Using Data in Decision‐Making: Analysis from the Music Industry

Abstract

Internet use provides an increasing amount of data that has potential value for managers and policy makers but, without a precise understanding of the meaning of data, erroneous conclusions may be drawn which could adversely affect future decisions made by managers.

Copyright and creation: repositioning the argument

“…Different methodologies have been used to analyze the relationship between illegal filesharing and purchasing activity (Parry et al, 2013), including:  Aggregated data: This method employs aggregated information at city, region or country level and relates variables such as internet penetration or piracy rates with industry revenues. The most representative analyses' from this stream of research are Liebowitz (2008) and Bustinza et al (2013b), both of which find file sharing damages sales, reporting a negative relationship between illegal downloading and industry revenues.…”

“…Reports failing to be diligent have been potentially misleading and subsequently criticized by academia (Liebowitz, 2006(Liebowitz, , 2011Parry et al, 2013) and industry associations (IFPI, 2013). Cammaerts et al (2013, p. 3) report includes the statement "evidence does not support claims about overall revenue reduction due to individual copyright infringement", which is supported by one reference, Aguiar & Martens (2013).…”

“…All the assumptions and claims made by authors need to be contrasted through control variables (Danaher et al, 2012) and other statistical procedures (Parry et al, 2013).…”

“…Cammaerts et al (2013 p. 12) cite theAguiar and Martens (2013) as evidence for the benefits of piracy. In previous work we have shown this work to have numerous methological flaws that invalidate the claims it makes(Parry et al, 2013). They further state that large organisations are able to dominate the debate as "The opponents have little or no access to the methodologies and assumptions built into the studies commissioned by these large players" (p. 12).…”

“…In the last decade the creative industries have been affected by the appearance of disruptive innovations (Bustinza et al, 2013a). Significant business, legal, academic and political debates have arisen as a result of the impact of these disruptions, particularly with regard to issues of copyright protection, illegal fie sharing and the appropriateness of legislation to safeguard creator's rights (Parry et al, 2013). Whilst some argument remains as to the level of remuneration that artists and copyright holders should be paid for their work, there is general agreement that current laws are not sufficient for the digital environment and different IPR legislation is necessary, but the challenge lies in what form the legislation should take (Liebowitz, 2011).…”