*3 %. 0%+* "+. *%/$ & 66
It can be all right to have a fancy degree from a conservatory, but if you don t have that swing within you, it doesn t do it for me. Jazz is not something you can learn - you need to have it inside of you [Respondent from interview] 1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This thesis argues that the Danish jazz scene has problems attracting new consumers and that it is connected to the fact that the Danish Jazz scene isn t utilizing the potential of new technologies in promotion and distribution of jazz music to both existing and new consumers. Throughout this thesis we seek to disclose strategic recommendations, which can benefit the music genre by appealing to both existing and new consumers. Addressing this issue we analyse through quantitative and qualitative data what the important values are for the jazz listeners when creating identity. The identity perspective was chosen inductive because data revealed this as an essential key to understanding the jazz listeners. Analysing this agenda, we draw on key insights in several theories regarding identity creation through music consumption. Since the field is somewhat unexplored for the jazz listeners, we answer the research question by achieving knowledge from several analytical levels. First, we explore the identity creation through music through theories of amongst other Baudrillard, Bauman and Dolfsma to get an understanding of the identity creation from music in a mainstream perspective. Secondly, we use quantitative data from relevant reports and surveys combined with or own survey data on 500 Danish jazz listeners to get a broader picture of who the listeners are. We supplement this with expert opinions to get a feeling of up-and-coming technologies on the mainstream scene of music. Thirdly, we change the focus to be jazz specific and investigate the jazz listeners through in-depth interviews and address the possible technologies from the experts to investigate if and how they suit the jazz environment. The analysis ends with a development of an Identity Model from which we discuss the theoretical application on the jazz environment and formulate a number of recommendations to the Danish Jazz scene offering several strategic levers. We conclude that there is a need for an embracement of the technologies and for a willingness to open up the jazz genre and make it more attractive to new jazz consumers as well as an understanding of the values contained in the jazz environment to make sure the technologies are not conflicting the existing main beliefs of the jazz listeners. We argue that if the recommendations are taken in to consideration they can help create a transformation and ultimately establish growth for the genre, while still nursing and respecting tradition. 2
1. TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY... 2 1. TABLE OF CONTENTS... 3 2. INTRODUCTION... 7 2.1 PROBLEM FIELD... 7 2.2 RESEARCH QUESTION... 8 2.3 INTRODUCTION TO THE FIELD... 9 2.3.1 The Creative Industries... 9 2.3.2 The Danish Jazz Scene... 10 Players on the Danish Jazz Scene... 11 2.4 CHOICE OF EMPIRICAL FIELD... 12 2.5 EMPIRICAL DELINEATION... 13 3. LITERATURE REVIEW... 14 3.1 CHOICE OF THEORY... 14 3.2 MUSIC AND IDENTITY... 15 3.2.1 Identity Creation through Music... 16 Meta-consumption of music... 16 Neo-tribes... 18 3.2.2 Online Consumer Behaviour... 19 3.2.3 Collecting Music... 22 Physical Music collections... 22 Digital Music collections... 24 3.2.4 The Live Experience... 25 Value Created Through Live Music Experiences... 25 3.2.5 The Price of Music... 27 4. METHOD... 31 4.1 REFLECTIONS ON SCHOOL OF THOUGHT... 31 4.1.1 Relevance of Social Constructivism... 31 4.1.2 Our Role as Researchers... 32 4.2 DEPENDABLITY AND CREDIBILITY... 32 4.3 PROJECT DESIGN... 33 4.4 QUANTITATIVE DATA... 35 4.4.1 Survey Structure... 35 3
4.4.2 Distribution Reaching the Right People... 36 4.4.3 Analysing Quantitative Data... 37 4.4.4 Identification of Heavy Users... 37 4.5 QUALITATIVE DATA... 38 4.5.1 Expert Interviews... 39 4.5.2 Interviews With Heavy Users... 40 4.5.3 Jotting... 41 4.5.4 Going Native... 42 4.5.5 Analysis Strategy - Thematic Analysis... 42 4.5.6 The Use of Thematic Analysis... 43 5. MARKET CHARACTERISTICS... 46 5.1 MARKET RESEARCH... 46 5.2 SURVEY AND MARKET SEGMENTS... 48 5.2.1 Complete Sample of Respondents... 48 Geographical Diffusion of Respondents... 49 Sample Demography Who are the Respondents?... 49 Respondents Use of Music... 50 5.2.2 Segmentation of Respondents... 52 Determining the live music Segment... 53 Determining the physical medium Segment... 53 Determining the digital medium Segment... 54 Overview of the Three Segments... 54 5.2.3 Analysis of Survey Segments... 55 Geography... 55 Age... 55 Education... 55 Musician?... 55 Jazz consumption in Percentage of Total Consumption... 56 Concerts Attended pr. Year... 56 CD's Bought pr. Year... 56 Download/streaming - Percentage of Total Consumption... 57 Sources of Inspiration... 57 Importance of Reviews for Buying Behaviour... 57 5.3 EXPERTS SAY - TRENDS AND TENDENCIES... 57 5.3.1 Trends on the Live scene... 58 5.3.2 Trends in Physical Mediums... 58 4
5.3.3 Trends in Digital Mediums... 59 5.3.4 Coming up with Concrete Examples and Cases... 60 The Live Experience... 61 The Physical Medium... 62 The Digital Medium... 63 Both Digital Medium and Live Experience... 64 6. ANALYSIS PT. I... 65 6.1 WHAT DOES MUSIC MEAN?... 65 6.2 MUSIC AND SOCIAL LIFE... 66 6.3 FEELING SPECIAL... 68 6.4 OWNERSHIP, ACCESSIBILITY AND THROWING AWAY... 71 6.5 NEW SOURCES OF INFORMATION... 72 6.6 WHAT IS MUSIC WORTH?... 73 7. ANALYSIS PT. II THE TECHNOLOGIES... 76 7.1 TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE LIVE EXPERIENCE... 76 7.1.1 Interactive Set Lists... 76 7.1.2 Download of Concerts... 76 7.1.3 Live Streaming of Concerts... 77 7.1.4 Geo-marketing... 77 7.2 TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE PHYSICAL MEDIUM... 78 7.2.1 CD s with Extra Content... 78 7.2.2 Customized Merchandise... 78 7.3 TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE DIGITAL MEDIUM... 79 7.3.1 Niche-streaming... 79 7.3.2 Hardware Streaming box... 79 7.3.3 Better Search Technologies... 80 7.3.4 Smart phone Apps... 80 8. DISCUSSION PT. I... 82 8.1 IDENTITY MODEL FOR THE JAZZ LISTENER... 82 8.2 IDENTITY AND MUSIC CONSUMPTION... 84 8.2.1 Meta-consumption... 85 Consumption and Collection of Digital Music... 86 8.2.2 Feeling Special... 87 Information Online and Reluctance to Participate... 87 5
