The Worth of a Stream

• In Event: Relations and Troubles of Tools of Valuation – II

Abstract

The music streaming’s premium-based subscription model arose as an alternative to piracy, at a time when the recording industry struggled to valorise digitised music. The compromise price of a monthly fee £ (or €, $) 10 for unlimited access to a global catalogue of music was born to suit two conflicting interests: major labels who wanted to charge as much as possible for music; and consumers, who once tasted free music, had lost their willingness to pay. Despite the growth of the streaming music economy, there are continuing concerns that the streaming model devalues the music.

The current controversy around music value demonstrates the tension between the dematerialisation and the current mode of music commodification on the streaming platforms, triggering contestations of how music value is determined in the market and what makes music valuable. In times of quotidian ubiquity of music listening (Kassabian, 2013), what is the worth of a stream?

Music valuation has so far followed ‘uniform pricing’ determined by the powerful market players and recording has been the primal form of music consumption for decades (Marshall, 2019) The neoclassical economy treats markets as concrete places where prices adjust to arrive at a competitive equilibrium between supply and demand (Milgrom and Roberts, 1992) and scarcely considers the changing dynamics. This article examines the current mode of calculative music commodification on the streaming platforms embedded in the economic markets (Callon, 1998; Callon and Muniesa, 2005). It explores the value judgment process that is complex and filled with power-laden political struggles (Fligstein, 1996) and uncovers the missing values in the process.

Author

• Hyojung Sun, Ulster University