be someone other than you are: only if you have a choice, and only if it depends on you what you choose: only if you have to do something: that is: for the choice to be ’real’
and to hold” (Bauman 2004, p.19). As a result of globalization and technological development, we are today not tied up to one national identity an institutional role or a story that we have to fulfil (Bauman 2004).
According to Bauman (2004) identity is searched for because of a desire for safety and because safety is not constant in a contingent world, identities don’t have a constant size (Bauman 2004, p.29). This is why the post-modern people keep all doors open; we do not seek a constant identity as it only restricts the freedom and makes the individual incompetent to deal with changes in the world of today (Bauman 2004, p.53). This is one of the reasons Nuttall mentions that the young music consumers puts emphasis in “loyalty, kinship, emotion and passion” (Nuttall 2010, p.1) when they pursue a product that has an effect on their identity formation. The goods that they and other consumers buy have a higher meaning than just the functionality.
Meta-consumption of music
Consumption of music is by definition consumption of a symbolic good or service and music is consumed not only to enjoy the artistic value, but very much to show who you are, and what you want to be (Dolfsma 1999, p.1020). Music has a socio-cultural value to the consumers and it doesn’t matter if the good is material (e.g. CD’s and music magazines) or immaterial (e.g. radio and concerts). The symbolic goods are social and considered important for a persons identity. The goods contain signs and functions as codes that can be decoded, Baudrillard states. The decoding is done through an understanding of how the different signs are put together to express a specific identity. This reality functions specifically in groups as
neo-tribes, groups of consumption, within which there are specific codes and decodes to show that you fit in the group (Baudrillard 1970, p.31).
Campbell (1987) states “Individuals do not so much seek satisfaction from products, as pleasure from the self-illusory experience which they construct from their associated meanings. The essential activity of consumptions is thus not the actual selection, purchase or use of products, but the imaginative pleasure-seeking to which the product image lends itself” (Campbell 1987, p.89).
Dolfsma (1999) supports Campbell (1987)’s point that there is an associated meaning when he declares that “People buy records of famous pop musicians and imagine themselves to be in their place or in the place of the person who features in the song – being that perfectly independent and autonomous person who enjoys life and chooses to live in freedom with the (wo)man s/he loves, for instance” (Dolfsma 1999, p.1032). Friedman sees consumption patterns as an expression of underlying socio-cultural values, so when people consume music it is an expression of socio-cultural values that creates identity (Friedman 1990).
Hence, through the music we consume, we give an expression, of which social values we have, what groups we belong to and who we are. The music is a way of communicating messages to the relevant “audience”, to our social relations (Goehr 1994 in Dolfsma 1999).
Goehr states that it is especially true in the case of music (compared to other experience- products), because a persons liking for particular music is a powerful way of communicating ones socio-cultural values. As an example he mentions national anthems as a way to express ones nationality; which also gives an explanation to why music can be closely linked to the social and political environment (Goehr 1994 in Dolfsma 1999).
Through today’s marketing, the symbolic value of goods is acknowledged to matter, and with this follows ways from which we can distinguish ourselves from the other: ”...And for all of us beating a path through the ”personalized” jungle of ”optional” merchandise, desperately seeking the foundation cream that will reveal the naturalness of our face, the little touch that will show up our deep individual bent, is the difference which will make us ourselves” (Baudrillard 1970, p.10). The right symbols, in the right combination, create our identity, and we as individuals seek the marginal difference that makes us our self. In this search, the product in itself is secondary; what we consume is symbols, and most of all differentiation. Baudrillard calls it “meta-consumption” (Baudrillard 1970, p.90). The
consumption becomes more than value of use and value of symbols to consume becomes a search for identity. Therefore, our consumption is a manipulation of signs and symbols that we associate with certain objects and their importance in order to satisfy our needs. The individual creates identity through meta-consumption and social affinities.
Hence, when offering a service, the main issue for the consumer is not monetary value or cost, but to satisfy “wants” and for the producer of services the key point becomes transforming “wants” into “needs” to get the customers to buy their service again and again (Passikoff 2009). As such, the market takes advantage of the symbolic tags that goods have and let them become more important than quality and functionality of the good.