Collecting behaviour for jazz listeners... 89 Paying to Feel Special... 91 8.2.3 Neo-tribes... 92 8.3 THE UNIQUENESS OF THE LIVE EXPERIENCE... 94 8.4 DEALING WITH BARRIERS OF THE JAZZ WORLD... 96 9. DISCUSSION PT. II THE TECHNOLOGIES... 99 9.1 TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE LIVE EXPERIENCE... 99 9.1.1 Interactive Set Lists... 99 9.1.2 Download of Concerts... 100 9.1.3 Live Streaming of Concerts... 100 9.1.4 Geo-marketing... 101 9.2 TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE PHYSICAL MEDIUM... 102 9.2.1 CD s with Extra Content... 102 9.2.2 Customized Merchandise... 103 9.3 TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE DIGITAL MEDIUM... 103 9.3.1 Niche-streaming... 103 9.3.2 Hardware Streaming box... 104 9.3.3 Better Search Technologies... 105 9.3.4 Smart phone Apps... 105 10. RECOMMENDATIONS... 107 10.1 EMBRACING THE IMPORTANCE OF INFORMATION... 108 10.2 COMPENSATING THE NEED FOR TANGIBILITY... 109 10.3 ADDRESSING THE QUALITY ISSUE... 110 10.4 STRENGTHENING THE LIVE EXPERIENCE... 111 11. CONCLUSION... 114 12. FUTURE RESEARCH... 115 13. BIBLIOGRAPHY... 116 13.1 BOOKS & ARTICLES... 116 13.2 SURVEYS AND REPORTS... 119 13.3 INTERNET RESOURCES... 119 14. APPENDIX: TABLE OF CONTENTS... 121 6
2. INTRODUCTION Our interest in innovation within Danish jazz music stems from our personal interest in the jazz scene. From many years of interest in the genre, we have developed a love for the music, and a clear feeling that the Danish jazz scene has an enormous talent mass with the potential to match that of other great jazz nations. In short, we feel that in Denmark, jazz is not something you have to import to get a certain quality high quality jazz is produced and available on the domestic market. From our interaction with the jazz scene, we have a clear impression, that often actors within the scene, not only in Denmark but generally, are prone to be somewhat self-sufficient, in the sense that jazz is considered more a form of art than a commercial product something which is backed up by the research of Kubacki (2007) amongst others. Over the years, this has build up an image of the jazz genre as somewhat closed, which is hardly the best way to attract new potential listeners and reach new consumers. However, from our interaction with the genre and the milieu surrounding it, combined with our studies in the field of creative management, we have the clear sense that there is a new wave of mainly young professionals, eager to find a way of combining the art-for-arts-sake aspect with attracting new consumers, reaching new markets and making the genre more sellable. 2.1 PROBLEM FIELD In an age where time is a scarce resource and media- and entertainment offers are more than plentiful, it is of crucial importance that any supplier of experience goods invests time and effort in understanding how to best promote herself and her product to potential consumers. In the past there has been an underlying idea that the notion of making art more sellable is in a way selling out and compromising your artistic integrity. However, we believe that this can indeed be done in a way where the artistic integrity is combined with more exposure, better catering to the needs of existing consumers and the attraction of more consumers. With these observations in mind, we were motivated to investigate how consumers and especially jazz listeners consume music in the technological landscape of today, and the implications of this on the niche genres. We investigate what music means to the music consumer in relation to identity creation and self-realization to be able to apply the tendencies to the jazz listening audience and from this pool of tendencies and norms 7
formulate specific recommendations to players engaged with jazz music production and promotion on physical mediums, digital mediums and as live experiences. Newer trends in the industry such as digital exchange of music and an increasing focus on entertainment and live appearance of the artist, is being addressed mainly by the large mainstream players in the industry, which in turn means that the solutions and services constructed often caters predominantly to the needs of the mainstream (and more revenue creating) genres, leaving the niche genres to take or leave the solutions available. We investigate what possibilities emerging technologies can create for an art-for-arts-sake niche genre such as jazz, in reaching a broader audience and catering to existing consumers on the new digital platforms that are becoming a bigger and bigger part of our daily lives. Our investigation and recommendations are structured within three fields of the industry: The selling of music on a physical medium, the selling of music on a digital medium and the selling of music as live experiences. 2.2 RESEARCH QUESTION The observations and motivation explained in the problem field has led us to the following research question: How can the actors on the Danish jazz scene utilize the potential of new technologies in their promotion and distribution of jazz music to both existing and new consumers? 8
2.3 INTRODUCTION TO THE FIELD This short introduction to the creative industries and the players in the jazz genre aims to give an impression of the scope of the field we are investigating. 