BUS5RIS

Understanding critical success factors in digital music industry, from the perspective of an online music store
RESEARCH PROPOSAL HARMANDEEP KAUR 10/6/2013

Introduction We all must have heard about the term 'digital' being used alot of times.There are probably digital cloks, digital music and many other digital things. The word digital means that there is a special kind of information involved that can be read by machines like computers. In digital music sounds are recorded and changed into a group of letters that are read by the computers and use to make sound again. Its just like a special sound for the computers.Mp3's and CD's are the most common examples of digital music today. The online music stores have made this much easier for the music listeners. Music comes in different formats and genres. It can improve our mood, set a specific tone for a movie, it even improves the health of a person and makes more productive and help with occupational therapy as well. One of the best formats for listening to music is to listen to it online. Itunes is one of the leading light in the music industry. It is audio software that lets you play music on your computer and transfer songs to a separate music player. More and more people who have digital music players are using the service, as well as those who like listening to music on their computer. It has many features that have made it popular worldwide. Personally I am a great fan of iPhones, not just because its a great hit but also because its a new platform for music. There are now hundreds of iPhone music apps, ranging from Internet radio apps to music toys to experimental music apps. Some of the examples of free apps for music are drum kit, band, tuner internet radio and many more.

Literature Review .There are certain success factors in digital music industry,with the perspective of an online music store and thats my topic for research.I chose this topic because I am a great fan of music and found it to be an interesting point for research.Many authors have written articles based on the music industr,the advantages and disadvantages of online music stores and about the digital music industry.There are certain success factors such as better storage,mobility,a person can carry entire music on library on the go,you can purchase song individually.Using online music stores one can transfer or share music on much faster speed.Many authors have presented their viewpoints as articles in respect of music sharing.A study of iTunes music sharing practices enables the research community to better understand the moving target of music sharing technologies and practices and the implications of the positioning of music sharing technologies between technical innovation and political,legal, and ethical considerations. In this paper, The author report findings from an interview-based study of the day-to-day practices surrounding iTunes music sharing among employees of one corporation.Apples iTunes is arguably the most popular application in this category when it comes to electronically managing and purchasing media.`Music is prophecy. Its styles and economic organisation are ahead of the rest of society because it explores, much faster than material reality can, the entire range of possibilities in a given code. It makes audible the new world that will gradually become visible, that will impose

itself and regulate the order of things; it is not only the image of things, but the transcending of the everyday, the herald of the future.'' Attali (1984, page 11) .In this the author e discuss the impact of digitalization on the music industry. We rely on market and survey data at the international level as well as expert statements from the industry. The guide investigates recent developments in legal and technological protection of digital music and describes new business models as well as consumers' attitude towards music downloads and audio-streaming.The paper takes a multiple case approach,comparing the marketing stance of two highly successful online firms (Amazon and eBay) with that of two major online music retailers (Popfile.de and tiscali.co.uk) and find that the music retailers have yet to apply the four Cs to their marketing and selling activities.The purpose of this paper is to provide an explanation of factors inuencing online music purchase intention of Taiwanese early adopter of online music, which can help the online music practitioners of Taiwan to develop better market strategies.

Contemporary Research & Conceptual Framework The recent changes that has taken place in respect to the music industry are given below: Apple is to unveil its own music streaming service following a series of deals with major music groups.iRadio is expected to be an extension of iTunes and will be a free service, backed by advertising, that streams music according to the listeners preferences, based on their existing library. Warner Musics Warner-Chappell division became the first music publishing company to agree to a deal with iRadio.(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/10107040/Apple-setto-unveil-iRadio-music-streaming-service.html) iTunes 11.0.4 is now available for download from the Mac App Store, and will be provided through Apple's website.The last major update to the software was released as iTunes 11 last November. It featured a complete overhaul of the application's design, along with a new storefront and tighter integration with Apple's iCloud suite of services.iTunes 11 features new library views, a revamped miniature player, "Up Next" for queuing new songs in a playlist, and iCloud playback syncing of media. The update can be downloaded for OS X through the Mac App Store.(http://appleinsider.com/articles/12/11/29/apple-releases-redesigned-itunes-11-withicloud-integration-for-mac-windows) "The audio ads will be sold via iAd, Apple's mobile ad network, according to a former Apple executive with knowledge of the situation," John McDermott reported. "In addition to audio ads, the streaming music service will also contain the mobile ads iAd currently sells."To date, Apple's iAd network has been limited to banner advertisements embedded in iOS applications. Advertisers can create interactive features that act like mini-applications when activated by a user.

