Article 10 How Adoption of Online Streaming Affects Music Consumption

Question 1

What is being studied?

Answer 1

How the adoption of music streaming affects listening behaviour.

Question 2

Why is this important to study?

Answer 2

Because it is missing from literature how the rise of streaming services affects consumption at the individual level.

Question 3

How and where is this research conducted?

Answer 3

Individual’s listening behaviour was gathered from Last.fm, a site which provides knowledge on the exact time of listening, the artist, the song, etc.

Adopters and non-adopters were matched (PSM) and a difference-in-differences analysis was conducted.

Question 4

What are the main findings?

Answer 4

• The market share of Spotify grew rapidly, while iTunes usage declined.
• Top artists lost market share after adoption.
• Variety of songs, artists, and genres increased after adoption.

Question 5

What are the limitations?

Answer 5

• It is not observed if users used the free or premium version of Spotify.
• It is not observed if there is a complementary relationship between Spotify and iTunes.