8381 - MEDIA INDUSTRIES DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMS

Content industries are undergoing structural changes driven by technological innovations as well as customer  behavior. Three major effects are relevant for the purposes of this course:

• convergence of once separate competitive spaces;
• explosion of distribution channels;
• entrepreneurial ferment.

The goals of the course are:

• to discuss the specificity of content industries and the different drivers of competitive advantage for producers and distributors in the mass and niche markets;
• to analyze the issue of convergence and the implications for new and traditional players in content industries;
• to assess the sustainability of emerging business models
• to discuss the possibilities offered by the explosion of distribution channels to content diffusion.

The course is about the evolution of content industries in a converging world, with an emphasis on the role of distribution channels in scouting and promoting new artists as well as established players.

The course is logically divided into four parts:

• Content production and distribution in mass and niche markets;
• Innovation at the borders of competitive spaces: convergence and the emergence of new business models;
• Strategies of incumbents and newcomers;
• Business models in content distribution and diffusion.

Attending students:

• Group assignment on one of the cases in the website (25%)
• Final written exam. This will be an essay based on the readings and cases provided (25%)
• Multimedia group project (25%)
• Class participation (25%)

Non Attending students:

• Final written exam. This will be an essai based on the readings and cases presented in the program (50%)
• Individual written assignment on one of the five companies presented. Each student will have to request one question at least one week prior to the date of the exam and will have to hand in on the day of the exam a max 15 pages document. This part will account 50% of the total grade. The material available on the website http://labedimedia.wordpress.com/ is the basis for the preparation of this part of the exam.

A reading package available for students
Suggested readings include:

• H. L. VOGEL, Entertainment Industry Economics, Cambridge University Press, 2007
• D. Tapscott, A. D. Williams,  Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, Portfolio Penguin, 2006 (selected chapters)
• Petere A. Bruck (Ed.), Understanding the European Content Industries: A Reader on the Economic and Cultural Contexts of Multimedia, Publisher Los Pr Inc , December 2002,  ISBN: 978-1586032906