Bestseller lists and product discovery in the subscription-based market: Evidence from music streaming

Jaeung Sim, Jea Gon Park, Daegon Cho, Michael Smith and Jaemin Jung

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2022, vol. 194, issue C, 550-567

Abstract: Our study analyzes the impact of hourly-updated bestseller lists on music discovery in a digital streaming platform to provide evidence of whether and why bestseller lists affect consumer decisions in the subscription-based market. We circumvent the problem of demand-popularity simultaneity by leveraging high-frequency data and a regression discontinuity design. We find that being added to the top 100 charts increases song discovery by 11–13%. Furthermore, a series of analyses suggest that the saliency effect, instead of observational learning, is more likely to drive this behavioral change among streaming users. Specifically, we find that a song's chart entrance increases repeat consumption, normative rank positions within the top 100 lists do not demonstrate significant discontinuity, and an artist or a song's prior popularity does not moderate this effect.

Keywords: Streaming music; Bestseller lists; Saliency effect; Observational learning (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D83 L82 M31 O39 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:194:y:2022:i:c:p:550-567

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2021.12.030

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