Playlisting Favorites: Measuring Platform Bias in the Music Industry

Luis Aguiar, Joel Waldfogel and Sarah B. Waldfogel

No 29017, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Platforms are growing increasingly powerful, raising questions about whether their power might be exercised with bias. While bias is inherently difficult to measure, we identify a context within the music industry that is amenable to bias testing. Our approach requires ex ante platform assessments of commercial promise - such as the rank order in which products are presented - along with information on eventual product success. A platform is biased against a product type if the type attains greater success, conditional on ex ante assessment. Theoretical considerations and voiced industry concerns suggest the possibility of platform biases in favor of major record labels, and industry participants also point to bias against women. Using data on Spotify curators' rank of songs on New Music Friday playlists in 2017, we find that Spotify's New Music Friday rankings favor independent-label music, along with some evidence of bias in favor of music by women. Despite challenges that independent-label artists and women face in the music industry, Spotify's New Music curation appears to favor them.

JEL-codes: K21 L12 L82 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-07
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cfn, nep-com, nep-cul, nep-ind, nep-pay and nep-reg
Note: IO LE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (12)

Published as Aguiar, Luis & Waldfogel, Joel & Waldfogel, Sarah, 2021. "Playlisting favorites: Measuring platform bias in the music industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).

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Journal Article: Playlisting favorites: Measuring platform bias in the music industry (2021)
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