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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/2451/23783
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| Title: | Does Chatter Matter? The Impact of User-Generated Content on Music Sales |
| Authors: | Dhar, Vasant
Chang, Elaine |
| Issue Date: | 24-Oct-2007 |
| Series/Report no.: | CeDER-07-06 |
| Abstract: | The Internet has enabled the era of user-generated content, potentially
breaking the hegemony of traditional content generators as the primary
sources of “legitimate” information. Prime examples of
user-generated content are blogs and social networking sites, which
allow easy publishing of and access to information. In this study, we
examine the usefulness of such content, consisting of data from blogs
and social networking sites in predicting sales in the music industry.
We track the changes in online chatter for a sample of 108 albums for
four weeks before and after their release dates. We use linear and
nonlinear regression to identify the relative significance of online
variables on their observation date in predicting future album unit
sales two weeks ahead Our findings are as follows: (a) the volume of
blog posts about an album is positively correlated with future sales,
(b) greater increases in an artist’s Myspace friends week over
week have a weaker correlation to higher future sales, (c) traditional
factors are still relevant – albums released by major labels and
albums with a number of reviews from mainstream sources like Rolling
Stone also tended to have higher future sales. More generally, the study
provides some preliminary answers for marketing managers interested in
assessing the relative importance of the burgeoning number of “Web
2.0” information metrics that are becoming available on the
Internet, and how looking at interactions among them could provide
predictive value beyond viewing them in isolation. The study also
provides a framework for thinking about when user-generated content
influences decision making. |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2451/23783 |
| Appears in Collections: | IOMS: Information Systems Working Papers
CeDER Working Papers
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