Paper Type
Research-in-Progress Paper
Description
As digital music proliferates, consumers increasingly illegally share the music that they love; music distributors complain that this erodes their profits. While most existing research has characterized illegal sharing as harmful to music distributors, some research has shown that it also has positive effects in marketing the music more widely, which opens secondary but substantial profit opportunities. This article examines the emerging phenomenon of open music licensing as an unexplored solution to the challenges posed to musicians and music distributors: like the woman who caught five pesky mice and turned them into pets, some musicians have chosen to legalize sharing of their music. Our analyses show that open-licensed tracks on the SoundCloud platform have been more widely distributed than all-rights-reserved tracks. These preliminary analyses suggest that open music licensing could be a solution that meets the goals of both musicians and consumers of their music.
FROM PESTS TO PETS: EFFECTS OF OPEN CONTENT LICENSING ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF MUSIC
As digital music proliferates, consumers increasingly illegally share the music that they love; music distributors complain that this erodes their profits. While most existing research has characterized illegal sharing as harmful to music distributors, some research has shown that it also has positive effects in marketing the music more widely, which opens secondary but substantial profit opportunities. This article examines the emerging phenomenon of open music licensing as an unexplored solution to the challenges posed to musicians and music distributors: like the woman who caught five pesky mice and turned them into pets, some musicians have chosen to legalize sharing of their music. Our analyses show that open-licensed tracks on the SoundCloud platform have been more widely distributed than all-rights-reserved tracks. These preliminary analyses suggest that open music licensing could be a solution that meets the goals of both musicians and consumers of their music.