Changing Business Models in the Media Industries

Abstract

Media industries such as film, music, and publishing have traditionally relied on three models of revenue generation: payment by users for ownership of (or for access to) content, advertising fees, and the hybrid of these. For a long time, the models have largely been sustainable, but in recent decades advances in information and communication technologies and changes in consumer behavior have been so revolutionary that they pose unprecedentedly serious challenges to these models; the issue is no longer copyright infringement on its own, but how the industries respond to the changes in the market and find new, sustainable business models. This article discusses several of these new models, including Do-It-Yourself artist, expanded exploitation of copyright, diversification, dual-market model, and digital marketing for third-party marketers via social media and using own sites. Examples from Japan are drawn to illustrate the new developments.