Live Tunes or iTunes? The Monetary Effects of Media Streaming on Classical Music Organizations in the United States

Abstract

Since the introduction of streaming services in the United States in 2011, the music streaming industry has steeply risen in popularity, encouraging worldwide cultural exchange and concurrent expansion of the freelance artist labor market; the wide use of music has served even as an antidote to mental health crises. It is commonly believed that streaming services serve as substitutes for physical performance experiences, and that the medium through which media is delivered is ultimately interchangeable. In response, critics expect virtual concert experiences to soon overtake live performances and lower organizational revenues, discouraging struggling artists from promoting original music on streaming platforms. However, I am led to believe that classical music is unique; there exist visual and acoustic aspects of live classical programs that are difficult to replicate through digital means, and streaming merely performs as a marketing device to increase overall artist revenues through live performances. Informed by the aforementioned belief, this thesis tests the hypothesis that digital streaming of classical music and live performances are not substitutable, but in fact complementary with one other. Employing fixed-effects Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regressions, this thesis evaluates the extent to which online streaming services impact the overarching economic ecosystem of classical music consumption, in hopes of encouraging classical musicians to utilize streaming as one way to financially thrive.