Several theories emphasizes the fact that music has a central cultural interest for all groups of people and some even say that it can be defining for the self of individuals (Brown 2009, Willis 1990, Nuttall 2010, and Goehr 1994). Music is said to be one of the strongest symbolic goods and therefore we dare to state that music and especially popular music is a catalyst for the construction of identity and social bonding (Nuttall 2008, cited by Nuttall 2010 and Dolfsma, 1999, p.1020). Music is a symbolic good, we consume to enjoy but also to be a foundation of the creation of the self: We meta-consume music. However, as Baudrillard states, the identity can’t stand alone: it is through the community we see that we are unique and therefore the community and neo-tribe becomes crucial for the symbolic values to exist and for the possibility of creating your self (Baudrillard 1970).
Neo-tribes
Bauman states that humans seek towards the quantitative networks to avoid being stuck with their identity, because it becomes important to have many relationships in different segments. The world is in constant change and a way to seek security is through the networks that we have.”Identities are for wearing and showing, not for storing and keeping”
(Bauman 2004, p.89) and in that sense we use identities in relation to others. Through the quantitative networks, we seek a feeling of being in touch which acts as a proxy for a lack of intimacy. Some of the ways to feel in touch are via mobile phone and through virtual networks. Bennett (1999) adds that young people organize in neo-tribes, which are communities formed around consumption behaviour (Bennett 1999). These neo-tribes exist in terms of the symbolic and ritual manifested commitment its members have. Bennett puts forward the relevancy of using the word neo-tribes and not subcultures, as he believes, the neo-tribalism provides “a much more adequate framework as it allows for the shifting nature
of youth’s musical and stylistic preferences and the essential fluidity of youth cultural groups” (Bennett 1999, p.614). This goes hand in hand with Bauman’s theory of changing identities and the point that identity is something we choose and not a static way of living.
According to Benn (2004) the younger generations of today consume through a tribal lens as their consumption is both a socialization and education. The young people’s consumption patterns play a “central role in the development of identity and self-image.” (Benn 2004 cited by Nuttall 2010, p.1)
Nuttall mentions that ownership of music isn’t a strong motivation for the consumers to identify with the music, but accessibility is. It is more important to be an inspiration within the tribe than being one of the inspired. This gives you credit within the tribe that is a network, a lifestyle, and a group of influencers and influenced members that copy from each other and create valuable relationships (Nuttall 2010). Tribes in general share a “strong emotional link, a common subculture and a vision of life” (Cova & Cova 1997 cited by Nuttall 2010). Within the tribes the branded goods such as music are strong symbolic tags.
The symbolic tags influence the entire group just as it creates social bonding and relationships within the tribe (Cova 1997, Condry 2004, Shankar et al. 2006, Nuttall &
Fichett 2002 cited by Nuttall 2010).
O’Sullivan (2009) states that consumption is on an individual, atomized level but that social research emphasizes the inter-subjectivity between people as a creation of knowledge and experience. He mentions that individuals contribute in consuming communities, consumities as he calls it, of participants in an inter-subjective experience. In experiences there are a shared consciousness, rituals and traditions and a sense of moral responsibility, he quotes from Munzin and O’Guinn (2001 in O’Sullivan 2009). Therefore the experience operates on a group level, where an inter-subjective consumption takes place, making social events of consumption of music especially important. It is concluded by O’Sullivan (2009) that the social dimension is integrated to the experience of live music and has potential in the connection with repositioning and promotion to new audience.
3.2.2 ONLINE CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR
This section focuses on online consumer behaviour and is relevant to understand how the consumers experience and respond to the online platforms where artists and music are represented. A huge part of the consumers today are present in virtual societies and social
media communities like eBay, MySpace, Facebook and Twitter where they communicate and interact. Here we investigate the value that the consumer gets from online presence.
