Teoria degli Stakeholder: Applicazioni nell'Industria Musicale

The objective of this research was to understand the applications of stakeholder theory in the music industry. After conducting a broad literature review on it, I discovered that the topic had never been covered by any scholars, so I decided to try to fill the literature gap. I conducted elite interviews with six experts from the industry, each one representing major players (artists, producers, recording studios, record labels, and gear manufacturers), with the objective of defining how the industry works and how people working in it think about strategic management and business in general. I also carried out some case studies on the industry players I did not get the chance to interview (streaming platforms, music distributors, major record labels, and concert promoters/venues), with the objective of painting a clearer picture of the industry’s inner characteristics. The results were then analysed in terms of the principles expressed by stakeholder theory. The findings highlight that stakeholder theory is applied broadly along the music industry, with the creative side of its ecosystem showing an almost perfect fit with the literature. To deepen the research question, future research might focus on a greater number of industry players, as well as including consumers in its analysis.