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YouTube Decade: Cultural Convergence in Recorded Music

Author

Listed:
  • Lisa M. George

    (Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY, Department of Economics, Hunter College, 695 Park Ave., New York, NY 10065)

  • Christian Peukert

    (University of Zurich, Department of Business Administration, Plattenstrasse 14, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland)

Abstract

The YouTube platform reduces fixed entry costs for local artists but also lowers the cost of access to international superstars. The net effect is an empirical question. We study the effect of YouTube on the market for music, focusing on converging tastes for international hits. We consider Austria and Germany, which share a common culture and technological development but differ in access to music videos on YouTube. Exploiting a contract dispute that has blocked official music videos in Germany since 2009, we find that YouTube increases the number of US hits on European charts. We further find evidence that YouTube speeds the hit-making cycle and brings more unique titles to top charts. Although the superstar effect dominates, the magnitude of estimated effects are modest, suggesting that YouTube will not drive out the market for local music

Suggested Citation

  • Lisa M. George & Christian Peukert, 2014. "YouTube Decade: Cultural Convergence in Recorded Music," Working Papers 14-11, NET Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:net:wpaper:1411
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sinai, Todd & Waldfogel, Joel, 2004. "Geography and the Internet: is the Internet a substitute or a complement for cities?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(1), pages 1-24, July.
    2. Fernando Ferreira & Joel Waldfogel, 2013. "Pop Internationalism: Has Half a Century of World Music Trade Displaced Local Culture?," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 123, pages 634-664, June.
    3. Erik Brynjolfsson & Yu (Jeffrey) Hu & Duncan Simester, 2011. "Goodbye Pareto Principle, Hello Long Tail: The Effect of Search Costs on the Concentration of Product Sales," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(8), pages 1373-1386, August.
    4. Kretschmer, Tobias & Peukert, Christian, 2014. "Video killed the radio star? Online music videos and digital music sales," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 60276, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
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    Cited by:

    1. Marc Bourreau & François Moreau & Patrik Wikström, 2022. "Does digitization lead to the homogenization of cultural content?," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(1), pages 427-453, January.
    2. 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.
    3. Essling, Christian & Koenen, Johannes & Peukert, Christian, 2017. "Competition for attention in the digital age: The case of single releases in the recorded music industry," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 26-40.
    4. Masood, Maria, 2019. "New evidence on income and the geographical distribution of imports: The case of audiovisuals," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 717-734.
    5. Christian Peukert, 2019. "The next wave of digital technological change and the cultural industries," Journal of Cultural Economics, Springer;The Association for Cultural Economics International, vol. 43(2), pages 189-210, June.
    6. Budzinski, Oliver & Pannicke, Julia, 2016. "Do preferences for pop music converge across countries? Empirical evidence from the Eurovision Song Contest," Ilmenau Economics Discussion Papers 101, Ilmenau University of Technology, Institute of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Digitization; Cultural Trade; Music Videos;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • 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
    • D83 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness

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