Online social media communities are socially structured and organized around relationships of production and consumption, power and experiences (Castell 2000, p.5). In the communities consumers can get the “right word of mouth” from specialists within a specific topic which creates value. Deuze (2006) states that the culture emerges in the way we interact through the provided technology on- and offline. Users are participants in the process of ‘creation of meaning’ and the users adopt but also modify, manipulate and reform ways of understanding reality. The consumers expect to be included and to get involved and they expect companies and artists to talk to them as individuals. When artists and labels interact with consumers online it can create the feeling for the consumer to matter.
Participation is additionally motivated through the feeling of belonging within the community – this engagement gives the consumers a sense of identity, which contributes to the socialisation and peer recognition that the innovative and participating user experiences (Deuze 2006, p.66).
When a costumer participates or buys a product the person is not only expecting a product, but pays to ”spend time enjoying a series of memorable events that a company stages – as in a theatrical play – to engage him in a personal way” (Pine and Gilmore 1999, p.2). This engagement is interesting if consumers are searching for products that provide them with something larger than life, such as products that are complex and contain a lot of different knowledge. Consumers are looking for experiences and memorable events, which they can immerse themselves into. Experiences that are relevant make the consumers want to be an active part of the product and thereby co-create. The online experiences offered by the companies should therefore aim to involve active participation and immersion of the consumers and thereby be an escapist experience to catch the attention of the consumers. The experience of co-creation is the basis of unique value for each individual (Prahalad 2004).
An experience that the consumer absorb or passively experience tends to be of an entertaining or educational note or tends to be of aesthetic nature, which is different from the active participation and immersion that the consumer can achieve by being presence in online communities. When costumers are present online the interpersonal link and the communication becomes important (Pine & Gilmore 1999).
Costumers are eager to be updated, online, and to know what is going on. The online mode is
a part of the new flow of information that shows transparency and producers of goods have the possibility to easily update the consumers with the latest information and to build up the virtual relationship.
Artists and labels must be aware of what information is being exchanged about the artist in the online social networks, as it affects the brand and reputation and in the end the symbolic tags related to the artist. This fact stimulates more artists to use the networks to participate and control the communication and to give their input on subjects raised and generally be present. The brand only gains trust if the consumers trust the community and consumer value
“is created through experiences and solutions that allow the co-creation and sharing of resources, including skills and knowledge, involving both the company and the consumer”, Borghini & Carù (2008, p.257) explains. Hence it seems that co-creation around a firm or an artist can be a strong part of the brand value and the experience of being a part of a solution or discussion gives higher costumer value.
If an artist or label listens to and collaborates with the consumers, they builds up the brand and show that the artist or label cares about the consumer. This argument is supported by Scolari (2008) who states that brands become more important when the economy tends to be more digitalized and dematerializes itself. The brands of the digital world are oriented towards ‘making-doing’ and not ‘making-knowing’. This implies that the user through interaction gets an experience that is a fundamental component of the narrative world of the digital brands (Scolari 2008). The users want to be a part of the communities because they benefit from them as persons, not the other way around – they try to make themselves look better through their online life and how they act online (Baym 2009).
Online consumers are building relationships where a shared identity is present. What create norms within the relationships are the relational norms. The relation is maintained by a mutual exchange and the fulfilment of promises (Mathwick 2002) and “Therefore offering the ability to connect in a virtual context appears to have a positive effect on the future loyalty intentions of participating costumers.” (Mathwick 2002, p.51)
It appears that costumers participate for two reasons: because they are interested in the topic and have it as a hobby (intrinsic motivation) or because they have to, as a result of perceived constraints or to keep them attached or updated (extrinsic motivation) (Mathwick, 2002).
The online loyalty comes from virtual communities with high relational norms. Information about the online behaviour is important to the providers of the forum or webpage and one
thing is for sure, Mathwick (2002) argues: consumers enter the online communities and participate because they expect to receive positive value from their participation and the online relationship itself. This value has a symbolic, attached meaning and is relevant for the creation of the self for the online consumers.
