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Abstract:
We analyze the role of music downloading on the current downturn in CD sales. We provide 2000-2001 cross-country evidence in support of the claim of losses due to internet piracy made by the music industry. For the U.S. we also assess the potential loss from internet piracy using detailed survey data. We conclude the empirical analysis by forecasting CD sales for 2002. The results suggest that internet piracy played a significant role in the decline in CD sales in 2001, but can hardly account for the subsequent drop in 2002.

piracy, music, peer-to-peer, internet, survey data, cross-country regressions

Abstract:
The use of file-sharing technologies, so-called Peer-to-Peer (P2P) networks, to copy music files has become common since the arrival of Napster. P2P networks may actually improve the matching between products and buyers - we call this the matching effect. For a label the downside of P2P networks is that consumers receive a copy which, although it is an imperfect substitute to the original, may reduce their willingness-to-pay for the original - we call this the competition effect. We show that the matching effect may dominate so that a label's profits are higher with P2P networks than without. Furthermore, we show that the existence of P2P networks may alter the standard business model: sampling may replace costly marketing and promotion. This may allow labels to increase profits in spite of lower revenues.

File-sharing, P2P, sampling, information transmission, piracy, music

Abstract:
Digital products have the property that they can be copied almost costlessly. This makes them candidates for non-commercial copying by final consumers. Because the copy of a copy typically does not deteriorate in quality, copying products can become a wide-spread phenomenon - this can be illustrated by the surge of file-sharing networks. In this paper we provide a critical overview of the literature that addresses the economic consequences of end-user copying. We conclude that some models with network effects are well-suited for the analysis of software copying while other models incorporating the feature that copies provide information about the originals may be useful for the analysis of digital music copying.
peer-to-peer, software, music

information good, piracy, copyright, internet,

Abstract:
In this guide, we 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. We conclude the guide by a discussion of the evolution of the music industry.

music, internet, file-sharing, peer-to-peer, piracy, digital rights management, copyright, e-commerce

Abstract:
Downloading digital products for free may harm creators and intermediaries because consumers may no longer buy the version for sale. However, as we show in this paper, this negative effect may be overcompensated by a positive effect due to sampling: consumers are willing to pay more because the match between product characteristics and buyers' tastes are improved. This indeed holds under sufficient taste heterogeneity and product diversity.

file-sharing, P2P, sampling, information transmission, piracy, music

Abstract:
Peer-to-Peer (P2P) technologies are often seen as a threat by copyright owners because they encourage piracy by making digital copies easier. In response, major record companies have come up with new devices designed to protect original material, and lobbied to reinforce legal protection. We view traditional distribution as an information-push technology in which the firm pays to provide information to consumers and P2P as an information-pull technology where consumers spend resources to acquire information on products they have a potential interest in by searching, downloading and testing digital copies of original products before they make their purchase decision. We determine copyright owners' protection strategies according to the level of legal protection, and we study their effects on profits and consumers' surplus with the two different information transmission technologies.

Copyright, Protection, Internet, Distribution, Music, Piracy, Digital copies, Fair Use, Digital Rights Management

Abstract:
Digital products can be copied almost at no cost and are subject to non-commercial copying by final consumers. Because the copy of a copy typically does not deteriorate in quality, copies can become available on a large scale basis - this can be illustrated by the surge of file-sharing networks. In this paper we provide a critical overview of the theoretical literature that addresses the economic consequences of end-user copying. We analyze basic models of piracy, models with indirect appropriation, models with network effects, and models with asymmetric information. We discuss the applicability of the different modeling strategies to a number of industries such as software, video and computer games, music, and movies.

information good, piracy, copyright, IP protection, internet, peer-to-peer, software, music

Abstract:
We argue that Digital Rights Management technologies can serve a number of marketing purposes that will make it easier for newcoming artists to expose their products to consumers and that will allow established artists to fine tune their offerings to consumers' tastes.

Digital Rights Management, File-sharing, Peer-to-peer, Marketing strategies, Digital products

Abstract:
This paper analyzes the impact of music file sharing on CD purchases. Traditionally, two arguments are opposed concerning the impact of music file sharing on CD sales. On the one hand, MP3 downloads only reduces sales of legitimate CDs (the competition effect). On the other hand, consumption of free MP3s could lead people to buy CD which they would never have bought otherwise (the "sampling effect"). Because the court in the Napster case and some academic researchers have dismissed this sampling effect, this article seeks to assess whether sampling does indeed occur and in the affirmative what are the relative contributions of the positive sampling and the negative competition effects of MP3 files on CD purchases. To do so, we administered an anonymous online survey in two French graduate schools from May 26 to June 3, 2004. We find that there are two populations: explorers and pirates. For the explorers, MP3 sharing through physical contacts has a positive impact on CD consumption. For the pirates, anonymous file-sharing on the internet and a large number of MP3 files have a negative effect on CD consumption.

Internet, Peer-to-Peer, File sharing, Piracy, Music, Students

Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to identify which, if any, segments of the movie business have suffered from digital piracy. We use a sample of 620 university-members including undergraduate students, graduate students and professors to assess the effect of digital piracy on legal demand. A large percentage of respondents get pirated movies from a variety of channels (on P2P networks, intranet, by physical means...). Surprisingly, approximately one third of the pirates declared that watching pirated movies increased their demand for films (for instance, it led them to rent or purchase videos that they would not have rented or purchased otherwise). Using regressions analysis, we find no impact of piracy on theater attendance, and a strong impact on video rentals and purchases. However, movie piracy has no impact on video rentals for respondents who use pre-paid pricing schemes at video-stores.

piracy, movie industry, video

Abstract:
We discuss computational issues in the sequential probit model that have limited its use in applied research. We estimate parameters of the model by the method of simulated likelihood and by Bayesian MCMC algorithms. We provide Monte Carlo evidence on the relative performance of both estimators. Given the numerical difficulties associated with the estimation procedures, we advise the applied researcher to use both stochastic optimization algorithms in the Simulated Maximum Likelihood approach as well as Bayesian MCMC algorithms to check the compatibility of the results.

Sequential probit, simulated maximum likelihood, simulated annealing, Metropolis-Gibbs

Abstract:
This paper analyzes the impact of online customer reviews on purchasing decisions and the influence of online customer or peer reviews compared to other channels of information such as offline press (expert reviews) and trial versions (personal reviews). Using 7,024 answers of an anonymous online survey administrated from June 18 to July 5, 2004, on one of the leading websites dedicated to video games in France, we show that i. online peer reviews gathered by consumers before purchasing video games positively influence purchasing decisions; ii. the effect of online peer reviews is as important as the effects of personal and expert reviews; iii. online customer reviews complement trial versions and expert reviews from magazines.

Customer reviews, Word-of-mouth, Internet, Experience goods, Video Games

Abstract:
The aim of this paper is to show that innovations are the result of complex interactions between different private and public agents. For that, we identify the nature of the information sources that firms use to produce their innovations and assess the impact of these different sources on the results of the innovation process. We develop an econometric sequential model dealing successively with the innovation decision and the nature of innovation and use recent French data coming from the 1997 Community Innovation Survey. The main results are that innovation is not the result of isolated agents and that firms use very differently information sources according to the novelty degree of their innovation.

Innovation, information sources, community innovations surveys, sequential probit, selection bias

Abstract:
We use a 1998-2002 cross-section dataset to analyze the claim of losses due to internet piracy made by the record industry. The results suggest that internet piracy played a significant role in the decline in music sales during the early days of file-sharing networks.

Piracy, Internet, Music

Abstract:
In this paper, we examine the impact of horizontal and vertical market structure on product variety. We consider a market for horizontally differentiated products in which the cost of launching a new product is fixed and spread between the manufacturing and the retail industries. While this framework can be applied to a large number of industries we focus on music variety. We show that a vertically intergrated firm offers a wider variety of products than a chain of monopolies. If the cost of launching a new product is equally shared among the vertical structure or mostly supported by upstream firms, retail competition partially restores the incentives to innovate of the vertical structure. Yet when the cost of launching a new product is mostly supported by the retail sector, downstream competition leads to even more innovation than vertical integration.

Music, variety, vertical relation, competition

Abstract:
We propose a Bayesian Metropolis-Gibbs Monte Carlo Markov Chain (MCMC) algorithm to estimate parameters of a sample selection model in which the selected equation include a binary endogenous explanatory variable, using a three simultaneous equation model. We apply our methodology to participation in timber auctions for which some lots receive no bid (these lots are censored), one bid (no competition) and two or more bids. We find that the MCMC algorithm provides stable results across different model specifications, whereas the Heckman sample selection procedure results in unreliable inference on the coefficient associated with the binary endogenous variable as well as the correlation coefficient.

sample selection, binary endogenous explanatory variable, Metropolis

Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to identify which, if any, segments of the movie business have suffered from digital piracy. We use a sample of 620 university members including undergraduate students, graduate students and professors to assess the effect of digital piracy on legal demand. A large percentage of respondents get pirated movies from a variety of channels (on P2P networks, intranet, by physical means. . . ). Surprisingly, approximately one third of the pirates declared that watching pirated movies increased their demand for films (for instance, it led them to rent or purchase videos that they would not have rented or purchased otherwise). Using regressions analysis, we find no impact of piracy on theater attendance, and a strong impact on video rentals and purchases. However, movie piracy has no impact on video rentals for respondents who use pre-paid pricing schemes at video-stores.

Piracy, Demand, French Universities