A new type of contractual arrangement in the music industry – the so-called “360-degree” or “equity” deal – allows a firm (e.g., a record label) to manage all of an artist’s activities, such as sales of recorded music, touring, merchandising, etc. Since these contracts internalize...

In this paper, we provide scenarios of evolution for the recorded music industry. These scenarios are based on two dimensions. First, we identify two strategies of revenue extraction in a digital world: either through the sale of content, which requires a direct or indirect protection of music...

In cultural markets, for books, music or movies, sales are concentrated on a small number of highly successful products. One explanation for the skewness of sales is incomplete information: consumers are poorly informed about most products, because only a small proportion of them are visible and...