Apple has released an update to its iTunes Festival London 2013 app to add Passbook functionality and support for landscape photos. With Passbook, ticket winners can download event tickets directly to their iPhones. (Macrumors.com, 2013) Apple has just pressed the button and launched iTunes version 11.0.4. The new update features everything you already love about iTunes 11, plus some really cool refinements. Included in the latest dot update are a new MiniPlayer, an improved Songs View which allows you to see album artwork while in Songs View. Whats more, Multi-Disc Albums now show up as one album, and not multiple albums.(http://www.todaysiphone.com/2013/06/apple-releases-itunes11-0-4-features-new-miniplayer-improved-songs-view-and multi-disc-albums/) Hot on the heels of releasing OS X 10.8.4 Mountain Lion, Apple has gone ahead and released additional maintenance updates to iTunes. Update includes bug fixes for improved syncing and eliminated a sign-in bug some users were experiencing.(Gearlive.com, 2013)

The Conceptual framework for the research that i have started will be in a flow: There are total 4 steps .The first step that was taken in consideration after starting this research was that i examined the model for the Itunes..In this I took account of all the sales and the total number of listeners to the music.What is the total number of the purcahses done every year and what sort of music sharing takes place.The next step that i took was the survey method in order to know more about the ideas of the people.For the data collection i used the likert scale.On the bases of this i will be proposing the model in future.It will be based on the current as well as the past information about the music industry.Taking into consideration all these things the research proposal will be proposed. Motivation & Significance of Research The main idea of motivation in this research will be making it convenient for the users to easily purchase what they are looking for.They can have lot of variety and can purchase it online withpout going and wasting time on visiting the stores.In apple you just need an apple i'd to purchase music.The importance of this research is to make people more aware of buying music online and it could make easier for the people to purchase music.Secondly it will attract more users if music transfering is easy and not much time consuming.Transfering the music not only on the same devices whereas on other devices as well,this will motivate people to purchase more stuff online. The main significance of the reseach it to encourage more and more people to purchase music online in a much easier way.and secondly to make transfers and sharing of music easier. Moreover in understanding the quality in online music.

Methodology The research is based on quantitative techniques.It will be of a descriptive nature. The data collection will be done in the research by using the likert sclae.Its a psychometric scale that is involved in the research that employs questionnaires.In this a questionaire will be provided to people with different questions related to online music stores.Basically its like a survey.And based on their view points we can rate that how accurate our research is and where actually it stands.A sample sized population will be examined in oreder to rate.for example a particular number of people or people within an organisation.as i have previously mentioned that the research is going to of a descriptive nature.The three different descriptive studies that can be mainly used for the research are : 1)Observation method 2)Case study 3)Survey method 1)Observation method:Through observation method we can easily observe the human and the animal behaviour closely.There are two categories of observation method:naturalistic observation and laboratory observation. 2)Case study:Case study involves in-depth study of an individual or group of individuals.They should not be used to determine cause and effect and they have limited use for making predictions. 3)Survey method:This is the method that i have used for my research.In this the participants answers set of questions through a questinnaire.After participants have answered the questions,researchers describes the responses given.In order for the survey to be both reliable and valid it is important that the questions are constructed properly.The questions should be clear and understandable.

Objectives of Research The main objective of the research is to understand the quality in online music.The quality matters alot and the reputation of a company depends on the quality.In respect to online stores they should provide high definition.So the main motive of the resaerch is to take care of the quality and to understand the importance of it. Secondly the main objective is to improve online purchases.To make it more simpler and more reliable for the users.

Thirdly to improve music variety available online.The choices available should be with different categories so that the users would not have to look for them here and there.Different sections should be there for all sorts of songs .

