PhD defence S. (Sigbjørn) Hjelmbrekke

With a few clicks or swipes, people have access to large parts of all music that has ever been recorded. Music streaming services make all this music available at the cost of a fixed monthly fee, or even for free if one can tolerate advertising in between the songs. At the other end of the revenue stream, composers, artists and record companies are paid through a small payment per play. The transition to music subscriptions is a transition from purchasing copies of recordings one will own indefinitely, to renting access to music for a limited time period. This has some very important implications. As revenues are now accrued upon play instead of upon sale, the new model has introduced a lag in income for artists and publishers. New recordings receive less than they used to. The new business model, in combination with the old copyright system, may weaken incentives to create.

I argue that a single subscription service is unlikely to emerge as strongly dominant unless the major rights holders own at least a very considerable share of the service. If a subscription service not owned by the rights holders emerge as dominant, I believe it is in the best interest of rights holders to keep that service’s market share in check, and I believe the rights holders have the means to do that.

The public defence will take place at the Senate Hall, 1st floor Erasmus Building, location campus Woudestein. The ceremony will begin exactly at 13.00 PM. In light of the solemn nature of the ceremony, we recommend that you do not take children under the age of 6 to the first part of the ceremony.