Music catalog trading has become something of a trend in recent years, with global stars selling their catalogs for millions of dollars. Industry players such as record labels and music publishers have traded catalogs and their underlying intellectual property rights between themselves for a long time but now resourceful venture capitalists have seen opportunities for returns, and have thus entered the market. This raises questions about the relative power of industry players and their functions as industry institutions, and how these may change as venture capital firms that are not fundamentally anchored in the music industry begin to trade in the music industry's most important resource, the music itself. Previous research has focused on catalog trading from an artist's perspective and how artists can leverage their catalogs and market positions to generate revenue, and what this means for individual artists' cultural autonomy. Furthermore, previous research has also focused on the development of economic models for the valuation of music catalogs. Based on theories of substantive and institutional dimensions of power, this study aims to discuss and analyze how the ongoing catalog trade may lead to a restructuring of current power dynamics in the music industry and the underlying factors behind the emergence of the ongoing catalog trade. We have conducted qualitative semi-structured interviews with stakeholders connected to the music and finance industries, thus shedding light on the catalog trade from different perspectives. The results show that it is not possible to point to any single factor as a catalyst for the currently prevalent catalog trade. Rather, it is an ongoing process in which actors both inside and outside the music industry are navigating a rapidly changing environment and working to maintain their positions of power and industrial relevance.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-119646 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Miettinen-Singhateh, Daniel, Fransholm, Liam, Wohlfart, Philip |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för management (MAN) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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