MANAGEMENT & ORGANIZATIONS


A Change of Tune: Te Democratization of Market Mediation and Crossover Production in the U.S.


YUAN SHI ASSISTANT PROFESSOR


Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration


Cornell SC Johnson College of Business Cornell University


Commercial Music Industry Administrative Science Quarterly, 68, 2, June 2023 LINK TO PAPER


Author • Yuan Shi


Assistant Professor, Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration, Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University


Summary In the music industry, production and popularity are determined by two


audiences: consumers, and intermediaries like radio stations. Evidence for these two audiences’ attitudes toward boundary spanning has been mixed, depending on the medium; when feature films and cuisines span genres, both audiences tend to devalue the product. In other industries, intermediaries may act as gatekeepers and sanction boundary violations for general consumers. Te influence of intermediaries on audiences and music producers is the focus of study here. Shi proposes that genre-spanning is primarily constrained by the intermediaries, and not by consumers.


To explore this, Shi observed a natural experiment that shifted the hitmaking power of genre-specific radio stations to general consumers and thus partially democratized the market mediation structure of the U.S. commercial music industry. Te results indicate that after democratization occurred in 2012, record labels were more likely to introduce crossover offerings integrating fea- tures from other popular genres. Tis study highlights democratizing changes that dilute intermediaries’ influence as a novel explanation of why constraints on producers’ boundary decisions have weakened in some markets. Te find- ings suggest that intermediaries’ and consumers’ expectations may diverge, acting as conflicting forces that organizations must carefully manage. Many organizations closely monitor intermediaries that are deemed influential, but their influence should not be taken for granted as marketplaces empower consumers and become more democratized.


TO IMPACT CONTENTS


RESEARCH WITH IMPACT: CORNELL SC JOHNSON COLLEGE OF BUSINESS • 2023 EDITION


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