R ecent 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 a significant number of songs for others to copy. Combining data on the performance of music albums on the Billboard charts with file sharing data from a popular network, we assess the impact of recent developments related to the music industry on survival of music albums on the charts and 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 except for those albums that debut high on the charts. In addition, superstars and female artists continue to exhibit enhanced survival. Finally, we observe a narrowing of the advantage held by major labels. The second phase of our study isolates the impact of file sharing on album survival. We find that, although sharing does not hurt the survival of top-ranked albums, it does have a negative impact on low-ranked albums. These results point to increased risk from rapid information sharing for all but the "cream of the crop."

The music industry has repeatedly expressed concerns over potentially devastating impacts of online music sharing. Initial attempts to control online file sharing have been primarily through consumer education and legal action against the operators of networks that facilitated file sharing. Recent legal action against individual file sharers marked an unprecedented shift in the industry's strategy. The focus now is on wellpublicized legal threats and actions on a relatively small group of individuals to discourage overall music file sharing. To determine the resulting impact of these legal threats, we passively tracked online file-sharing behavior of over 2,000 individuals. We found that individuals who share a substantial number of music files react to legal threats differently from those who share a lesser number of files. Importantly, our analysis indicates that even after these legal threats and the resulting lowered levels of file sharing, the availability of music files on these networks remains substantial.

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The popularity of online music sharing networks has attracted interest from the music industry, artists, consumer advocacy performance of music albums. The relative market performance of music albums is gauged using the list of top 100 albums on the weekly Billboard charts. The P2P sharing data gathered is longitudinal, spanning a period of 8 weeks. We also identify and track data for 47 upcoming album releases providing pre and post release comparisons of sharing activity. We offer four main findings:(1) significant piracy opportunity and activity were observed; (2) the level of sharing opportunities are related to albums' relative chart positions; (3) there is evidence of both bpre purchase samplingQ piracy and blost salesQ piracy; and, (4) sharing activity levels provide leading indicators of direction of movement of albums on the Billboard charts.Points (3) and (4) have particular implications for music marketing and promotion. groups, the popular press, and government legislative and regulatory entities. P2P networks have become lightning rods for debates on intellectual property rights and music market fates. Yet, to date, little has been based on actual observed activity on online sharing networks. Here we report on an initial P2P network data gathering and analysis endeavor and relate it to market Freed was a music bpoint manQ. He is credited with being the first to coin the term brockn-rollQ. He was also the first to take a fall in the famed

The rapid development in information and communications technologies (ICTs) has created a wealth of opportunities for businesses and societies around the world. Yet, the disparity in the ICT adoption between developed and developing countries, often referred to as the Digital Divide, continues to widen. As a result, the digital divide has remained an issue of significant importance to policy-makers and scholars. In an effort to measure the magnitude of the digital divide and monitor how the disparity evolves over time, the United Nations commissioned the development of a comprehensive ICT Development Index (IDI) in 2009. The objective of this paper is to extend the methodology used in the IDI project and other scientific results presented in previous research to measure the digital divide. Using data mining techniques, we analyze ICT profiles from 154 countries to provide a rigorous quantitative assessment of the digital divide. In addition to analyzing the digital divide at the global level, we present our results at a regional level by identifying countries that are leaders and followers in their respective geographical area. Moreover, our analysis found that between 2002 and 2007, nine countries have made a significant progress in ICT adoption such that they have transitioned into a group previously consisting primarily of developed countries.

The music industry has repeatedly expressed concerns over potentially devastating impacts of online music sharing. Initial attempts to control online file sharing have been primarily through consumer education and legal action against the operators of networks that facilitated file sharing. Recent legal action against individual file sharers marked an unprecedented shift in the industry's strategy. The focus now is on wellpublicized legal threats and actions on a relatively small group of individuals to discourage overall music file sharing. To determine the resulting impact of these legal threats, we passively tracked online file-sharing behavior of over 2,000 individuals. We found that individuals who share a substantial number of music files react to legal threats differently from those who share a lesser number of files. Importantly, our analysis indicates that even after these legal threats and the resulting lowered levels of file sharing, the availability of music files on these networks remains substantial.

No abstract

The rapid emergence of file sharing networks has enabled easier information dissemination and product access to potential consumers. At the same time, copyright protection technologies for securing digital products have been compromised repeatedly. To analyze the ensuing impacts on the market landscape for music products (a digital good), we develop a stochastic model of distribution of music album longevity on the Billboard Chart. We find that since the advent of file sharing networks and other market forces (such as legal changes in copyright laws, introduction of digital rights management systems and legitimate online music download offerings), the lifecycle of music albums has shortened with lowered probabilities of survival for each week. While the probability of survival past the first week is markedly lower, the future portends well for albums that do survive on the charts beyond the first week. This is consistent with the rapid diffusion of information on music albums in the changed market landscape. Integrating this insight with user activity on online computer networks, we estimate the continued success of albums on the charts. This analysis helps to create a more dynamic decision process on resource allocation to promote and market music products. Using the robust stochastic model parameters as a benchmark, we estimate a logistic regression model which helps us make quality decisions in an uncertain environment through early monitoring of the success of music albums.