2.3.1 THE CREATIVE INDUSTRIES In Creative industries contracts between art and commerce, Richard Caves (2000) defines the creative industries as supplying goods and services that we broadly associate with cultural, artistic, or simply entertainment value (Caves 2000, p.1). The creative industries possess a number of characteristics that differentiate them from other industries Caves (2000) lists the following seven properties of creative industries as opposed to other, as Caves (2000) call them humdrum, industries: Nobody knows demand is uncertain, and no producer of a creative good can be 100% sure of how the consumer will react to a product. Art for art's sake traditionally, workers are assumed to take on work with the overall aim of earning money. The creators of creative products however, are often driven by other factors than shear economics. Motley crew many creative outputs rely on a broad range of diverse skills often supplied by a number of different artists who are likely to have different artistic values. Infinite variety even though two creative products, like two movies, might be similar in many aspects, not two products are 100% identical. A list/b list in creative industries, some artists will always be more popular than others. Time flies costs of creating a creative product are potentially high (e.g. cinema films), and prompt realisation of revenues can be important for any project. Ars longa with the creation of many creative products follows the right of intellectual property of the product, a value that can generate a turnover for years after the creation. Most creative enterprises are what would be characterised as high-risk enterprises, meaning amongst others that they operate with a considerable amount of market uncertainty (the nobody knows -property) and hence are very dependent on their networks. Furthermore they undergo quite complex production processes, in which many differentiated skills are 9
required. An important consideration to be made in this process is the make or buy conflict how much of your production do you integrate into your organisation (and at what costs/benefits), and how much do you outsource to your network? (Caves 2000, p.8) The goods produced are subject to a number of uncertainties. Most creative goods are experience goods whose value is realised only after its consumption (Bhattacharjee et al., 2003). There are no standards or quality norms to follow for most experience goods, which (depending on an organisations desired level of innovation) can make the production process complex. These uncertainties and risks lead into another fundamental term in the creative industries: not everybody can be successful, but the growth of the hit culture means that if you make it, often you make it big. However, it has proven critical to never fall into routines as peoples taste is ever changing and product lifecycles are shortening more and more, continuous innovation in any creative organisation is necessary (Lampel et al. 2000, p.265). Hence, any player within the market of the creative industries is in a constant need to innovate to be able to keep up with a changing market. If these players don't develop and innovate they will fall behind and potentially lose market share. The competition is high. The offers to customers are manifold and consumer behaviour is, like the market, ever changing. Consequently, innovation is an inevitable part of successfully marketing, whether within fashion, film or any genre within the field of music. 2.3.2 THE DANISH JAZZ SCENE Diving into the creative industries and further into the field of music, we find the musical genre of jazz. As other musical genres, jazz is pr. definition a part of the creative industries as it employs artistically and socially creative people in a combination of on-market and inhouse production of entertainment products. After enjoying massive attention and success in the 1930's and 40's, the emergence of genres such as rock and roll drew the attention of the mass audience away from the jazz genre, which has for the many past decades been characterised best as a niche genre. A 2010 report commissioned by the Danish Arts Council reports that when asked which genres they had been in contact with over the past month, only 25% of Danes mention jazz (Rambøll 2010, p.148). This puts jazz at the bottom of a list of the seven most commonly used genre classifications 10
substantially lower than genres such as pop and rock (enjoying respectively 75% and 66%) and under the classical music genre (27%) (Rambøll 2010, p 148). Players on the Danish Jazz Scene The following section aims to outline the field of the Danish jazz scene. This outline is not meant to be exhausting of the field as it could easily take up the better part of a thesis, but simply serves to present a visualisation of the structure of the scene. In Denmark, the main political body of all culture is the cultural ministry, funding and initiating a large part of the economically heavy cultural initiatives. Under the ministry is a number of councils, boards, and administrative bodies however, as the aim of this thesis is not to present recommendations for changes in cultural politics or political administration of the jazz genre this part of the industry is largely to be disregarded. On a semi-political level are the various organisations catering to the musical genres as a whole (in the case of jazz, JazzDanmark), the musicians (e.g. Danish Musicians Union and Danish Artists Union), and the composers (e.g. Danish Jazz-, Beat- and Folk-authors). Many of these are partially publically funded, but operate on independent budgets, giving them leeway to support concrete initiatives and actions. On the organisational level are the various organisations administering the rights of rightsholders, e.g. KODA (administering public performance rights), NCB (mechanical rights) and Gramex (performance rights). On the live scene, there is a large amount of venues, some of which are jazz specific (jazz clubs) and some of which have jazz only as a part a broader genre scope and some of which are small, local initiatives, while others are publicly funded regional venues. Furthermore, a number of jazz festivals (such as Copenhagen Jazz Festival) arrange annual (or biannual) series of concerts, often in cooperation with a number of the before mentioned venues. Looking at recorded music, a number of record labels in varying size exist. These work, like the venues, in close cooperation with artists and are not uncommonly run or partially run by performing artists. They make recordings of music by artists available to the public on physical mediums and/or digital music files, often in cooperation with distributors who have access and infrastructure to distribute content and physical products to a (world)wide network of retailers. 11
