ALTERNATE DISTRIBUTION STRATEGIES FOR 1

DIGITIZATION OF MUSIC HAS CREATED OPPORTUNITIES TO REENGINEER THE SUPPLY CHAIN AND IMPROVE ITS EFFICIENCY. BUT HOW WILL IT PLAY OUT?

The music industry is undergoing a tumultuous period, as modern communications technologies create new opportunities as well as significant challenges for established industry players. Many attribute the recent decline of the music market, which fell from $39.7 billion in 1995 to $37 billion in 2000 [4, 5, 7], to the availability of free online music. The downloading of music, once considered a mere nuisance, is now recognized as life-threatening to the industry. Some 29% of adults have downloaded music over the Internet, and over 53% of teenagers rely on it as their primary means of acquiring music [2], which helps explain the significant drop in sales to the teenage segment in recent years. If teenagers continue such practices in their adult years, we will see considerable erosion of traditional sales.

The Recording Industry Association of Americas interactive Internet provides opportunities tor using (RIAA) drastic legal measures forcing the closure of the promotional channel as a sales channel for downNapster and other peer-to-peer (P2P) music-sharing loading music. businesses may have temporarily stopped the hemorSurveys of consumers, especially college students rhaging, while clearly highlighting industry's crucial and teenagers, have foiuid that CDs are perceived as need to improve its understanding of customer needs, and to provide Physical Record Co. / Record Co. / Artist / Distribution Retailer / Customer Customer products and services that meet Customer those needs. Since the crux of the Total Cost: $15-$ 18 100% 100% 100% 100% problem relates to reorganizing Retail Cost: $5,25-$6.5 35% 30%'^ 10%'' 10% the supply chain, this article ptoMargin: $0.8-$ 1.0 vides a description of the current Staff: $ 1.2-$ 1.45 supply chain and examines variDistribution: $1.2-$ 1.45 ous digital distribution strategies. Score rent: $2.25-$2,75 The three major categories of Advertising/Marketing: $2-$4 20% 20% 15%' 5 = % players in the music industry supDistribution: $1.2-$ 1.60 7% ply chain are content creators, Manufacturing: $0.75 5% content developers and marketers, Studio: $1 6% 6% 6% 6% and distributors/retailers. The Royalty: $2. 12% 12% 12% 12% content creators include comOverhead: $2. 12% 12% 10%*^ posers, lyricists, and artists. The Record Co. Margin: $0.5-$0.7 4% 4% 4% Total 100% 84% 57% content developers, which include 34% The actual figures may the music publishing and record All values are approximace averages to illustrate the break-up o cosis. of kiosks and systems. vary from album to album. Assumes there is some saning in retail store operations^ includes cost companies, are central to the Assumes there is no retail operations; includes cost for online Web site operation advertising due I : I relationship. industry. They purchase the musi- Assumes there is someinefficiency indue Co reduction to record company operations, Assumes some saving overhead in ^Assumes no traditional advertising: includes some independent advertising. cal rights, identify and develop performing artists, record music Table l . Cost in studios, manufacture and disexpensive. This may be because "the commercial value breakdown of digital tribute the music, and advertise distribution. of music is being widely devalued by mass copying and and promote music through varipiracy," as one industry expert claimed [9]. Another ous channels. Five large players reason for this perception may be that consumers find dominate content development: Sony, Warnet, Univer- only two to three songs of value on a CD. The availsal, BMG, and EMI. The distributors include both abilit)^ of MP3 technologies, digital downloading, and record companies and large national retail chains. CD writing have empowered customers and changed Retail outlets owned by record companies, along with their buying behavior. large national retail chains, account for over 85% of An examination oi the cost structure of the industry record sales, while record clubs and mail order busi- suggests potenti;il opportunities to improve efficiency nesses account for about 12%, and online retailers in the supply chain. As illustrated in Table 1, which account for 1% of sales [7]. Record companies have a provides a breakdown of the cost structure using aversignificant influence on the demand chain as well as the ages based on various published sources [6, 7], the supply chain, but in recent years, a significant market manufacturing cost is only about 5% of total cost, and share of unaccounted music sales has shifted to P2P the artists and composers receive about 12% as royalty. music sites. Meanwhile, retail oudet costs such as labor, rent, and Customers consume music in two forms, eidier as a local inventory account for 35% of the selling price. product they own, perhaps in the form of a CD, or as After taking into account price markdowns and invena service, through a radio station. The latter is used as tory write-offs, operating profits range from 4%-6% of a promotional channel to create awareness and entice sales. Ajiother large percentage of the cost (20%) is the consumer to own the product. The market can be directed toward advertising and promotion. broadly categorized as consisting of two segments: Analysis of these cost figures reveals the variable cost casual listener and music owner. It is conceivable for a (25%) is relatively small compared to the fixed cost customer to belong to both segments: as a casual radio (75%), which is significant since as much as listener for some music, and a music owner for other 60%-80% of music titles are considered failures that music. The revenue flow occurs only when the radio do not recoverfixedcosts. Most consumers lack awarelistener is converted to a music owner. The two-way ness of die inherent risk in this business; they do not
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RECORD COMPANIES, INSTEAD OE DISTRIBUTING MUSIC EOR OWNERSHIP, MAY USE THE AUDIO STREAMING MODE TO REACH LISTENERS EOR A MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION. SINCE I S P S WILL BE DELIVERING THE MUSIC TO THE CUSTOMER, THEY MAY OFEER IT AS AN ADDITIONAL SERVICE TO OBTAIN EXTRA REVENUES.

