A Multi-Level Perspective Analysis of the Change in Music Consumption 1989-2014
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A multi-level perspective analysis of the change in music consumption 1989-2014 by Richard Samuels Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Geography and Planning Cardiff University 2018 i Abstract This thesis seeks to examine the historical socio-technical transitions in the music industry through the 1990s and 2000s which fundamentally altered the way in which music is consumed along with the environmental resource impact of such transitions. Specifically, the investigation seeks to establish a historical narrative of events that are significant to the story of this transition through the use of the multi-level perspective on socio-technical transitions as a framework. This thesis adopts a multi-level perspective for socio-technical transitions approach to analyse this historical narrative seeking to identify key events and actors that influenced the transition as well as enhance the methodological implementation of the multi-level perspective. Additionally, this thesis utilised the Material Intensity Per Service unit methodology to derive several illustrative scenarios of music consumption and their associated resource usage to establish whether the socio-technical transitions experienced by the music industry can be said to be dematerialising socio-technical transitions. This thesis provides a number of original empirical and theoretical contributions to knowledge. This is achieved by presenting a multi-level perspective analysis of a historical narrative established using over 1000 primary sources. The research identifies, examines and discusses key events, actors and transition pathways denote the complex nature of dematerialising socio-technical systems as well as highlights specifically the influence different actors and actor groups can have on the pathways that transitions take. The thesis also provides a broader contribution to the understanding of dematerialisation and technology convergence. ii Declaration and statements This work has not been submitted in substance for any other degree or award at this or any other university or place of learning, nor is being submitted concurrently in candidature for any degree or other award. Signed ………………………………………………………Date 20/09/2018 STATEMENT 1 This thesis is being submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of PhD. Signed ………………………………………….…………. Date 20/09/2018 STATEMENT 2 This thesis is the result of my own independent work/investigation, except where otherwise stated, and the thesis has not been edited by a third party beyond what is permitted by Cardiff University’s Policy on the Use of Third Party Editors by Research Degree Students. Other sources are acknowledged by explicit references. The views expressed are my own. Signed ……………………………………….……….…… Date 20/09/2018 STATEMENT 3 I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available online in the University’s Open Access repository and for inter-library loan, and for the title and summary to be made available to outside organisations. Signed ……………………………………………..…..….. Date 20/09/2018 STATEMENT 4: PREVIOUSLY APPROVED BAR ON ACCESS I hereby give consent for my thesis, if accepted, to be available online in the University’s Open Access repository and for inter-library loans after expiry of a bar on access previously approved by the Academic Standards & Quality Committee. Signed ……………………………………………..……… Date 20/09/2018 iii Acknowledgements This thesis was facilitated by a studentship from the ESRC. I thank them for their financial assistance. Crucial to the realisation of my research were my supervisors Andrew Flynn and Richard Cowell. I’m thankful for their guidance and encouragement throughout the entire PhD process. I could always count on them to steer me right and make me laugh. I would also like to thank individuals from the wider school community; Peter Feindt who was critical in my applying; Craig Gurney to whom I could always complain; and, Bella who helped make the whole thing bearable. Most importantly I would like to thank my family. My Mother who was always so supportive and encouraging but is sadly no longer here. Chloë, without her love and friendship the whole thing could never have happened. My children Ehno, Ari and Ottie, without you I could have completed the whole thing in half the time. The rest of my family who feigned interest but supported me all the same. And to the thesis itself I want you to know I hate you, you were an exercise in sustained suffering. iv List of Figures Figure 1: MIPS calculation in seven steps (adapted from Ritthoff et al. 2002:16) ............................... 41 Figure 2: Process flow chart for physical sound carrier (CD) ................................................................ 55 Figure 3 Music media transition from 1976 to 2010 ............................................................................ 61 Figure 4: Scott's (1999) schematic overview of specialised activities in the recorded music industry.66 Figure 5: Music networks (Leyshon 2001). ........................................................................................... 67 Figure 6: Production and Consumption systems of popular music (Burnett and Weber 1989) .......... 69 Figure 7: The total bar shows the Metric Tonnes of CO2 produced hypothetically if all albums were CDs. The green portion shows the reduction in CO2 because of the format transition (data calculated from (IFPI 2013) and (Türk et al. 2003)). ............................................................................................... 79 Figure 8: The total bar shows the gigajoules of energy produced hypothetically if all albums were CDs. The green portion shows the reduction in gigajoules as a result of the format transition (data calculated from (IFPI 2013) and (Türk et al. 2003)) .............................................................................. 79 Figure 9: The MCA DiscoVision PR-7820 was the first mass produced laserdisc player. ..................... 84 Figure 10: U.S. Retail Sales of Pre-recorded Music on Tape by Format (millions of dollars) (Liebowitz 2004) ..................................................................................................................................................... 85 Figure 11: Sony CDP-101 the first commercially available CD player in Japan. .................................... 86 Figure 12: Long Player, Micro Cassette, CompactDisc Digital Audio sales between 1973 and 1990 ... 89 Figure 13: CD long boxes were transitional aids, 12 inches tall by 6 inches wide they fitted into existing storage and display solutions. ................................................................................................. 90 Figure 14: Ugly Mugs promotional photo with Jeff Patterson co-founder of IUMA on the right ...... 101 Figure 15: Video still of XingSound Player playing an MP2 file ........................................................... 102 Figure 16: The original email sent confirming that layer 3 was being renamed .mp3 ....................... 108 Figure 17 Winamp 0.92's interface ..................................................................................................... 114 Figure 18: The alien inspired Sonique interface ................................................................................. 116 Figure 19: Saehan's mpman with 6 song capacity (Achat Meuble n.d.) ............................................. 128 Figure 20: i2go's e-go MP3 player could adapt to increased storage capacities as they were developed. .......................................................................................................................................... 137 Figure 21: Toshiba's Mobilphile MP3 player with swappable hard drives and iPod-esque styling .... 141 Figure 22: The hollywoodandvine.com landing page for the Duran single promotion ...................... 147 Figure 23: iTunes song sales between launch and the first one hundred million songs sold (Karp 2014). .................................................................................................................................................. 155 Figure 24: Apple's total iTunes Store sales figures ............................................................................. 159 Figure 25: Material Intensity per Listening Session for hardware only .............................................. 183 Figure 26: Bar chart showing the difference between the total MIPLS of the different consumption scenarios per session considering multi-functionality of devices ...................................................... 184 Figure 27: Material intensity per listening session of sound carrier only ........................................... 187 Figure 28: Bar chart showing the difference between the total MIPLS of the different consumption scenarios and the elements that contribute to their total abiotic + biotic material intensity ........... 188 v List of Tables Table 1: Summary overview of the three highest contributors to total material intensity (Turk et al., 2003) ..................................................................................................................................................... 77 Table 2: Total (approximate) Metric Tonnes of CO2 and Gigajoules of energy reductions caused by album format transition (data calculated from (IFPI 2013) and (Türk et al. 2003)) ............................. 78 Table 3: Metric Tonnes of CO2 and Gigajoules of energy reduction compared to all album sales as CD format to account for