The retail part of the milieu is mainly made up of two segments: retailers of physical mediums (mainly CDs) either in the form of traditional brick-and-mortar shops, online shops or mail-order/record clubs and retailers of digital music. Of the latter two main forms exist; sellers of digital music as pay-per-download and the newer streaming services where consumers do not actually buy the music but pay for access to the music through a monthly subscription. Common for the two types of digital retailers however is that no shops or services exist that carry jazz exclusively, while for physical sales albeit it few some retailers exist that cater to the jazz genre specifically and exclusively. A relatively new addition to the retailing is the ability for artists to sell their own releases directly through websites, fan pages etc. presenting a new window of possibility for artists who have not wanted to or not been able to release their music through the traditional channels. Artists include musicians (performers) and composers, lyricists, arrangers etc. although often within the field of jazz many musicians also compose, write and arrange music for themselves. The large part of the musicians work on a freelance basis, taking work on e.g. music schools in periods where jobs are few or keeping a part-time job all the time to anticipate slow periods. Few musicians hold semi- or fulltime positions in orchestras such as the Danish Radio Big Band. Important to the jazz genre is the media. While traditional media channels such as TV, radio and newspapers has shown a decline in the coverage of the jazz genre over the past years, jazz content is slowly starting to emerge on the newer, mainly Internet based platforms such as blogs, social media and music/video streaming sites, suggesting that these will come to play an important role in the promotion of jazz music in the future. An integral part of the milieu is the consumer to which most of the above mentioned actors seek to market their content to and around whose needs this thesis has its focus. 2.4 CHOICE OF EMPIRICAL FIELD The choice of subject for the thesis was stimulated by our personal interest in the genre and access to it and further by a recently published report, where jazz was documented to be one of the smaller musical niche genres in Denmark (Rambøll, 2010). Taking into consideration the massive presence of the jazz genre both internationally and in Denmark specifically sixty to seventy years ago, we wanted to present recommendations for 12
the genre as a whole, that relates to specific players within the field, to enable the positioning of the jazz genre as stronger than is the case today. 2.5 EMPIRICAL DELINEATION The following empirical basis is used in the investigation: Survey - To investigate the features of the Danish jazz listener, we conducted a survey including questions relating to demographics and to listening behaviours of participants. The survey was distributed through relevant channels to 500 Danish jazz listeners. Expert interviews - Because of the closed nature of the jazz genre we wanted information from experts in the field of mainstream music, as we believe they are more actively searching for new methods and examining the new technology in order to most efficiently market the music to consumers. We contacted a range of important professionals within the mainstream Danish music scene from record labels over rights management societies to venues. Fifteen in-depth interviews with heavy users of jazz music To gain a deep understanding we did fifteen in-depth interviews with heavy users of jazz music found amongst the respondents of the survey divided to three segments: physical, digital and live. 13
3. LITERATURE REVIEW The data collected through the survey has been the motivation for the literature review along with the problem field and research question. The themes that we investigate are the following: Identity Creation Through Music: The curiosity was motivated through the problem field as a deeper understanding of what the music does for the personality of the jazz listener, to be able to give recommendations, which take into consideration the creation of identity. Furthermore, theory on neo-tribes and meta-consumption is investigated. Online Consumer Behaviour: From the notion of a digital music collector it became relevant to look at the online consumer. The problem field and the importance of online presence motivated this theme, through which we look into the online behaviour of the jazz listeners. Collecting Music: This theme is encouraged by the survey, as around 90% of the respondents are classified as heavy users of music, compared to the previous research presented in 4.1, in that they buy more than two CD s pr. year. This was the motivation to investigate the aspect of collecting music in both physical and digital format, to be able to identify how this affects the Danish jazz listener. The Live Experience: The area is motivated by the survey, which shows the majority of respondents to be heavy users of the live experience. Hence, it was found relevant to look into the values and feelings of the jazz listeners connected with the experience of a live concert. The Price of music: Here we investigate the importance of money and price when buying music. This section is motivated by the problem field and focuses on the importance of price for the jazz listeners. We have disregarded the issue of piracy since the inclusion of this aspect could quickly take up the vast majority of a thesis; hence we focus solely on the legitimate use of music. As the survey respondents are spending a lot of money on music and because the money spent is what makes wheels of the industry turn around, we find this theme to be highly relevant. 3.1 CHOICE OF THEORY 14