3.2.3 COLLECTING MUSIC
The notion of ”collecting” things is an integral part of our daily lives. Most people collect something and some people collect a lot of things: “Collecting is a world habit. Collectors practice it consciously and with a definite, recognized aim. The rest of us practice it more or less unconsciously” (Sullivan & Hibbert 2006, p.285). However, the collection of music differs substantially from collecting rare and expensive artefacts (as is most often the case when referring to ”collectors”), in that music – whether on a physical medium or as a digital file most often is ”commercialized, mass-produced goods” (Sullivan & Hibbert 2006, p.285).
Kibby emphasizes that the collection of music differs from “traditional” collections in that the objects collected may have a symbolic value, but at the same time remain in daily use – hence, “Personal music archives are not easily categorized as either sacred objects or mundane possessions” (Kibby 2009, p.430).
Sullivan & Hibbert describe a collection as “very expressive of the owner’s identity as they are often highly visible and representative of the owner’s judgment and taste” (Sullivan &
Hibbert 2006, p.285) and as such, a collection is very often an important part of the collectors identity and losing the collection can be fatal. They emphasize the “thrill of the hunt” element: the process of searching for and acquiring new items for the collection is of key importance and that many collectors fear the completion of their collection, which in turn leads them to modify and extent the scope of their collection if completion comes to close within range.
Physical Music collections
Looking more specifically at the collection of music on physical mediums such as CD’s and vinyl, Sullivan & Hibbert investigates the behaviour of a representative sample of youngsters. They find amongst others that most respondents connected the notion of a
“collector” with something negative – terms such as “nerd” and “geek” coming to mind.
Rather than this, respondents feels that their collection of music make them opinion leaders and first movers, as such setting them apart from their peers in a positive sense and not a
negative.
The fact that music most often is commercialized, mass-produced goods, means that most items are widely owned, hence the uniqueness of a collection is a synergy effect created by the single items in the collection all together. Users report that different sections of their collections often represent different periods of their (music consuming) life – periods, which are often recalled when picking up or even thinking of e.g. a CD. For the same reason collectors seldom dispose of, or imagine parting with items in their collection – no matter how little they are used or how embarrassing they may be. Giles et al. (2007) make the point that “The purchase of specific recordings is tied to certain memories and sentiments relating to that period in the consumer’s life” (Giles et al. 2007, p.437), and hence conclude that physical record collections “serve as a kind of cultural autobiography for their owners, by attaching to specific moments, events, and relationships across the lifespan” (Giles et al.
2007, p.431).
Respondents report that their collections are indeed something they are proud of – a degree of competitiveness can be found towards other collectors and “Music collectors appear to relish the prospect of standing out amongst other music collectors” (Sullivan & Hibbert 2006, p.288). Ordering and sorting of the items is often made in a way that makes
“attractive” items more visible and partially or completely hides “embarrassing” items that maybe relate to a period of musical taste that the collector is not very proud of today.
In a similar study to that of Sullivan & Hibbert (2006), Giles et al. (2007) find that physical recordings are indeed important as artefacts and that the sleeve, cover, artwork, even the plastic case of a CD is considered an important part of the “work of art”. Giles et al. describe this connection with the physical artefact as reflecting “a private 'para-social' relationship between the consumer and the artist” (Giles et al. 2007, p.436). Sullivan & Hibbert (2006) find that for most collectors of physical mediums, digital alternatives such as the mp3-file can be used, at best, to sample new music for the benefit of deciding whether to buy or not – but not as a substitute for the physical medium. Giles et al. (2007) back up this statement saying that “it seems that the ‘death of CDs’ feared by some retailers may be a long way off:
even for committed downloaders, the traditional aspects of music collecting still mean that there is a felt need for material recordings” (Giles et al. 2007, p.442).
Digital Music collections
Giles et al. (2007) examine the psychological meanings attached to record collections and state that with “soft” formats i.e. intangible formats such as the mp3-file, it is unlikely that individuals attach very much sentimental value to the individual items in a collection. They emphasize that consumers report to lack the qualities of “materiality” and “visual” in their digital music collections. Nevertheless, the study of Giles et al. (2007) includes consumers in a broad age range and they conclude that there is a need for more data on consumers whose first meeting with recorded music was through digital channels, since older generations have been socialized into a culture where the physical medium was prevalent.
