Concentration and survival analysis of digital music industry in korea

Abstract

The study 1 verifies the sales concentration of download and streaming services in the digital music industry. The market concentrations of download and streaming services are compared using data on the top 100 songs listed on the Korean music ranking chart. Conflicting results are found between the analyses based on short-term and long-term data. When sales distributions are compared weekly or monthly, the results show that streaming services have a less concentrated sales distribution than download services. However, the result becomes the opposite in the long-term analysis (i.e., one year). This study proposes that the royalty policy of access-based services can be a crucial driver affecting the sales concentration in music industry, coupled with the characteristic of music product. Meanwhile, the study 2 explores and compares what factors are critical for music to succeed in ownership-based (download) services and access-based (streaming) services. The top 100 songs listed on the Korean music ranking charts and their characteristics were used as the sample, and the factors affecting success on the download and streaming ranking charts were examined using the survival model. The results indicate that being the title track is the most critical factor for songs’survival on the charts for both services. Furthermore, the results show that major labels are no longer superior to minor labels in streaming services. The results also indicate the impacts of the superstar, tie-in, piracy and interaction terms on the songs’ survival on the charts. Finally, practical implications for music producers are suggested.