We have chosen to see the field of jazz as a representative delineation of society assuming that trends in the identity building and value perspectives for the mainstream music listener is also represented within the jazz listener. The field of jazz is a delineation of society; and the theory about identity and consumer behaviour is a delineation of the theory within the field. The theory chosen is determining for how we interpret the data. Bauman (2004) is chosen because of his relevance within the field of identity. He deals specifically with the conditions of the post-modern human and identity creation in the everchanging society of today. Baudrillard (1970) is used as a supplement to Bauman s theory because of his particular focus on consumption, symbolic value of goods and interpersonal recognition. Their social constructivist approach to the world provides a shared platform for understanding their theories, each complimenting the other. The theory is used to identify what characterizes the factors within music that are identity creating and by using these theories the analysis is able to identify what aspect of jazz music is connected to the selfrealization of the music consumer. Because we are investigating identity creation through music consumption to be able to give recommendations to the professional players within the field of Danish Jazz, the theory becomes a solid foundation. The theories of Bauman and Baudrillard are supplemented with theory and articles relating more specifically to music and consumer behaviour in the field of music and in the digital age. Since these are relatively new subjects and since it is most interesting to use the newest possible literature as the focal point in our investigation is the application of new technologies we have chosen to construct our literature review from smaller works and articles, piecing together an honest and updated representation of the available theory on the subjects in question. 3.2 MUSIC AND IDENTITY This chapter is the theoretical foundation for the discussion. The chapter includes theory on the value of music for consumers and we amongst others look in to theories about identity creation and consumption. Going into the specificities of music, we present theories on music consumption, collecting behaviour, online consumer behaviour, the value of the live experience, and the price of music. 15
3.2.1 IDENTITY CREATION THROUGH MUSIC The power of music has been recognized to have a strong effect on people, an effect that can be physical as well as psychological (Cervellin & Lippi 2011). Music consumption relates to the creation of the self, as Nuttall et al. (2011) state. Years ago the national states were trying to force the identity of the individuals to be nationalists. However, as the individuals realized that it was not a valid foundation for the creation of identity, and they had other options and choices, the question about identity creation appeared: After all, asking who you are makes sense to you only once you believe that you can be someone other than you are: only if you have a choice, and only if it depends on you what you choose: only if you have to do something: that is: for the choice to be real and to hold (Bauman 2004, p.19). As a result of globalization and technological development, we are today not tied up to one national identity an institutional role or a story that we have to fulfil (Bauman 2004). According to Bauman (2004) identity is searched for because of a desire for safety and because safety is not constant in a contingent world, identities don t have a constant size (Bauman 2004, p.29). This is why the post-modern people keep all doors open; we do not seek a constant identity as it only restricts the freedom and makes the individual incompetent to deal with changes in the world of today (Bauman 2004, p.53). This is one of the reasons Nuttall mentions that the young music consumers puts emphasis in loyalty, kinship, emotion and passion (Nuttall 2010, p.1) when they pursue a product that has an effect on their identity formation. The goods that they and other consumers buy have a higher meaning than just the functionality. Meta-consumption of music Consumption of music is by definition consumption of a symbolic good or service and music is consumed not only to enjoy the artistic value, but very much to show who you are, and what you want to be (Dolfsma 1999, p.1020). Music has a socio-cultural value to the consumers and it doesn t matter if the good is material (e.g. CD s and music magazines) or immaterial (e.g. radio and concerts). The symbolic goods are social and considered important for a persons identity. The goods contain signs and functions as codes that can be decoded, Baudrillard states. The decoding is done through an understanding of how the different signs are put together to express a specific identity. This reality functions specifically in groups as 16
neo-tribes, groups of consumption, within which there are specific codes and decodes to show that you fit in the group (Baudrillard 1970, p.31). Campbell (1987) states Individuals do not so much seek satisfaction from products, as pleasure from the self-illusory experience which they construct from their associated meanings. The essential activity of consumptions is thus not the actual selection, purchase or use of products, but the imaginative pleasure-seeking to which the product image lends itself (Campbell 1987, p.89). Dolfsma (1999) supports Campbell (1987) s point that there is an associated meaning when he declares that People buy records of famous pop musicians and imagine themselves to be in their place or in the place of the person who features in the song being that perfectly independent and autonomous person who enjoys life and chooses to live in freedom with the (wo)man s/he loves, for instance (Dolfsma 1999, p.1032). Friedman sees consumption patterns as an expression of underlying socio-cultural values, so when people consume music it is an expression of socio-cultural values that creates identity (Friedman 1990). Hence, through the music we consume, we give an expression, of which social values we have, what groups we belong to and who we are. The music is a way of communicating messages to the relevant audience, to our social relations (Goehr 1994 in Dolfsma 1999). Goehr states that it is especially true in the case of music (compared to other experienceproducts), because a persons liking for particular music is a powerful way of communicating ones socio-cultural values. As an example he mentions national anthems as a way to express ones nationality; which also gives an explanation to why music can be closely linked to the social and political environment (Goehr 1994 in Dolfsma 1999). Through today s marketing, the symbolic value of goods is acknowledged to matter, and with this follows ways from which we can distinguish ourselves from the other:...and for all of us beating a path through the personalized jungle of optional merchandise, desperately seeking the foundation cream that will reveal the naturalness of our face, the little touch that will show up our deep individual bent, is the difference which will make us ourselves (Baudrillard 1970, p.10). The right symbols, in the right combination, create our identity, and we as individuals seek the marginal difference that makes us our self. In this search, the product in itself is secondary; what we consume is symbols, and most of all differentiation. Baudrillard calls it meta-consumption (Baudrillard 1970, p.90). The 17