Kibby (2009) did exactly this, in studying the behaviour of “young people whose first music acquisitions were music files or whose current collections consisted predominantly of music files” (Kibby 2009, p.428), and she suggests that the relationship with the digital format is changing with the new generations. While some did, as Giles et al. (2007) argue, value their CD’s higher than their digital collection and others saw the digital collection as more of a backup of their physical, there was indeed a group who valued their digital music collection much in the same way as collectors of physical mediums or even non-music collections as described earlier, leading Kibby (2009) to conclude that “for young music collectors in the future files may replace physical formats” (Kibby 2009, p.432). She does note that most interviewees still wanted the CD even after having transferred it to the computer, but hypothesizes that as downloading becomes easier and faster this desire might fade away.
Giles et al. (2007) and Nuttall (2010) emphasize the aspect of convenience when dealing with digital music collections. Digital music (at least if disregarding whether the music is legally downloaded) is easy to access, easy to dispose of, and easy to regain if the consumer changes her mind. This in turn, Giles et al. (2007) argue, leads to a lower level of investment in and a cavalier attitude towards the ownership of music with clear implications on collecting behaviour. Most importantly they argue, that the consumers identity is less bound to the collection and it's contents allowing the consumer to be more adventurous and eclectic in their music search. Kibby (2009) finds that this eclectic and adventurous behaviour does not negate the importance of the music and that the ease of searching for and acquiring new music through digital retailers as opposed to traditional “brick and mortar” stores, in fact only strengthens the desire to develop a collection.
Noteworthy of Kibby (2009)'s findings is that through interaction with the digital music
(organizing files in folders, adding meta-tags and graphics, rating songs and designing play lists) respondents give their collections a materiality, with most of the respondents caring more about the organization of their digital collections than they had ever cared about the organization of their physical collections. The ability to create own play lists and remix the files into personalized content for various situations and moods in an easy and quick manner (as opposed to the mix-tape fashion of the 80's and 90's) is underlined as an important feature of digital music.
Much like Sullivan & Hibbert (2006) as well as Giles et al. (2007) discover that most consumers are little inclined to dispose of physical mediums even though they never listen to it anymore, Kibby (2009) finds similar behaviour amongst users of music on the digital platform suggesting that just because it's easier for the consumer to delete the music, this was not done and “All agreed that all of the music in their collection, whether or not it was listened to regularly, or at all, was an important part of their personalities and part of what defined who they are” (Kibby 2009, p.437). Giles et al. (2007) argue that with less focus (and possibility to focus) on e.g. visual aesthetics and materiality in digital distribution of music, ownership of music is more focused around the listening experience arguing that the use of digital music players emphasizes the “sensual nature of listening to music” (Giles et al. 2007, p.441).
An important aspect of digital music collecting is the social interaction through music.
Sharing files and play lists as well as exploring new music through friends is a key part of the consumption of music on the digital platform, what Burkart (2008) calls a “sharing fetish”. Sharing can happen through the physical exchange of file carriers, such as iPods or USB-drives but a substantial amount of this sharing takes place online.
3.2.4 THE LIVE EXPERIENCE
A way to experience and add music to the identity creation is through the live experience.
This section explains the value that the consumers of live music experiences gain when attending a live concert.
Value Created Through Live Music Experiences
To go to a concert is just one out of many entertainment possibilities we have today. It is obvious that it is a different experience to listen to an artist in a live setting, than listening to a CD at home. When attending a concert, you transport yourself to a specific location, the
tickets may most often be purchased in advance and you have been looking forward to the event, which often has a social aspect. Live music performance is a service, Fisher (2002) states, as a concert is an economic activity that produces an intangible product. The audience consume the service and the band produces the performance simultaneously (Fisher et al.
2002).