be considered the first phase in the evolution to digital distribution, Wii minimal disruption to the supply chain. Music is digitally distributed from the record company to the retailer, and the customer chooses Digital Distribution Strategies Various strategics exist to digitally distribute music desired songs and creates a CD in a Idosk in the retail through the supply chain, which has three major par- store. The retailer ain also retain its traditional retail ticipants: content creators or artists, record companies, sales of packaged CDs. Overall, a cost savings of about and retailers. Apart from technological issues, multiple 16% can be expected, as shown in Table 1, mostly from marketing and sociological issues must be addressed to reductions in manufacturing, distribution, and in-store ensure digital distribution is successfiii. Focusing only inventory costs. Music files could be downloaded on on supply chain efficiency may provide a solution that request from a central server in the record company, or cannot be implemented due to other constraints. Six the files could be stored in a local server. The former digital music distribution strategies, graphically illus- creates economies of scale and reduces system infrastructure and cost for the retail store. However, the trated in the figure, are described here in detail. Record company-retailer-aistomer. This strategy can retail store must have a high-bandwidth connection to ensure reasonable download time. This strategy requires some Artists I * Record Co. n ^ Retailer "nCuicomer changes in customer behavior. Customers must be willing to Figure la. Record Co I Retailer / Customer invest time to evaluate songs and for the in-store C D creation. Some customers may choose to buy Online Reuiler packaged CDs because the cost savings from a customized C D may not be commensurate with Figure I b. Record Co / Customer Figure I c. Record Co I Intermediary / Customer the extra time and effort involved in creating a C D . Customers accustomed to downloading Online music at home may view this option as inconvenient and Inflexible. The primary drawback of this Figure Id. Artist / Customer Figure I e. Artist ' Intermediary / Customer strategy is that it does not fully exploit the technology potential to create an efficient supply chain. The benefits of this strategy are many:
Figure If. Audio.n-demand

realize, for example, that the profits fi-om successful records help compensate for the losses from failures.

Digital distribution strategies.

It offers the fiexibility to create customized CDs without sacriCOMMUNICATIONS OF THE ACH September 2003/Vol. 46. No 9

Record Co / Retailer / Record Co / Customer Customer

Customer Pro
Phj'sically browse/listen co music before buying Eas/ shopping for nontech, cuslomers Awareness of new artists Inconvenienttrip to store Cannot create own CD st home Higher prite Role In supply chain L0C3I custOmiiatJon reduces Not cost competitive ' More visibility lor artists/ albums ' Quality recording ' Control Illegal copying ' Reach non-tech audience Not cost competitive Obsolete inventory Commission to retailer Disintermediated Efficient supply chain Direct link to customer No Inventory Less cost, greater margin ' Illegal copying Shutout non-tech, customers Cost/digital infrastntct. ' Payment issues/ minors Possibly more sales and commissions Music Quality Illegal copies Not i good channel for advt. and mktg. music Online convenience Flexibilitybuy songs vs. Full albums Lower prices ' Slow download ' Lower music quality ' Visit multiple sites: no one-stop shopping.