Road Map The main research is understanding the critical success factors in digital music industry with the perspective of an online music store.There are many factors that are responsible for the growth of the online music store.some of them are:formats,storage,mobility,better choice/variety,individual song purchase,acquiring music,transfer and sharing of music,quality and many more. 1)Formats:There are number of formats available and one can play music on different formats.So thats one of the reason that more nad more users are attracted towards it . 2)Storage:The other main reason is the storage factor. A huge amount of space is available so a large number of songs can be downloaded and can be saved as the storage capacity is quite huge. 3)Mobility:With the use of online music store the rate of mobility has increased.Earlier we need to carry bundle of cassettes along with us,but now you can carry entire music library on the go.Carrying music along with you has become much more easier. 4)Better choice/variety:An online music store has more choices available.A person has a large variety to choose upon.and moreover you have more artists available under one umbrella.You can search for any artist songs on an online store. 5)Individual song purchase:An online store has the ability to purchase individual songs and one can pay only for what he or she wants.You dont have to pay of bunch of songs in order to get a single song. 6)Aquiring song:Purchasing music online is much easier and its really easy to download songs from online music stores.There are different apps and websites available for downloading music. 7)Song Transfer:Music sharing from online stores is much easier and its easy to tranfer songs from one medium to the other. 8)Quality:This is one of the main factor in the success of the music industry.Onine stores enhances quality of the music with the devices.It enhances the video quality as well as the audio. Learning outcomes from the research The learning outcomes will be that there will be a better understanding of the online music.The quality of high definition will be taken care of.Sound quality as well as the tone quaity will be

taken into care and more attention will be paid towards it,moreover improvements in technical and websites be also taken into consideration,improvements will be madeon online purchases. The main idea of this research will be to propose a brand new structure for a music app store.Now the apps that apple is supporting has many limitations and in future our main motive is to overcome all the limitations and introduce something that is easier to download and free of cost.Currently the limitations that app store has are: 1)Sharing is easier only with the apple devices:If we are sharing or transfering any data within apple phones,its really easier and much supporitve rather than transfering data to other devices.Its not that supportive.So, in future our main focus will be on makind data sharing sharing supportive on other devices as well. 2)To ensure better Multi device strategy:When we purchase a movie or a song,its resolution is enough for the phone devices as well as for the ipads but not for the big screens.As the data is saved in the form of JPG.so it does not supports bigger screens.In future we will be focusing on the this matter and will ensure this problem is solved and a person gets a high definition on the big screens as well.

References 1. Ching-Wen Chu and Hsi-Peng Lu, Factors influencing online music purchase intention in Taiwan: An empirical study based on the value-intention framework, pp. 139-155 2. Cornelia C. Krueger, Nhiem Lu, Paula M.C. Swatman. Success Factors for Online Music Marketing eTransformation: From the four Ps to the four Cs 3. Donnavieve Smith, Satya Menon, and K. Sivakumar, Online peer and editorial recommendations, trust, and in virtual markets. 4. Gearlive.com, viewed on 1st June 2013, <http://www.gearlive.com/news/article/appleitunes-11.0.4-q213/> 5. Macrumors.com, viewed on 1st June 2013, <http://www.macrumors.com/2013/06/05/itunes-festival-london-2013-app-updated-withpassbook-support/> 6. Mike McGuire and Derek Slater (2005): Consumer Taste Sharing Is Driving the Online Music: Business and Democratizing Culture 7. Peitz, Martin; Waelbroeck, Patrick (2004): An economists guide to digital music, CESifo working papers, No. 1333 8. Peter Buxmann, Jochen Strube, Gerrit Pohl. Cooperative pricing in digital value chains The case of online music 9. Sadler D,1997,: The global music business as an information industry:reinterpreting economics of culture"Environment and planning A 29 1919 ^1936 10. Sai Ho Kwok, Digital Rights Management for the Online Music Business 11. Steve Jones (2002): MUSIC THAT MOVES: POPULAR MUSIC, DISTRIBUTION AND NETWORK TECHNOLOGIES, Cultural Studies, 16:2, 213-232 12. Sudip Bhattacharjee, Ram D. Gopal, Kaveepan Lertwachara, James R. Marsden, Impact of Legal Threats on Online Music Sharing Activity: An Analysis of Music Industry: Legal Actions, April 2006, pp. 91-114 13. Sudip Bhattacharjee, Ram D. Gopal, Kaveepan Lertwachara, James R. Marsden. Whatever happened to payola? An empirical analysis of online music sharing 14. Valerie L. Vaccaro & Deborah Y. Cohn (2004): The Evolution of Business Models and Marketing Strategies in the Music Industry, International Journal on Media Management, 6:1-2, 46-58