consumption becomes more than value of use and value of symbols to consume becomes a search for identity. Therefore, our consumption is a manipulation of signs and symbols that we associate with certain objects and their importance in order to satisfy our needs. The individual creates identity through meta-consumption and social affinities. Hence, when offering a service, the main issue for the consumer is not monetary value or cost, but to satisfy wants and for the producer of services the key point becomes transforming wants into needs to get the customers to buy their service again and again (Passikoff 2009). As such, the market takes advantage of the symbolic tags that goods have and let them become more important than quality and functionality of the good. Several theories emphasizes the fact that music has a central cultural interest for all groups of people and some even say that it can be defining for the self of individuals (Brown 2009, Willis 1990, Nuttall 2010, and Goehr 1994). Music is said to be one of the strongest symbolic goods and therefore we dare to state that music and especially popular music is a catalyst for the construction of identity and social bonding (Nuttall 2008, cited by Nuttall 2010 and Dolfsma, 1999, p.1020). Music is a symbolic good, we consume to enjoy but also to be a foundation of the creation of the self: We meta-consume music. However, as Baudrillard states, the identity can t stand alone: it is through the community we see that we are unique and therefore the community and neo-tribe becomes crucial for the symbolic values to exist and for the possibility of creating your self (Baudrillard 1970). Neo-tribes Bauman states that humans seek towards the quantitative networks to avoid being stuck with their identity, because it becomes important to have many relationships in different segments. The world is in constant change and a way to seek security is through the networks that we have. Identities are for wearing and showing, not for storing and keeping (Bauman 2004, p.89) and in that sense we use identities in relation to others. Through the quantitative networks, we seek a feeling of being in touch which acts as a proxy for a lack of intimacy. Some of the ways to feel in touch are via mobile phone and through virtual networks. Bennett (1999) adds that young people organize in neo-tribes, which are communities formed around consumption behaviour (Bennett 1999). These neo-tribes exist in terms of the symbolic and ritual manifested commitment its members have. Bennett puts forward the relevancy of using the word neo-tribes and not subcultures, as he believes, the neo-tribalism provides a much more adequate framework as it allows for the shifting nature 18
of youth s musical and stylistic preferences and the essential fluidity of youth cultural groups (Bennett 1999, p.614). This goes hand in hand with Bauman s theory of changing identities and the point that identity is something we choose and not a static way of living. According to Benn (2004) the younger generations of today consume through a tribal lens as their consumption is both a socialization and education. The young people s consumption patterns play a central role in the development of identity and self-image. (Benn 2004 cited by Nuttall 2010, p.1) Nuttall mentions that ownership of music isn t a strong motivation for the consumers to identify with the music, but accessibility is. It is more important to be an inspiration within the tribe than being one of the inspired. This gives you credit within the tribe that is a network, a lifestyle, and a group of influencers and influenced members that copy from each other and create valuable relationships (Nuttall 2010). Tribes in general share a strong emotional link, a common subculture and a vision of life (Cova & Cova 1997 cited by Nuttall 2010). Within the tribes the branded goods such as music are strong symbolic tags. The symbolic tags influence the entire group just as it creates social bonding and relationships within the tribe (Cova 1997, Condry 2004, Shankar et al. 2006, Nuttall & Fichett 2002 cited by Nuttall 2010). O Sullivan (2009) states that consumption is on an individual, atomized level but that social research emphasizes the inter-subjectivity between people as a creation of knowledge and experience. He mentions that individuals contribute in consuming communities, consumities as he calls it, of participants in an inter-subjective experience. In experiences there are a shared consciousness, rituals and traditions and a sense of moral responsibility, he quotes from Munzin and O Guinn (2001 in O Sullivan 2009). Therefore the experience operates on a group level, where an inter-subjective consumption takes place, making social events of consumption of music especially important. It is concluded by O Sullivan (2009) that the social dimension is integrated to the experience of live music and has potential in the connection with repositioning and promotion to new audience. 3.2.2 ONLINE CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR This section focuses on online consumer behaviour and is relevant to understand how the consumers experience and respond to the online platforms where artists and music are represented. A huge part of the consumers today are present in virtual societies and social 19
