The music Industry

Table of Contents

1         INTRODUCTION         3

1.1         A quick look at the past         3

1.2         Area of research         4

1.3         Research Methods         4

1.3.1         Primary research         4

1.3.1.1         Qualitative Research         5

1.3.1.2         Quantitative Research         5

1.3.2         Secondary research         6

2         LITERATURE REVIEW         8

2.1         Theoretical underpinning         8

2.2         Attitudes         9

2.2.1         The ABC Model of Attitudes         10

2.2.1.1         Affective Component         11

2.2.1.2         Behavioural Component         12

2.2.1.3         Cognitive Component         12

2.2.2         Attitude Component Consistency         12

2.2.3         Measurement of attitudinal components         13

2.2.3.1         The Fishbein model         14

2.3         Review of the music industry         17

2.3.1         The business model         17

2.3.2         Company activities         18

2.3.3         Legal music services         19

2.3.4         Controversial music services         19

2.3.5         Attitudes about paying for music         20

2.3.6         Downloading habits         20

2.3.7         Effect on CD sales         21

2.3.8         Future projections         22

3         FINDINGS OF THE RESEARCH         23

3.1         Quantitative findings         23

3.2         Qualitative findings         24

4         CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS         26

4.1         Consumer image         26

4.3         Music industry         27

REFERENCES         28

APPENDIX A - QUESTIONNAIRE         29

APPENDIX B - INTERVIEW GUIDE         31

1         Introduction

Opinions differ extensively on how downloading capabilities and Peer to Peer file sharing affect the CD sales. The old topic of piracy has emerged once again as technological advancements continue at a high pace.

This assignment looks into the major changes within the music industry and investigates the attitudes of the music consumers and the music industry.

An image of the music consumer is developed and a pattern of buying behaviour is established, through qualitative and quantitative research, to determine the effects on sales of CDs.

1.1         A quick look at the past

The music industry has a long history throughout the 20th century of struggle against new threatening technologies. The radio, the jukebox and especially the cassette players used to be the big threats earlier.