How can Music Majors increase their Success in theMarket for Over-The-Air Downloads? – The Case of Germany

Music majors, who have been suffering from dwindling revenues in their core business, areplacing extraordinary hopes on the new market of Over-The-Air(OTA)-Downloads.However, until now there has been no broad academic discussion about this market. Inparticular, two central questions have not yet been addressed: (1) which factors influence thesuccess of music majors in the OTA-Download market, and (2) how can music majorsincrease their success in this market? In order to answer these questions, we employ a holisticresearch approach, which combines an economical and a sociological perspective. We firstidentify the drivers for the success in the OTA-Download market and analyze these factors inone large-scale survey (n=1,780) in Germany and a series of expert interviews. Subsequently,we construct a mathematical Excel-based tool and apply data optimization techniques fromoperations research to derive the optimal mix of strategic measures that maximizes the successof music majors in the German OTA-Download market. Finally, we presentrecommendations for...