The recorded music industry experienced declining revenue from 1998 to 2014, but it saw a return to growth in 2015. This thesis uses a sample of 17 countries to explore the determinants behind this revenue expansion, and to assess whether this sales growth can be sustained. I examine the impact of eight factors on the overall, physical, digital, and streaming music revenue and revenue per capita, as well as the digital and streaming revenue share. The eight independent variables include the GNI per capita, the total population, the percentage of the young people, the percentage of the young females, the gross enrollment rate in secondary education, the percentage of Internet users, the percentage of mobile cellular subscriptions, and the percentage of fixed broadband subscriptions. Based on my study, the fixed broadband subscription rate has an impact that is both statistically significant and economically important on the streaming revenue share, which makes it the most important indicator for the industry’s potential sustainable development. The percentage of the young population also shows statistical significance and economic importance for explaining the overall and physical revenue per capita, but it has no effect on the digital and streaming revenue share. Also, although the Internet penetration rate and the mobile cellular subscription rate are statistically insignificant for the digital or streaming revenue share, point estimates suggest that these factors have important economic impacts.

The  emergence of the internet and  digitisation  has  led to  the disruption/transformation of  therecorded music industry sector. This has resulted in a shift  from  physical  to  digital  sales, which has also led to a decline in the global recorded music sector revenue. Although largely attributed to piracy and illegal music downloads, some have argued that this was as a result of  the reduction in the perceived value of commercially distributed recorded music. The audio quality of music and user experience has specifically been highlighted to have suffered due to digitisation. Experience from the case of the introduction of HDTV gives an example of a similar industry sector that was able to revive itself by implementing high-definition (HD) quality standards. This thesis set out to  investigate if such an approach could be applicable to  the recording music sector in order to create a similar HD music quality standard. The methodology adopted, involved performing a comparative case study to analyse what  lessons can be taken from the HDTV standardisation approach and how applicable it would be within  the recorded music sector. This was coupled  with interviews of industry actors that represent  the value creation network/chain of the recorded music sector. The result suggests that such a standardisation approach could be applicable and benefit the recorded music sector; however, this is conditional on overcoming a number of challenges that were   identified.

Alors qu’un ensemble de discours sociaux et académiques s’intéressent aux conséquences de la numérisation sur la valeur de la musique, YouTube, le site de publication de vidéos fondé par trois anciens employés de PayPal et aujourd’hui propriété de Google, est progressivement devenu le premier dispositif d’écoute en ligne en France. A partir de l’analyse d’archives du Web et d’une veille intermédiatique, cette thèse s’intéresse à ce qu’une entreprise venue de l’économie des techniques « fait » à la culture musicale, en tenant compte de l’évolution régulière de ses formes et de ses promesses. Une première partie s’intéresse aux effets de force et de flou dans la médiatisation de YouTube et de son rapport avec la musique. Une seconde partie analyse l’incidence de la musique dans sa construction comme innovation. Une troisième partie identifie la façon dont l’entreprise a investi la musique comme une ressource stratégique privilégiée, tout en orientant à son tour l’appropriation et à la publication de musique autour de références à la popularité et à la créativité. Une quatrième partie analyse la construction d’un marché de la musique appuyé sur un contrôle technique et juridique des œuvres et sur le financement par la publicité, pour en montrer les tensions internes. La thèse conclut à l’intrication des discours sur la transformation de la culture avec les logiques de changement permanent des acteurs du capitalisme médiatique. En regard, elle défend une micropolitique des formats techniques, médiatiques et esthétiques. / While music digitization has become a major theme of public discourse and academic research, YouTube, a video publication website founded by three ex-employees of PayPal and now the property of Google, is today recognized as the first media used for music listening in France. Through an analysis of digital archives of the Web and the compilation of media sources, this thesis analyzes what a company coming from technology « does » to musical culture, taking into account the regular change of its forms and its promises. A first chapter deals with the effects of power and blurriness in the mediatization of YouTube and its relationship to music. A second chapter analyzes the way music shaped YouTube, proposing a genealogy of relationships between music and media apparatus, linking the invention of recorded music, the standardization of online listening software and the « musicalization » of YouTube. A third chapter discusses music as an opportunity. We identify how the company invested in music as a key strategic ressource, while shaping the practice of music gathering and publication around values of popularity and creativity. A fourth chapter concerns the construction of a market for music built upon the technological and juridical control of the works versions and the financing by advertising, interrogating the limits of this model. We conclude by showing the intricacy of discourse about the transformation of musical culture with the logics of permanent change from the actors of media capitalism. From this point, we defend the necessity of studying the micropolitics of formats.

Record companies are suffering due to a downturn in recorded music sales. Innovative firms have developed digital music services that offer recorded music products to customers in new ways, yet sales are not what they used to be. Web 2.0 technologies have changed the customer’s tastes, expectations, and desires. Thus, a deeper understanding of the new “digital customer” is needed in order to better offer services in a way that he or she prefers most.

<p>Record companies are suffering due to a downturn in recorded music sales. Innovative firms have developed digital music services that offer recorded music products to customers in new ways, yet sales are not what they used to be. Web 2.0 technologies have changed the customer’s tastes, expectations, and desires. Thus, a deeper understanding of the new “digital customer” is needed in order to better offer services in a way that he or she prefers most.</p>

This diploma thesis deals with complex issue of American recording industry and its specifics in retail industry. The thesis is composed of three main parts which are being linked with its theme, and they complement one another. The first part is a theoretical framework of American recording industry. The chapters pursue basic terminology of music market, analysis of business environment in the USA and comparison of the recorded music to other entertainment markets. The second part engages in history of the recorded music, yet it specially concentrates on market's outputs, i.e. volume of sold recordings and corresponding revenues for the period 1989-2012. Eventually, the final part thoroughly studies music business, its subjects and principles. Chapters describe and analyze the profile of American music consumer, the theory of music copyright and financial aspects of recording as well as music publishing.

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