The complementary relationship between concerts and recorded music for top-performing artists

Abstract

Paper 1: Promotional effects of recorded music and superstars on concert financial outcomes

Using a comprehensive data set of hand-collected observations of top touring performing artists, I examine the relationship between recorded music and concert financial outcomes. I find that music streaming derives substantive financial benefit to the top-100 touring artists. Using empirical estimates from a panel model with artist fixed-effects, an artist can derive an incremental $46K to $49K per show when achieving a 20% increase in music streaming. Additionally, using a 2SLS model with artist fixed-effects to account for potential endogenous promotional effects, I identify top performers ("superstars") who derive significant additional concert revenue because of their back-catalog of hit songs. These top performers earn an incremental $15K per show in response to every week they have a song from their catalog in the Billboard Top-20. These findings indicate that artists maintain the ability to use their musical and performance legacy to build lifelong earnings from their music and performance.

Paper 2: The complementary relationship between concerts and recorded music for top-performing artists

This paper examines the complementary effects of live concerts on incremental pre-and-post concert music streams in twenty-nine US cities. The work identifies that performers who have greater concert ticket demand, deeper hit-song catalogs, and/or are in the middle of their career experience stronger trends in their streams before and after their concerts in the markets where they perform. It also identifies that post-concert effects last up to ten weeks after the event. I hand-collected data of concert ticket sales, music streaming, and song rankings from the top sixty global performing artists. I then utilized a panel model empirical approach with artist and market fixed-effects to identify pre-concert promotional and post-concert decaying effects. This work will help top performing artists gain insight into the little-understood influence of live performance on the streaming of their recorded music.

Paper 3: Performing artist response to the Copyright Royalty Board rate increase and the Music Modernization Act

This paper examines the financial impact of the consecutive regulatory events of the Copyright Royalty Board rate increase in January 2018 and the passage of the Music Modernization Act in October 2018 on the release activity by the top 100 artists. This work identifies that the rate increase corresponded with a significant increase in musical track releases for a short eight-month period until the Music Modernization Act became law. Artists who are younger, had composed their music, and/or actively touring were more likely to increase their release activity. The analysis also identifies a handful of artists who have benefited from the new regulations.