Apparently “little is known about what motivates consumers to attend performances” (Minor et al. 2004, p.8) but history shows that live performances always have had an entertaining and social factor. Restaurants use live music to attract costumers and live music performance is an integral part of festivals, carnivals, fundraising events and more. It has the effect that it attracts public attention and the word live alone has a strong connotation in the popular culture and applies an emotional dimension which we try to explore (Minor et al. 2004, p.7 and Holt 2010).
Rondàn-Cataluña & Martìn-Ruiz (2010) mention that going to a concert is unique because the artist often plays non-recorded versions of songs and makes improvisations and adaptations. The uniqueness of the live performance depends on “song mix, stage layout, audience size, audience members, venue, and ticket prices” (Fisher et al. 2002, p.44) and attending live concerts is exciting because you can experience flaws and musical errors onstage, which enriches the experience.
In the live setting the consumer gets physically close to famous people and feel that they are a part of the performance, because of the interaction with the artist. Last but not least the live performance allows a specific social behaviour because of “the high sound level, dancing, jumping, shouting” (Rondàn-Cataluña & Martìn-Ruiz 2010, p.1411). At concerts consumers are seen and interact with the band (you may sing along or the band addresses the audience), meet friends or make new relationships (Rondàn-Cataluña & Martìn-Ruiz 2010, p.1411).
The face-to-face relation with the artist in the same physical space has a value that is different for the value attached to the CD as a dead object (Holt 2010). A live performance often cost more than a CD and furthermore you need to consider transportation and dinner before or after the show, which can be both costly and time demanding. However, most importantly the live music consumption is social and the experience involves immersion that shows authenticity and adds value to the audience. The live performances have a range of rituals connected to them and there are several reasons to attend and be a part of the audience.
Minor (2004)’s model of audience satisfaction with live performances based on theory from the service industry and tested on audiences of live concerts, shows that the five most important factors about live concerts for the costumer satisfaction are
• Sound quality
• Sound volume
• Musicians’ ability
• Musicians’ creativity
• Temperature
Minor argues that consumers attend musical performances for several different levels of experiences, where social interaction and music appreciation provides different satisfaction and value for the audience.
The live music event has a special value for the audience, as well as market value because it is entertaining, and is a contrast to everyday music consumption. Because the live experience expresses authenticity, festivity and has a social presence as a cultural consumption, the value created relates to the costumers’ self-realization and identity making (Holt 2010).
These factors of value adjusted and taken into consideration, it seems that artists, locations and labels may have the possibility to maximize the audience satisfaction, and create even more symbolic meaning and attraction (Minor et al. 2004).
3.2.5 THE PRICE OF MUSIC
This section focuses on the price of music, which becomes an important fact, when recommending technologies for the field of jazz music. The section shows how consumers experience pricing of music; a knowledge which is taken into consideration when analysing the provided data and formulating recommendations.
Pricing music can be a difficult task because of the intangible nature of it. In the words of Bhattacharjee et al. (2003) “Music is a pure information good, and specifically an experience good (...) whose true value is realized only after its consumption” (Bhattacharjee et al. 2003, p.1). Pricing of music on a physical medium such as the CD has remained largely unchanged in the past 20 years (IFPI 2010) and pricing of digital music files has been more or less static since the launch of services such as iTunes, while “The average price of a superstar concert has more than doubled since 1996” (Holt 2010, p.250). Writings about the pricing of music,
effects on consumption from altering prices etc. are however plentiful.
Jeffrey (1997) concludes that price is not the primary factor for consumers when buying music, stating that only 24% of his respondents mention price as an influential factor when buying music. His investigation takes its starting point in the purchasing of music on a physical medium through a traditional brick-and-mortar shop, and he finds that in this case the selection available at a certain store is just as important for consumers when deciding which store to buy from (Jeffrey 1997).
When looking more specifically at the sales of digital music, literature largely agrees that digital music is priced too high to sufficiently stimulate consumers preference for acquiring music towards the legal services, as opposed to illegal, free and often user-friendly alternatives. In the words of Bodily & Mohammed (2006, p.188), “The extraordinary challenge to the pricing strategy of digital music comes from pressure to offer a value proposition that offers a credible alternative to pirated music, which has an apparent price of zero”.Sandulli & Martín-Barbero (2007) conclude that while the music industry and big stars struggles with image problems that can damage consumers incentive to pay for music, the current prevailing price of 99 cents (be it dollar-cents or euro-cents) is simply too high.
