IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/iepoli/v34y2016icp16-26.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sales displacement and streaming music: Evidence from YouTube

Author

Listed:
  • Scott Hiller, R.

Abstract

In this paper I exploit the removal of Warner Music content from YouTube in January 2009, and its restoration in October 2009, as a plausible natural experiment to investigate the impact of online content availability on album sales. I find that this blackout on YouTube had both statistically and economically significant positive effects on Warner albums, which are quickly moderated as top-selling albums are dropped from the sample. Results also show that albums that have a very successful debut face more displacement from YouTube videos, while the effect on lower debuting albums may be moderated by a promotional effect.

Suggested Citation

  • Scott Hiller, R., 2016. "Sales displacement and streaming music: Evidence from YouTube," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 16-26.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:iepoli:v:34:y:2016:i:c:p:16-26
    DOI: 10.1016/j.infoecopol.2015.12.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167624516000044
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.infoecopol.2015.12.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Luis Aguiar & Joel Waldfogel, 2015. "Streaming Reaches Flood Stage: Does Spotify Stimulate or Depress Music Sales?," NBER Working Papers 21653, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Rob, Rafael & Waldfogel, Joel, 2006. "Piracy on the High C's: Music Downloading, Sales Displacement, and Social Welfare in a Sample of College Students," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 49(1), pages 29-62, April.
    3. Waldfogel, Joel, 2009. "Lost on the web: Does web distribution stimulate or depress television viewing?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 158-168, June.
    4. Zentner, Alejandro, 2006. "Measuring the Effect of File Sharing on Music Purchases," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 49(1), pages 63-90, April.
    5. Hui Kai-Lung & Png Ivan, 2003. "Piracy and the Legitimate Demand for Recorded Music," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 2(1), pages 1-22, September.
    6. Brett Danaher & Samita Dhanasobhon & Michael D. Smith & Rahul Telang, 2010. "Converting Pirates Without Cannibalizing Purchasers: The Impact of Digital Distribution on Physical Sales and Internet Piracy," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(6), pages 1138-1151, 11-12.
    7. repec:wly:soecon:v:81:2:y:2014:p:387-408 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Felix Oberholzer-Gee & Koleman Strumpf, 2007. "The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales: An Empirical Analysis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 115(1), pages 1-42.
    9. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    10. Liebowitz, Stan J, 2006. "File Sharing: Creative Destruction or Just Plain Destruction?," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 49(1), pages 1-28, April.
    11. Birgitte Andersen & Marion Frenz, 2010. "Don’t blame the P2P file-sharers: the impact of free music downloads on the purchase of music CDs in Canada," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 20(5), pages 715-740, October.
    12. Ram D. Gopal & G. Lawrence Sanders, 2006. "Do Artists Benefit from Online Music Sharing?," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 79(3), pages 1503-1534, May.
    13. Martin Peitz & Patrick Waelbroeck, 2004. "The Effect of Internet Piracy on CD Sales: Cross-Section Evidence," CESifo Working Paper Series 1122, CESifo.
    14. Peitz, Martin & Waelbroeck, Patrick, 2006. "Why the music industry may gain from free downloading -- The role of sampling," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 907-913, September.
    15. Marc Bourreau & Michel Gensollen & François Moreau & Patrick Waelbroeck, 2013. "“Selling less of more?” The impact of digitization on record companies," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 37(3), pages 327-346, August.
    16. repec:hal:journl:hal-02265309 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Seung‐Hyun Hong, 2013. "Measuring The Effect Of Napster On Recorded Music Sales: Difference‐In‐Differences Estimates Under Compositional Changes," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(2), pages 297-324, March.
    18. Waldfogel, Joel, 2010. "Music file sharing and sales displacement in the iTunes era," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 306-314, December.
    19. Ken Hendricks & Alan Sorensen, 2009. "Information and the Skewness of Music Sales," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 117(2), pages 324-369, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Steininger, Dennis M. & Gatzemeier, Simon, 2019. "Digitally forecasting new music product success via active crowdsourcing," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 167-180.
    2. Marc Ivaldi & Ambre Nicolle & Frank Verboven & Jiekai Zhang, 2024. "Displacement and complementarity in the recorded music industry: evidence from France," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 48(1), pages 43-94, March.
    3. Wojciech Hardy, 2018. "Pre-release leaks as one-time incentives for switching to unauthorised sources of cultural content," IBS Working Papers 03/2018, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych.
    4. Aguiar, Luis & Waldfogel, Joel, 2018. "As streaming reaches flood stage, does it stimulate or depress music sales?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 278-307.
    5. T. Randolph Beard & George S. Ford & Gilad Sorek & Lawrence J. Spiwak, 2018. "Piracy, Imitation, and Optimal Copyright Policy," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 84(3), pages 815-830, January.
    6. Nils Wlömert & Dominik Papies & Michel Clement & Martin Spann, 2024. "Frontiers: The Interplay of User-Generated Content, Content Industry Revenues, and Platform Regulation: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from YouTube," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(1), pages 1-12, January.
    7. Ramadan Aly-Tovar & Maya Bacache-Beauvallet & Marc Bourreau & Francois Moreau, 2020. "Why would artists favor free streaming?," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 44(2), pages 255-280, June.
    8. Myounggu Lee & Hye-jin Kim, 2024. "Exploring determinants of digital music success in South Korea," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 1659-1680, September.
    9. Hidetaka Oshima & Shinichi Yamaguchi, 2023. "The impact of user-generated content authorization on demand in the game industry," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 3(11), pages 1-26, November.
    10. Jordi McKenzie & Paul Crosby & Liam J. A. Lenten, 2021. "It takes two, baby! Feature artist collaborations and streaming demand for music," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 45(3), pages 385-408, September.