Record GB^l^HH'Artist / Intermediary / Customer Customer

' Convenient; one-stop shopping ' Online community information on artists ' Costintermediary ' Slow download ' Lower quality music ' Direct link; lower prices

Artist / Intermediary / Customer

Conveniei shopping

Audio-onDemand
* One-siop shopping * No owneiship-playlist can change * Less costly Quality of connection * Cannot transfer to multiple devices

Con

' Inconvenient: visit multiple sites ' Slow download ' Lack of Info, on artists

Good srtlsu may not participate / Contracts Intermediary Extra cost Slow download

Retailer Pro Con Record Company Pro Con

D is intermediated Outsourced digital dis.infrastructure No inventory Reduced physical distribution cost ' Compete with other recxos. inWeb Site ' Illegal copying ' Lower margin due to Intermediary ' Payment issues / minors

Disintermediated

Di sintern) ediated

Disi ncermedlated Efficient supply chain No illegal copying (streaming only] No inventory Less cost/ereater mar

Dis intermediated

Dlslniermedlated

Digital distrlb. infrastructure Revenue loss diie to less ownership Inability to introduce new artists/albums

Artist Pro
Con

Greater visibility/Advt. No Illegal copying ' Too many intermediaries

Direct link to customer High margin Music Quality Iliegal copying Lower margin ' Illegal copying ' Difficult to reach all customers/no advt. ' Cost/digitai infrastruct.

Outsourced digital distrib, Visibility ' more visitors ' Compete with other artists on the Web site ' Lower margin ' No direct link to customer ' Loss ol sales due to reduced ownership ' Artists cannot reach custon^crs easily

ket segment that lacks internet savvy. In addition, the overall sales growth may decline if record companies are unable to generate fresh sales from new recordings. Thus, record companies may still need retail operations and the retailing environment to promote new artists and records, thereby increasing the costs associated with this strategy. Finally, the teenage market segment may be unable to complete online purchases due to lack of access to credit cards or other online payment mechanisms. Record companyAntermediary-customer. This strategy eliminares a problem associated with the previous option: that customers must visit multiple sites to get Record company-customer. This option exploits the their music. An intermediary could consolidate music potential of direct digital distribution, bj'passing the from multiple record companies and provide a oneretailer and achieving significant cost reduction in dis- stop shop for the customer. An online retailer like tribution and retail operations. Table 1 demonstrates Amazon.com could generate additional sales revenue the entire cost of retail store operations can be elimi- by providing extensive search facility and system nated, although the Web server operations integral to infrastructure to download music. Customers may this strategy can make a big dent in savings. This strat- find additional value in other services offered such as egy allows the cost of a C D to be reduced by as much unbiased music reviews, community building, and as 45%, but several issues must be addressed for its suc- email alerts. cessful implementation. One issue involves copyright Artist-customer. As shown in Table 1, this strategy violations, a major source of concern for record com- allows for cost savings in every &cet of music indtistry panies. Since digital downloading facilitates illegal operations, although the artist will incur the expenses copying, record companies are understandably con- of direct advertising and Web site maintenance. The cerned about revenue generation from this option. elimination of intermediaries creates the most efFicient Also, the significant bandwidth requirements may supply chain strategy, but severa! issues beyond effimake this option infeasible tor downloading entire ciency must be addressed. Record companies play a 92
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ficing the packaged CDs some customers favor. The retail component of this strategy is a useful way to give customers a music experience and introduce them to new artists. This strategy can be phased to evolve as the market changes. The first phase of creating customized CDs can evolve into a second phase of n-store production of packaged CDs to minimize in-store inventory, and then to a third phase of an inventory-less store where customers identify artists, sample music, and create CDs. Retail store operations benefit from cost efficiencies inherent in this strategy. Record companies can ensure copyright protection.

