Music Business Research in 2011 – in retrospect

Dear friends of the music business research blog. I would like to thank you for your interest in my blogging activity and before starting into 2012, I would like to look back to 2011. It was a very eventful year for the music business/industry. The number of recorded music major companies shrank to ony three. The global live music market was faced a downturn after a long boom period. Apple, Goolge and Amazon.com introduced their music clouds to the public. Spotify was not only launched in the U.S., but also in Belgium, Austria and Switzerland. iTunes has become available in most of the Eastern European countries as well as in Latin America. The EU extended to copyright term for sound recordings from 50 to 70 years – to name only a few events.

However, from a music business research perspective, one of the highlights was the second Vienna Music Business Research Days on “New Music Distribution Models” held at University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. In talks, discussions and in the first Young Scholars’ workshop the recent developments in the dissemination of music by streaming, download and cloud-based services were highlighed by music business researchs and music industry professionals. The summaries of all the talks and discussions can be read in the blog as well as streamed for listening.

In the following you can find all academic theses & papers, which have been added for downloading in 2011. In addition find a list of important music business/industry studies and books published last year. You can also find a top-10-list of the most visited blog-posts and some more information.

The following academic theses & papers were added for downloading in 2011:

Dünser, Valentin, 2011, Und sie dreht sich doch. Was Musiklabels dazu veranlasst auf Schallplatte zu veröffentlichen. Master Thesis, Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration.

Kunz, Florian, 2011, Der Erfolg österreichischer Dialektpopmusik am heimischen Musikmarkt. Master Thesis, Vienna University of economics and Business Administration.

Lojda, Pavel, 2011, Podmínky pro vznik nové hudební produkční agentury v České republice: Transformace činnosti OSVČ pořádání kulturních produkcí formou založení nové společnosti s ručením omezeným. Master Thesis, Janáček Academy of Music in Brno.

Rajnai, Nikolett, 2011, Der Live-Musik-Markt im Zeitalter der Digitalisierung. Master Thesis, Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration.

Rütgen, Monica, 2011, Warum verwenden Musikschaffende Creative Commons Lizenzen? Eine qualitativ-empirische Analyse der Motive für die freie Weitergabe von Musikwerken. Master Thesis, Culture Management Program at the Institute of Culture Management and Cultur Sciences in Vienna.

The following music business related studies were published in 2011:

Bain & Company, 2011, Publishing in the Digital Era.

Hargreaves, Ian, 2011, Digital Opportunity. A Review of Intellectual Property and Growth.

Macromedia Hochschule für Medien und Kommunikation,  2011, Kreative fordern Technik. Musikplattformen im Stresstest.

Nielsen & MIDEM, 2011, Is Streaming Steaming Ahead?

Nielsen & MIDEM, 2011, The Hyper-Fragmented World of Music.

The following music business/industry books were published in 2011:

Allen, Paul, 2011, Artist Management for the Music Business. 2. Auflage. Amsterdam und Oxford: Focal Press.

Budnick, Dean und Josh Baron, 2011, Ticket Masters. The Rise of the Concert Industry and How the Public Got Scalped. New York: ECW Press.

Gibson, Nathan D. und Pierce Don, 2011, The Starday Story. The House That Country Music Built. Jackson: University of Mississippi Press.

Kassler, Michael (Hg.), 2011, The Music Trade in Georgian England. Farnham und London: Ashgate.

Kernfeld, Dean, 2011, Pop Song Piracy: Disobedient Music Distribution Since 1929. Chicago. Chicago University Press.

Levine, Robert, 2011, Free Ride. How Digital Parasites Are Destroying the Culture Business, and How the Culture Business Can Fight Back. Toronto: Doubleday.

MacLachlan, Heather, 2011, Burma’s Pop Music Industry: Creators, Distributors, Censors. Rochester: Rochester University Press.

Moser, David J. und Cheryl L. Slay, 2011, Music Copyright Law. Course Technology PTR.

Rutter, Paul, 2011, The Music Industry Handbook. London: Taylor & Francis.

Sparks, Richard und Milt Okun, 2011, Along the Cherry Lane: Tales from the Life of Music Industry Legend Milton Okun. Beverly Hills: Classical Music Today.

And finally, I would like to thank you for coming my blog of Music Business Research, which was visited by users from 29 countries 22,331 times in 2011. Most of them came from the U.S., from U.K. and from Mexico, but also from France, Canada, Brasil, South Africa, Australia, India, Singapore, Indonesia and even from Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, Trinidad and Tobago, the Seychelles, New Caledonia and Guam.

The top-10 most visited article in 2011:

1.   The recession in the music industry – a cause analysis,  5,615 visits

2.   GAO report on the economic impact of “piracy”,  665 visits

3.   The CD is dead! Long live the music download?  594 visits

4.   How Bad Is Music File Sharing? – Part 23, 510 visits

5.   There is Music in the Cloud, 421 visits

6.   Business model “Michael Jackson”,  355 visits

7.   Music Experience and Behavior in Young People in the UK – a workshop presentation,  338 visits

8.   How Bad Is Music File Sharing? – Part 22,  262 visits

9.   How Bad Is Music File Sharing? – Part 16,  241 visits

10. The Radiohead Revolution?,  209 visits

Since March 2010, when I have started to blog on music business/industry topics, the blog’s posts and articles were visited 34,078 times. I am sure you will help me to cross the 50,000 mark this year. I will try my best to provide to you interesting articles and information on the music business/industry and there will be some new features too. Stay tuned and see you soon on my blog. Best wishes, PETER.