The music industry and the internet: A decade of disruptive and uncontrolled sectoral change

Ulrich Dolata

No 2011-02, Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers from University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies

Abstract: Since the late 1990s, the music industry has been undergoing a period of significant and crisis-ridden changes. This period was launched and driven forward by a new set of technologies:digitalization, data compression and the Internet. This paper analyzes the repercussions of this new technological constellation on the socio-economic structures and institutions of this sector. The depiction of this technology-driven sectoral transformation shows that at that time the constitutive impulses for restructuring came from the not well-established fringes of the sector and from external actors. The established companies of the music business were hesitant in accepting the new technological challenges. They initially reacted with blockades and containment strategies and only defined a strategic repositioning upon massive and undeniable pressures to change. The paper argues that the low ability to anticipate and adapt to these technological, organizational and institutional challenges is based on the interplay of several factors. Among these are: (1) general difficulties in anticipating the socio-economic impact of fundamentally new technological opportunities; (2) complex and time-consuming processes of establishing a new techno-institutional match; (3) technological conservatism; (4) the oligopolistic structure of the sector; as well as (5) the hierarchically structured focal companies. Together these factors obstructed a controlled sectoral transformation orchestrated by the established core players.

Date: 2011
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/88170/1/668458461.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:stusoi:201102

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Research Contributions to Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies, SOI Discussion Papers from University of Stuttgart, Institute for Social Sciences, Department of Organizational Sociology and Innovation Studies
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics ().