Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(488)
- Faculty Publications (126)
- 2010
- Article
Competing against Online Sharing
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Andres Hervas-Drane
This paper aims to explore online sharing of copyrighted content over peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing networks and its impact on the music industry and to assess the viable business models for the industry in the future. View Details
- December 2009 (Revised December 2012)
- Case
Sony and the JK Wedding Dance
By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld
Executives at Sony Music Entertainment faced a dilemma: a user-generated video featuring controversial artist Chris Brown's music was netting millions of views per week on YouTube. Sony held the copyright to the song, and was entitled to issue a takedown notice to the... View Details
- October 2009 (Revised March 2012)
- Case
Nettwerk: Digital Marketing in the Music Industry
By: John A. Deighton and Leora Kornfeld
How is music marketed in the digital era? Nettwerk Music Group built on its foundation as a social, grassroots marketer of music and artists and emerged as a leader in the Internet-enabled social media environment. For most of the past decade Nettwerk CEO Terry McBride... View Details
- June 2009
- Teaching Note
Radiohead: Music At Your Own Price (A) & (B)
By: Anita Elberse
Teaching Note for 508-110 (A) and 508-111 (B). View Details
- April 2009 (Revised April 2012)
- Case
Bono and U2
By: Nancy F. Koehn, Katherine Miller and Rachel Wilcox
This case traces the 30-year development of the rock band U2 and the development of its four members as artists, business leaders, and humanitarians (with particular attention paid to lead singer Bono's global humanitarian work). The case examines the beginnings of the... View Details
- March 2009
- Teaching Note
Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n Roll: The MTV Approach to Tackling HIV/AIDS (TN)
By: Tarun Khanna, Sonali R. Bloom and David E. Bloom
Teaching Note for [709429]. View Details
- January 2009
- Supplement
Live Nation Faces the Music (B)
By: Stephen P. Bradley, Frank V. Cespedes and Kerry Herman
In 2008, concert producer and promoter Live Nation, faces a decision about its strategy in light of the tumultuous changes in the music industry and the increasing power of the major artists. As the music business once again recreates itself in response to new... View Details
- January 2009 (Revised March 2013)
- Case
Live Nation Faces the Music
By: Stephen P. Bradley, Frank Cespedes and Kerry Herman
In 2008, concert producer and promoter Live Nation faces a decision about its strategy in light of the tumultuous changes in the music industry and the increasing power of the major artists. As the music business once again recreates itself in response to new... View Details
- August 2008 (Revised September 2009)
- Case
Sex, Drugs, and Rock 'n Roll: The MTV Approach to Tackling HIV/AIDS
By: Tarun Khanna, Sonali R. Bloom and David E. Bloom
This case explores the role that MTV, with its heavy diet of music and general youth-oriented media content, plays in spreading public-service messaging to contain the scourge of HIV/AIDS worldwide. There is a focus especially on its efforts in several emerging... View Details
- July – August 2008
- Article
Should You Invest in the Long Tail?
By: Anita Elberse
The blockbuster strategy is a time-honored approach, particularly in media and entertainment. When space is limited on store shelves and in traditional distribution channels, producers tend to focus on a few likely best sellers, hoping that one or two big hits will... View Details
- May 2008 (Revised June 2008)
- Case
Kenny Kahn at Muzak (A)
By: Linda A. Hill and Emily Stecker
Founded in 1934, Muzak pioneered the industry of background music. Equipped with propriety technology and a vast music library, over the ensuing decades the Muzak franchise organization expanded geographically. Despite a history of innovation, by the late 1990s Muzak... View Details
- May 2008
- Supplement
Kenny Kahn at Muzak (B)
By: Linda A. Hill and Emily Stecker
Supplemental Material for 408-057 View Details
- May 2008 (Revised September 2009)
- Case
Radiohead: Music at Your Own Price (A)
By: Anita Elberse and Jason Bergsman
In October 2007, the British band Radiohead caused a stir when it announced it would allow customers to decide how much to pay for its new album, released exclusively as a digital download and available only from the band's own website. The pricing plan represented a... View Details
- May 2008 (Revised June 2009)
- Supplement
Radiohead: Music at Your Own Price (B)
By: Anita Elberse and Jason Bergsman
- February 2008 (Revised September 2008)
- Case
Apple Inc., 2008
By: David B. Yoffie and Michael Slind
In January 2007, three decades after its incorporation, Apple Computer shed the second word in its name and became Apple Inc. With that move, the company signaled a fundamental shift away from its historic status as a vendor of the Macintosh personal computer (PC)... View Details
- February 2008 (Revised December 2023)
- Case
Digital Music: From MP3 to Streaming
By: Willy Shih
The emergence of the MP3 file-based music format not only disrupted the market for portable audio players, it also impacted the business models of major record labels. Modularity, and the commoditization spillover enabled by modularity in the personal computer... View Details
- February 2008 (Revised March 2010)
- Teaching Note
MP3 Portable Audio Players and the Recorded Music Industry (TN)
By: Willy Shih
Teaching Note for [608119]. View Details
- December 2007
- Background Note
The Music Recording Industry: Digital Rocks
By: Stephen P. Bradley and Nancy Bartlett
Digital and mobile technologies profoundly and forever changed the long-held value proposition for the recorded music industry--the 12-song physical CD selling at $15. By 2007, it was apparent that the music recording business had become a digital business, and... View Details
Keywords: Arts; Disruption; Music Entertainment; Distribution; Practice; Technology Adoption; Value; Music Industry
- December 2007 (Revised August 2014)
- Case
Xanadu on Broadway
By: Anita Elberse
Can one of Hollywood's biggest flops magically turn into a Broadway hit? Xanadu, an adaptation of a 1980 Olivia Newton-John roller-disco film described by one critic as "the epic failure to end all epic failures," opened on Broadway in July 2007. Producer Rob Ahrens,... View Details
- October 2007
- Case
iPhone vs. Cell Phone
By: David B. Yoffie and Michael Slind
The launch of Apple's iPhone marked a pivotal new chapter in the story of mobile music (the uniting of digital music players with mobile phones). The iPhone combined an iPod music player, a cell phone, and a mobile Internet device, along with a camera and other... View Details