The Effect of P2p File Sharing on Music Markets: A Survival Analysis of Albums on Ranking Charts

24 Pages Posted: 23 Nov 2005

See all articles by Sudip Bhattacharjee

Sudip Bhattacharjee

University of Connecticut - Department of Operations & Information Management; US Census Bureau

Ram D. Gopal

University of Connecticut - Department of Operations & Information Management

Kaveepan Lertwachara

University of Connecticut - Department of Operations & Information Management

James R. Marsden

University of Connecticut - Department of Operations & Information Management

Rahul Telang

Carnegie Mellon University - H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management

Date Written: October 2005

Abstract

Recent technological and market forces have profoundly impacted the music industry. Emphasizing threats from peer-to-peer (P2P) technologies, the industry continues to seek sanctions against individuals who offer significant number of songs for others to copy. Yet there is little rigorous empirical analysis of the impacts of online sharing on the success of music products. Combining data on the performance of music albums on the Billboard charts with file sharing data from a popular network, we: 1) assess the impact of recent developments related to the music industry on survival of music albums on the charts, and 2) evaluate the specific impact of P2P sharing on an album's survival on the charts. In the post P2P era, we find significantly reduced chart survival. The second phase of our study isolates the impact of file sharing on album survival. We find that sharing does not seem to hurt the survival of albums.

Keywords: peer-to-peer, digitized music, online file sharing, survival

Suggested Citation

Bhattacharjee, Sudip and Gopal, Ram D. and Lertwachara, Kaveepan and Marsden, James R. and Telang, Rahul, The Effect of P2p File Sharing on Music Markets: A Survival Analysis of Albums on Ranking Charts (October 2005). NET Institute Working Paper No. 05-26, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=851284 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.851284

Sudip Bhattacharjee

University of Connecticut - Department of Operations & Information Management ( email )

2100 Hillside Road, U-1041
Storrs, CT 06269-1041
United States

HOME PAGE: http://users.business.uconn.edu/sbhattacharjee

US Census Bureau ( email )

4600 Silver Hill Road
D.C., WA 20233
United States

Ram D. Gopal

University of Connecticut - Department of Operations & Information Management ( email )

368 Fairfield Road
Storrs, CT 06269-2041
United States

Kaveepan Lertwachara

University of Connecticut - Department of Operations & Information Management ( email )

368 Fairfield Road
Storrs, CT 06269-2041
United States

James R. Marsden

University of Connecticut - Department of Operations & Information Management ( email )

368 Fairfield Road
Storrs, CT 06269-2041
United States

Rahul Telang (Contact Author)

Carnegie Mellon University - H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management ( email )

4800 Forbes Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890
United States
412-268-1155 (Phone)

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