    11. Wlömert, Nils & Papies, Dominik, 2019. "International heterogeneity in the associations of new business models and broadband Internet with music revenue and piracy," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 400-419.
    12. Carroni, Elias & Paolini, Dimitri, 2020. "Business models for streaming platforms: Content acquisition, advertising and users," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    13. Tobias Kretschmer & Christian Peukert, 2020. "Video Killed the Radio Star? Online Music Videos and Recorded Music Sales," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(3), pages 776-800, September.
    14. Christensen, Finn, 2022. "Streaming Stimulates the Live Concert Industry: Evidence from YouTube," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    15. Lee, Jonathan F., 2018. "Purchase, pirate, publicize: Private-network music sharing and market album sales," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 35-55.
    16. McKenzie, Jordi & Crosby, Paul & Cox, Joe & Collins, Alan, 2019. "Experimental evidence on demand for “on-demand” entertainment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 98-113.
    17. E. Carroni & D. Paolini, 2019. "The business model of a streaming platform," Working Paper CRENoS 201902, Centre for North South Economic Research, University of Cagliari and Sassari, Sardinia.
    18. Hiller R. Scott & Walter Jason M., 2017. "The Rise of Streaming Music and Implications for Music Production," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 16(4), pages 351-385, December.
    19. Christian Peukert & Margaritha Windisch, 2023. "The Economics of Copyright in the Digital Age," CESifo Working Paper Series 10687, CESifo.
    20. Daniel Kaimann & Ilka Tanneberg & Joe Cox, 2021. "“I will survive”: Online streaming and the chart survival of music tracks," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(1), pages 3-20, January.
    21. Wojciech Hardy, 2022. "Brace yourselves, pirates are coming! the effects of Game of Thrones leak on TV viewership," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 46(1), pages 27-55, March.
    22. Shinichi Yamaguchi & Hirohide Sakaguchi & Kotaro Iyanaga & Hidetaka Oshima & Tatsuo Tanaka, 2023. "The impact of licensed and unlicensed free goods: an empirical analysis of music, video, and book industries in Japan," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 3(3), pages 1-22, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lee, Jonathan F., 2018. "Purchase, pirate, publicize: Private-network music sharing and market album sales," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 35-55.
    2. Tyrowicz, Joanna & Krawczyk, Michal & Hardy, Wojciech, 2020. "Friends or foes? A meta-analysis of the relationship between “online piracy” and the sales of cultural goods," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    3. Wojciech Hardy & Michal Krawczyk & Joanna Tyrowicz, 2015. "Friends or foes? A meta-analysis of the link between "online piracy" and sales of cultural goods," Working Papers 2015-23, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw.
    4. Brett Danaher & Michael D. Smith & Rahul Telang, 2014. "Piracy and Copyright Enforcement Mechanisms," Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 14(1), pages 25-61.
    5. Aguiar, Luis & Martens, Bertin, 2016. "Digital music consumption on the Internet: Evidence from clickstream data," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 27-43.
    6. Joel Waldfogel, 2012. "Music Piracy and Its Effects on Demand, Supply, and Welfare," Innovation Policy and the Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 12(1), pages 91-110.
    7. Adermon, Adrian & Liang, Che-Yuan, 2014. "Piracy and music sales: The effects of an anti-piracy law," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 105(C), pages 90-106.
    8. Laurina Zhang, 2018. "Intellectual Property Strategy and the Long Tail: Evidence from the Recorded Music Industry," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(1), pages 24-42, January.
    9. Tobias Kretschmer & Christian Peukert, 2020. "Video Killed the Radio Star? Online Music Videos and Recorded Music Sales," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(3), pages 776-800, September.
    10. George Barker & Tim Maloney, 2015. "The impact of internet file-sharing on the purchase of music CDs in Canada," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 821-848, September.
    11. Herings, P. Jean-Jacques & Peeters, Ronald & Yang, Michael S., 2018. "Piracy on the Internet: Accommodate it or fight it? A dynamic approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 266(1), pages 328-339.
    12. C. Bellégo & R. De Nijs, 2015. "The redistributive effect of online piracy on the box office performance of American movies in foreign markets," Documents de Travail de l'Insee - INSEE Working Papers g2015-17, Institut National de la Statistique et des Etudes Economiques.
    13. Oberholzer-Gee, Felix & Strumpf, Koleman, 2016. "The effect of file sharing on record sales, revisited," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 61-66.
    14. Jonathan Dörr & Thomas Wagner & Alexander Benlian & Thomas Hess, 2013. "Music as a Service as an Alternative to Music Piracy?," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 5(6), pages 383-396, December.
    15. Handke, Christian, 2012. "Digital copying and the supply of sound recordings," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 15-29.
    16. Danaher, Brett & Smith, Michael D., 2014. "Gone in 60 Seconds: The Impact of the Megaupload Shutdown on Movie Sales," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 1-8.
    17. Brett Danaher & Samita Dhanasobhon & Michael D. Smith & Rahul Telang, 2010. "Converting Pirates Without Cannibalizing Purchasers: The Impact of Digital Distribution on Physical Sales and Internet Piracy," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(6), pages 1138-1151, 11-12.
    18. Herz, Benedikt & Kiljanski, Kamil, 2016. "Movie Piracy and Displaced Sales in Europe: Evidence from Six Countries," MPRA Paper 80817, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Leung, Tin Cheuk, 2015. "Music piracy: Bad for record sales but good for the iPod?," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 1-12.
    20. Chao, Hong & Ho, Chun-Yu & Leung, Tin Cheuk & Ng, Travis, 2017. "To root or not to root? The economics of jailbreak," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 481-497.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Online content; Sales displacement; Copyright policy; YouTube;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • L82 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Entertainment; Media
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:iepoli:v:34:y:2016:i:c:p:16-26. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505549 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.