media communities like ebay, MySpace, Facebook and Twitter where they communicate and interact. Here we investigate the value that the consumer gets from online presence. Online social media communities are socially structured and organized around relationships of production and consumption, power and experiences (Castell 2000, p.5). In the communities consumers can get the right word of mouth from specialists within a specific topic which creates value. Deuze (2006) states that the culture emerges in the way we interact through the provided technology on- and offline. Users are participants in the process of creation of meaning and the users adopt but also modify, manipulate and reform ways of understanding reality. The consumers expect to be included and to get involved and they expect companies and artists to talk to them as individuals. When artists and labels interact with consumers online it can create the feeling for the consumer to matter. Participation is additionally motivated through the feeling of belonging within the community this engagement gives the consumers a sense of identity, which contributes to the socialisation and peer recognition that the innovative and participating user experiences (Deuze 2006, p.66). When a costumer participates or buys a product the person is not only expecting a product, but pays to spend time enjoying a series of memorable events that a company stages as in a theatrical play to engage him in a personal way (Pine and Gilmore 1999, p.2). This engagement is interesting if consumers are searching for products that provide them with something larger than life, such as products that are complex and contain a lot of different knowledge. Consumers are looking for experiences and memorable events, which they can immerse themselves into. Experiences that are relevant make the consumers want to be an active part of the product and thereby co-create. The online experiences offered by the companies should therefore aim to involve active participation and immersion of the consumers and thereby be an escapist experience to catch the attention of the consumers. The experience of co-creation is the basis of unique value for each individual (Prahalad 2004). An experience that the consumer absorb or passively experience tends to be of an entertaining or educational note or tends to be of aesthetic nature, which is different from the active participation and immersion that the consumer can achieve by being presence in online communities. When costumers are present online the interpersonal link and the communication becomes important (Pine & Gilmore 1999). Costumers are eager to be updated, online, and to know what is going on. The online mode is 20
a part of the new flow of information that shows transparency and producers of goods have the possibility to easily update the consumers with the latest information and to build up the virtual relationship. Artists and labels must be aware of what information is being exchanged about the artist in the online social networks, as it affects the brand and reputation and in the end the symbolic tags related to the artist. This fact stimulates more artists to use the networks to participate and control the communication and to give their input on subjects raised and generally be present. The brand only gains trust if the consumers trust the community and consumer value is created through experiences and solutions that allow the co-creation and sharing of resources, including skills and knowledge, involving both the company and the consumer, Borghini & Carù (2008, p.257) explains. Hence it seems that co-creation around a firm or an artist can be a strong part of the brand value and the experience of being a part of a solution or discussion gives higher costumer value. If an artist or label listens to and collaborates with the consumers, they builds up the brand and show that the artist or label cares about the consumer. This argument is supported by Scolari (2008) who states that brands become more important when the economy tends to be more digitalized and dematerializes itself. The brands of the digital world are oriented towards making-doing and not making-knowing. This implies that the user through interaction gets an experience that is a fundamental component of the narrative world of the digital brands (Scolari 2008). The users want to be a part of the communities because they benefit from them as persons, not the other way around they try to make themselves look better through their online life and how they act online (Baym 2009). Online consumers are building relationships where a shared identity is present. What create norms within the relationships are the relational norms. The relation is maintained by a mutual exchange and the fulfilment of promises (Mathwick 2002) and Therefore offering the ability to connect in a virtual context appears to have a positive effect on the future loyalty intentions of participating costumers. (Mathwick 2002, p.51) It appears that costumers participate for two reasons: because they are interested in the topic and have it as a hobby (intrinsic motivation) or because they have to, as a result of perceived constraints or to keep them attached or updated (extrinsic motivation) (Mathwick, 2002). The online loyalty comes from virtual communities with high relational norms. Information about the online behaviour is important to the providers of the forum or webpage and one 21
thing is for sure, Mathwick (2002) argues: consumers enter the online communities and participate because they expect to receive positive value from their participation and the online relationship itself. This value has a symbolic, attached meaning and is relevant for the creation of the self for the online consumers. 3.2.3 COLLECTING MUSIC The notion of collecting things is an integral part of our daily lives. Most people collect something and some people collect a lot of things: Collecting is a world habit. Collectors practice it consciously and with a definite, recognized aim. The rest of us practice it more or less unconsciously (Sullivan & Hibbert 2006, p.285). However, the collection of music differs substantially from collecting rare and expensive artefacts (as is most often the case when referring to collectors ), in that music whether on a physical medium or as a digital file most often is commercialized, mass-produced goods (Sullivan & Hibbert 2006, p.285). Kibby emphasizes that the collection of music differs from traditional collections in that the objects collected may have a symbolic value, but at the same time remain in daily use hence, Personal music archives are not easily categorized as either sacred objects or mundane possessions (Kibby 2009, p.430). Sullivan & Hibbert describe a collection as very expressive of the owner s identity as they are often highly visible and representative of the owner s judgment and taste (Sullivan & Hibbert 2006, p.285) and