CDs for a portion of the home market, and may shut out a marI L 1 1 I

Table 2. Comparison ' distribution

strategies,

EDUCATING THE PUBLIC ON COPYRIGHTS AND THE IMPACT OF ILLEGAL COPYING ON THE MUSIC INDUSTRY IS CRITICAL TO ENSURE THE MUSIC INDUSTRY REMAINS HEALTHY, AND INCENTIVES EXIST FOR ARTISTS TO CREATE NEW MUSIC,

major role in promoting new artists and songs. While well-established artists may he ahle to sell directly to customers, newer artists may struggle to reach customers, as over 30 albums are released monthly. Even well-established artists may he unahle to expand beyond their existing customer hase if advertising channels do not promote their music. Further, the "free music" expectancy of customers associated with this strategy may create significant risk for artists, since revenue streams are not assured. Many artists view this option as A promotional channel to establish their names before being recruited hy a record company. Attist-intermediary-customer. In this option, an intermediary aggregates the artists' offerings to reduce the search burden and information clutter for the customer and also to expand the market reach for the artists. These intermediaries can provide additional value hy creating online communities with similar music interests, and offering services such as online music reviews and email alerts for new releases and concerts. The business model is prohlematic if sales do not take off, or extensive advertising hecomes essential to generate revenues. As with the record company-intermediary-custorner strategy, this strategy is likely to be integrated with an online retail site (see the figure). Such integration is sustainable as a business model since it provides sufficient value to attract customers. Record companies may see it as an opportunity to reduce their risk by evaluating new artists' popularity before signing a contract. Audio'On-demand (AOD). This option allows customers to create their own customized playlist of favorite songs and to listen at their convenience from an Internet radio station [1]. A simple suhscription model could be used to deliver music to the customer. The customer has complete flexibility to choose as well as change the playlist during the suhscription period, thereby avoiding getting locked in with a few songs, as with the ownership model. As with traditional radio

stations, the subscription fees could he partially subsidized hy advertising, if customers were willing to listen to some advertising. The Internet radio stations cotJd he owned hy record companies, intermediaries, Internet service providers, or traditional radio stations. Record companies, instead of distributing music for ownership, may use the audio streaming mode to reach listeners for a monthly subscription. Since ISPs will he delivering the music to the customer, they may offer it as an additional service to obtain extra revenues. Benefits of this strateg)^ include minimizing copyright violations, since music is streamed without local storage. For casual listeners, this strategy is an attractive alternative to traditional radio, as they get a customized playlist for a nominal tee. Several inarketing and technological issues must be addressed before this approach becomes feasible. By allowing the customer to choose songs, tbe record companies lose the valuable radio channel for promoting new albums. They must find innovative strategies to introduce new songs without excessive intrusion on customers' music experiences. Another issue to consider is whether a v;ilue proposition exists for customers to switch from free radio broadcast to a paid Internet radio station. The television industry has some parallels. Although free broadcasts ai'e available, customers are willing to pay a subscription fee for a cable connection, which provides more choices and better quality transmission. Similarly, pay-per-view coexists with monthly cable subscription service. This would he analogous to Internet radio stations selling music downloads. The technical issues are more problematic. The vision of A O D is not yet a reality at the quality and service levels required hy the customer. For AOD to be successRil, music must be delivered on both wireless and wired mediums, since customers demand the flexibility of listening to music while sitting in front of their desktop PCs, on the move in a car, or while using a
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portable player device. An important difference between broadcast radio stations and Internet radio stations is the latter requires the radio station to maintain a continuous two-way link with each customer. This results in a significant load on the server and the supporting network infrastructure. The availability of surplus bandwidth n the fiiture could alleviate this problem.

