2024-01-10
RIP or Revolution for Music?: How NFT’s Could Redefine Value in the Contemporary Music Industry
Publication
Publication
A Qualitative Study through Semi-Structured In-Depth Interviews
Our creative industries have become the most important markets of the global economy over the past years, in which (media) entrepreneurs are developing into crucial actors. One of the biggest creative markets increasingly investing in independence and entrepreneurship is the music industry, making up for a large part of the global economy – primarily through digitalization of music. And after streaming services like Spotify, non- fungible tokens (NFTs) are the next innovation we need to prepare for. Despite NFTs’ novelty, music artists are starting to invest in the technology as a new, decentralized mode of music distribution. From Kings of Leon to the Chainsmokers, selling music through NFTs is slowly becoming recognized as a promising advancement entering this market. Early indications show it is especially attractive to industry entrepreneurs. But what specific value does it hold for them in the supply- and value chain, also with respect to other core stakeholders in the industry: the consumers and artists? The central research question is: ‘What potential value could the integration of NFTs into the music industry offer various stakeholders in the industry value chain, including (media) entrepreneurs?’ The methodology used to accurately assess this research question is qualitative, thematic analysis of semi-structured in-depth interviews with music industry stakeholders. After careful, back- and-forth analysis and in consideration of the extensive theoretical foundation of relevant literature, four main themes of potential value of NFTs for the music industry were obtained: 1) an enhanced music-experience, 2) the renewed sense of autonomy, 3) the fostering of shifting industry dynamics, nuanced by 4) threats to potential NFT value. The research found that whilst NFTs offer meaningful new negotiations of value through exclusivity and disintermediation, the integration of NFTs will likely co-exist as an extra tool within the contemporary value chain. Still, the technology offers multi-faceted, meaningful opportunities for (media) entrepreneurship, especially defined by value co-creation. However, future research would benefit from analyzing how these potential values could be different across various music subcultures, which is also interesting to investigate once there is more general knowledge on blockchain and the NFT technology.
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dr. Sven-Ove Horst | |
hdl.handle.net/2105/74937 | |
Media & Creative Industries | |
Organisation | Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication |
Ende, Noa op 't. (2024, January 10). RIP or Revolution for Music?: How NFT’s Could Redefine Value in the Contemporary Music Industry. Media & Creative Industries. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2105/74937
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