Apart from this, they underline value differentiation as one of the music industries best chances of moving listeners away from illegal P2P-sites and over to legal alternatives.
Value differentiation means giving the consumer content (value) on the legal platforms that they cannot gain access to through the illegal services. This content can be integration with ticket sales, exclusive content, large databases/catalogues (one stop solutions), social forums etc. (Sandulli & Martín-Barbero 2007). Bodily & Mohammed (2006) touch upon a somewhat similar subject when suggesting that the music industry takes more use of the possibility of offering highly customized bundling of products matching the needs and wants of specific consumer groups. Bundling, they state, is always a good driver for selling more, however, when selling digital music, it is possible to create bundles that cater to the tastes of much smaller consumer groups than when selling physical products, since bundling on the digital platform is just the combination of bits and bytes and does not inflict any additional production or packaging cost onto the producer or seller.
Bodily & Mohammed describes what they call “multipart pricing”: the idea of paying a fixed subscription and a subsequent pr. unit price. In the digital domain, this could e.g. be a
subscription for the access to an online music service, and a pr. unit price for each music file downloaded. In the words of Bodily & Mohammed, multipart pricing “is a realistic strategy to sell more of a product where the customer has a decreasing WTP for additional units”
(Bodily & Mohammed 2006, p.197).
Investigating the digital domain, Bruno & Peoples (2009) investigate how altering the price of a single track on iTunes can affect sales. Since the launch of iTunes in 2003, all files were priced at the same level until iTunes in April 2009 opened up the possibility to both decrease and increase the price of individual files. Bruno & Peoples describe that increased prices of files (the increase was from 99 cents to $1.29) did in fact make sales volume decline.
However, they underline that the decline in sales volume was compensated by the increased revenue from each individual track, resulting in overall increased revenue on the tracks investigated (Bruno & Peoples 2009). Moreover, when looking at tracks for which the price was lowered, there was no traceable increase in sales, meaning that lowering the price for tracks resulted in lower revenue on these. In short, the analysis conducted by Bruno &
Peoples gives sellers of music on the digital platform little incentive to lower prices, and may even provide an incentive to raise prices.
Bhattacharjee et al. (2003) point towards the fact that money is not the only cost a consumer incurs when listening to music – much emphasis is put on the “search cost” incurred by a consumer when deciding to acquire a piece of music, whether on a physical medium or digitally. They state that if the search cost that a consumer incurs is expected to exceed the value of the search, no search occurs, or the search takes place at another platform where the value of the search can be expected to exceed the search cost. In brief this means that in an age where time is a scarce resource, a consumer goes where she expects to be able to find what she is looking for the first time. This stress the importance of selection described by Jeffrey (1997) both for traditional brick-and-mortar shops to survive, but also for digital music platforms who want to compete with illegal alternatives.
Rondán-Cataluña & Martín-Ruiz (2010) investigate consumer's “perceived price fairness” of CD’s and concerts, and find that while the consumers asked where willing to pay 5,28%
more for their next CD than for the last CD they bought, they were willing to pay a full 54%
more for their next concert ticket than for the last ticket they bought. Rondán-Cataluña &
Martín-Ruiz find that this higher willingness to pay for concerts than for CD’s is linked to perceived profit of the two sectors – there is a prevailing feeling that money spent on CD’s
mainly directly to the record labels, where in the case of concerts, less money is assumed to go to the manager (Rondán-Cataluña & Martín-Ruiz 2010) and more to the artist. In terms of perceived customer value, consumers felt that going to a concert could provide them with a more positive, exclusive and unique experience than buying and listening to a CD. Hence, it appears that when selling music, the concertgoer segment is much more willing to pay, and more confident that they will get a satisfactory experience, than the segment buying a lot of CD’s.