Future of Music Distribution

Table 2 provides a summary of the pros and cons of each distribution strategy for the stakeholders: customers, retailers, record companies, and artists. While it will be tempting to predict one strategy will prevail over the others, it is more likely that several will coexist in their own niche markets. The relative success of each strategy is dependent on many contextual factors. One factor that will influence the restructuring of the industiy is the power dynamic among artists, record companies, retailers, and customers. As mentioned earlier, the music industry is dominated by a handfial of major record companies that control the creation, marketing, and distribution of music, and record companies have considerable power over most artists. The increased customer power derived through use of illegal P2P music sites was temporarily reduced by the legal actions taken by record companies to shut down P2P sites, but many new P2P sites have sprung up, reducing the impact of RlAAs actions. Artists, due to the threat of copyright violations, have generally supported the position of the record companies in the digital distribution debate. Table 2 reveals the position of the retailer is at risk, since they get disintermediated in all except the first option. Given the power structure in the industry, it is likely that record companies will influence the fiiture distribution strategy by providing incentives or disincentives for customers to use one channel or the other.

cautiously. Slow download times may curtail use of this option, especially in countries burdened with poor communications infrastructures. Customers will likely favor the record company-tntermedimy-customer siAXQ^, since customers tend to lack familiarity with record companies. Record companies may find this option useful to broaden their reach, even at the expense of sharing profit margins with an intermediary. We have seen joint partnerships among record companies, which represent a hybrid of the intcrmediaiy strategy, and the more direct record company-customer sivaxc^. For example, Pressplay, a joint venture of Vivendi (Universal) and Sony, ofers digital music downloads. While the record companies' profits and sales are plunging, they are exploring various options including partnering with technology companies to develop Internet-based digital distribution. The latest Apple ventLire, iTunes, is an example of this strategy [8]. iTunes enables the download of songs at a dollar each, which includes the ability to copy the song to 10 additional devices. It remains to be seen whether the initial success of this venture can be sustained. The interest of Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard in these partnerships fiirther attests to the economic feasibility of this option. MP3.com and others have experimented with the direct sale of music from artists or through intermediaries, with limited success. While some artists consider record companies as adversaries, most artists see their value once they recognize the risk involved in direct sales, and the extent of marketing and promotion required to reach customers. Since the artist-customer and artist-intermediaiy-customer strategies disintermediate two powerful supply chain members, record companies and retailers, and provide no significant benefits to other chain members, they are least likely to succeed.

The AOD option has the advantage of reducing copyright violations, but the technical issues and the The record company-retailer-customer strategy is the sustainability of this business model, especially if subleast disruptive to the supply chain, with minimal risk scription services are not popular, make it a risky of copyright violations. Several early attempts at this proposition. A downloading option is currently offered strategy have had mixed restilts. jay Samit at EMI to address quality issues in audio streaming, but with a claims this strategy allows "the smallest mom-and-pop restriction on playtitne. MusicNet, backed by three shops to have the same inventory as Amazon" [11]. record companies (EMI, BMG, and AOL/Time While retailers would definitely prefer this option, Warner) offers a subscription service using RealNetrecord companies and artists may view t as an inter- works audio streaming technology. ISPs such as MSN mediate strategy until the technology issues related to and AOL offer a subscription service to enhance their copyrights and communications infrastructure are Internet offerings by partnering with Pressplay and MusicNet, respectively. Once music is available in a sorted out. Internet-sawy customers may not favor it. digital form, multiple business models can coexist The record company-customer siiitQ^ W\\\ be favored by all stakeholders except the retailer, who is disinter- simultaneously to provide complete flexibility to the mediated. But the significant risks related to copyright customer. In fact, the business model of MusicNet is a infringement may force record companies and artists, hybrid model Incorporating the record company-intertwo powcrflil partners in the supply chain, to proceed mediary-customer and AOD strategies, simultaneously
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providing both ownership (although in a proprietary format) and listening options. Management Issues The success of any digital distribution strategy depends on several important issues: copyright protection, communications infrastructure, and pricing and payment strategies. The copyright protection issue has technical and sociological components. The International Federation o- the Phonographic Industrv' (IFPI) estimates that the number of burned CDs worldwide is nearing the number sold in stores, indicating illegal copying is as big as the music industry. Record companies are experimenting with various copyright protection techniques to reduce copyright violations without increasing the compliance burden on customers. New technology initiatives, such as registration of every copy, timed expiry, proprietaiy formats, and watermarks and fingerprinting are being tested. Customers' need for flexihility to share music among multiple personal devices, and the need for an Internet connection to enforce digital rights management, complicate copyright administration. Record companies will delay large-scale digital distribution unless they are confident copyright violations risks are significantly reduced. The sociological component of the copyright issue becomes important in this context. Educating the public on copyrights and the impact of illegal copying on the mtisic industry is critical to ensure the music industry remains healthy, and incentives exist for artists to create new music. Nt) strategy discussed in this article will succeed without a solid communications infrastructure. The success of each strategy requires the ability to distrihute electronically to users with adequate quality and reasonable response time. The quality of audio streaming suffers if the connection cannot sustain a minimum data transfer rate. Factors influencing this rate include the type of connection in the local loop, the backbone bandwidth, and the server capacity. High-bandwidth DSL and aihle modem sei-vices should alleviate some of tbe problems in the last hop. The backbone infrastructure used hy an ISP must be upgraded to support streaming traffic, and ISPs may end up charging extra fees to support audio streaming. O n the server side, various new technologies such as load balancer, cache servers, and content delivery networks bave been introduced to improve performance. The pricing strategy plays an important role in the success of digital distribution. Packaged CDs are priced to distribute risk across many songs. The price per song must be fixed at a level that will not cannibalize the sales of packaged CDs, hut will provide sufficient returns to recover the cost of album development, as well as the

