The effect of streaming services on the concentration of digital music consumption

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to articulate whether consumers' use of music via streaming service benefits niche products and diversified consumption of music. It examines does winner take all or is long tail achieved in the digital music market. Design/methodology/approach To investigate the degree of concentration in the digital music sales, this study measures multiple concentration metrics using the top 100 songs for 245 weeks listed on the Korean music ranking chart. Findings Conflicting results are found between the analyses based on short-run and long-run data. When sales distributions are compared weekly or monthly, the results show that streaming services have a less concentrated sales distribution than download services. However, the result becomes the opposite in the long-run analysis (i.e. one year). Originality/value This study proposes that the non-technological drivers such as the beneficial addiction of music consumption can be a crucial driver affecting the usage concentration in music industry, coupled with the royalty policy of access-based services.