as such, a collection is very often an important part of the collectors identity and losing the collection can be fatal. They emphasize the thrill of the hunt element: the process of searching for and acquiring new items for the collection is of key importance and that many collectors fear the completion of their collection, which in turn leads them to modify and extent the scope of their collection if completion comes to close within range. Physical Music collections Looking more specifically at the collection of music on physical mediums such as CD s and vinyl, Sullivan & Hibbert investigates the behaviour of a representative sample of youngsters. They find amongst others that most respondents connected the notion of a collector with something negative terms such as nerd and geek coming to mind. Rather than this, respondents feels that their collection of music make them opinion leaders and first movers, as such setting them apart from their peers in a positive sense and not a 22
negative. The fact that music most often is commercialized, mass-produced goods, means that most items are widely owned, hence the uniqueness of a collection is a synergy effect created by the single items in the collection all together. Users report that different sections of their collections often represent different periods of their (music consuming) life periods, which are often recalled when picking up or even thinking of e.g. a CD. For the same reason collectors seldom dispose of, or imagine parting with items in their collection no matter how little they are used or how embarrassing they may be. Giles et al. (2007) make the point that The purchase of specific recordings is tied to certain memories and sentiments relating to that period in the consumer s life (Giles et al. 2007, p.437), and hence conclude that physical record collections serve as a kind of cultural autobiography for their owners, by attaching to specific moments, events, and relationships across the lifespan (Giles et al. 2007, p.431). Respondents report that their collections are indeed something they are proud of a degree of competitiveness can be found towards other collectors and Music collectors appear to relish the prospect of standing out amongst other music collectors (Sullivan & Hibbert 2006, p.288). Ordering and sorting of the items is often made in a way that makes attractive items more visible and partially or completely hides embarrassing items that maybe relate to a period of musical taste that the collector is not very proud of today. In a similar study to that of Sullivan & Hibbert (2006), Giles et al. (2007) find that physical recordings are indeed important as artefacts and that the sleeve, cover, artwork, even the plastic case of a CD is considered an important part of the work of art. Giles et al. describe this connection with the physical artefact as reflecting a private 'para-social' relationship between the consumer and the artist (Giles et al. 2007, p.436). Sullivan & Hibbert (2006) find that for most collectors of physical mediums, digital alternatives such as the mp3-file can be used, at best, to sample new music for the benefit of deciding whether to buy or not but not as a substitute for the physical medium. Giles et al. (2007) back up this statement saying that it seems that the death of CDs feared by some retailers may be a long way off: even for committed downloaders, the traditional aspects of music collecting still mean that there is a felt need for material recordings (Giles et al. 2007, p.442). 23
Digital Music collections Giles et al. (2007) examine the psychological meanings attached to record collections and state that with soft formats i.e. intangible formats such as the mp3-file, it is unlikely that individuals attach very much sentimental value to the individual items in a collection. They emphasize that consumers report to lack the qualities of materiality and visual in their digital music collections. Nevertheless, the study of Giles et al. (2007) includes consumers in a broad age range and they conclude that there is a need for more data on consumers whose first meeting with recorded music was through digital channels, since older generations have been socialized into a culture where the physical medium was prevalent. Kibby (2009) did exactly this, in studying the behaviour of young people whose first music acquisitions were music files or whose current collections consisted predominantly of music files (Kibby 2009, p.428), and she suggests that the relationship with the digital format is changing with the new generations. While some did, as Giles et al. (2007) argue, value their CD s higher than their digital collection and others saw the digital collection as more of a backup of their physical, there was indeed a group who valued their digital music collection much in the same way as collectors of physical mediums or even non-music collections as described earlier, leading Kibby (2009) to conclude that for young music collectors in the future files may replace physical formats (Kibby 2009, p.432). She does note that most interviewees still wanted the CD even after having transferred it to the computer, but hypothesizes that as downloading becomes easier and faster this desire might fade away. Giles et al. (2007) and Nuttall (2010) emphasize the aspect of convenience when dealing with digital music collections. Digital music (at least if disregarding whether the music is legally downloaded) is easy to access, easy to dispose of, and easy to regain if the consumer changes her mind. This in turn, Giles et al. (2007) argue, leads to a lower level of investment in and a cavalier attitude towards the ownership of music with clear implications on collecting behaviour. Most importantly they argue, that the consumers identity is less bound to the collection and it's contents allowing the consumer to be more adventurous and eclectic in their music search. Kibby (2009) finds that this eclectic and adventurous behaviour does not negate the importance of the music and that the ease of searching for and acquiring new music through digital retailers as opposed to traditional brick and mortar stores, in fact only strengthens the desire to develop a collection. Noteworthy of Kibby (2009)'s findings is that through interaction with the digital music 24