cost of failures. The price must he sufficiently attractive to entice customers to switch from free services such as Grokster and KaZaA. Record companies must ensure there is no revenue loss in disaggregating the album into individual songs. One potential worry is the cannibalization of sales of packaged CDs. This may be avoided by delaying the introduction of single song digital downloads, similar to how the movie industry releases movies to video three to six months after theater release. Also, new online payment methods must be developed for the teenage segment to prevent teens from growing dependent on illegal file-sharing options. Adult super\'ised debit accounts with use restrictions, or a pre-paid subscription model with a limit on number of downloads can be used to facilitate payment.

Conclusion
The digitization of music has created opportunities to reengineer the supply chain and improve its efficiency. Five digital distribution strategies were examined in the contexts of the industry cost strticture and the relative roles of stakeholders. The major issues related to successfiil implementation of each of these strategies were explored and elucidated. B
REFERENCES
1. Black, J, Web radio pioneers sing the hlu, BusinessWeek. (June 21, 2001). 2. Tox. M. and Wtenn, B. A broadcasting model for the music industry.7oi/rnaliifMedia Mamigmeni X 2 {2m\), 112-119 3. tiraziano, M. and Rainie, L. The Music Downloading Deluge, Pew Internet Tracking Report. I'ew Internet Tracking and Aiiierlaiii Life I'tojcct; www.pewinteriiet.org/re ports, 2001. 4. International Federation of 'honograph Indtistry (IFP!), 2001a. Recording Intiii.stry World Sales 2000; www.i(pi.org/statistit.s/worldsalcs,him, ^. International Federation of Phonograph Industry (II-PI), 2001b. IFPI Music Piracy Report; ww'w,ifpi.org/libr.iry/piracy2OOI .pdf (i. May, B.,and Singer, M. Unchained melody, McKinsey Quarterly I (2001). 128-137. 7. Meier, G. BMG Entertainment. Harvard Business School Case. 4-701033, July 3, 2000. 5. Mossberg, W.S. Music you do(i"[ have to ste.il. Wall Street Jouma/(Apr, ,M), 2003), D , l , 9. Richtel. M. Music services aren't Napster, but the industry cries foul. Neu) York Times {Apr. 17, 2002). 10. ,Salkever, A. Digital music's new battle hymn. Business Week (June 21. 2001). 1 I. Salkc\'er, A. Q6A: F.Ml's digital-music maven. Business Week (June 2 1 , 2001), 12. Wingfield, N. and Matht-ws, A.W. Online music goes mainstream. Wall Street Journal (Nov. 29, 2001), Bl.

G. P R F M PREMKUMAR (prem@iastaie,edu) k the Union Pacific

Professor in Information Systems ar the College of Business, Iowa State Univereicy, Ames, lA.
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