ARTICLE

https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-024-02657-7 OPEN

Do artists perceive blockchain as a new revenue

opportunity? A social representation study of the
Korean music industry
Yujun Park1 & Seongcheol Kim 1✉
1234567890():,;

Although blockchain has often been perceived as a game-changer that can revolutionize the
music industry, it also retains possible challenges regarding the practicality of such innovative
adoption. This study seeks to construe the realistic thoughts raised by artists regarding the
new revenue opportunities arising from the adoption of blockchain in the Korean music
industry. This involves the disintermediation of the obsolete music royalty distribution system
and a new revenue channel from the Non-fungible Token market. Based on social repre-
sentation theory and interviews with Korean artists, this study found ambivalent perceptions
towards the adoption of blockchain in the music industry - hoping for new possibilities while
also perceiving the impracticality of such innovation. Indeed, it may be too good to be true for
artists who have observed the local domain with little change regardless of their continuous
cries for help. After thorough discussion, the study provides key implications to induce sound
settlement of an innovative technology.

1 School of Media & Communication, Korea University, Seoul, South Korea. ✉email: hiddentrees@korea.ac.kr

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E
Introduction
xemplified by Apple’s iPod and Spotify, the digitization of the digital music industry in Korea was the vertical integration
music in the early 2000s was deemed a new paradigm shift enforced by telecommunication conglomerates. While Bugs
which presented a transitional phase from physical stores to Music, launched in 2000, represents the first local platform to
digital services (Faria, 2011; Riemer and Johnston, 2019). For provide digital music and opened the era of digital industry, it
consumers, music became much more accessible and portable by was telecommunication conglomerates that accelerated the mar-
downloading thousands of music from a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) ket growth by entering the blue ocean in the digital music
website and listening on a MP3 player. For record labels, what industry (Kim, 2018). As the market saturation emerged in the
used to be a physical transportation to channel an overseas dis- original industry, the conglomerates strategically performed a
tribution was capacitated by the introduction of an online mar- media convergence with network services by collecting music and
ketplace, reaching the global audience at once. Accordingly, labels movie to enhance competitiveness in customer value and expand
also encountered a major shift in revenue models from CDs to value chain as well (Kim, 2009). Since 2004, local conglomerates
digital downloads and streaming. —SKT, KT, and LG Telecom—not only launched MelOn, Genie
Meanwhile, the distribution of royalty shares for consuming Music, and Music On as a subsidiary music service but also
digital music has been opaque and unbalanced between two established their own distribution channel, leading to an expedite
major stakeholders; the music artists and business actors (Hur digital market growth. Although LG Telecom withdrew from the
2017; Lee et al., 2020; Moreau, 2013). In South Korea (hereafter, battlefield in 2012, it is worth noting that the digital music
Korea), the business actors garner 83.25% of the total revenue industry was inevitably victimized by the fierce competition
through digital streaming while the producers and performers are among telecommunication conglomerates.
assigned <10% for the reward of music creation (KOMCA, 2018). The growth of the Korean digital music industry was
Such a phenomenon has been viewed and criticized as the significantly influenced by the telecommunication conglomerates'
sacrifice of artists’ rights and financial income over the dom- vertical integration which sought betterment in competitiveness
inance of business actors persisting over the local domain for and expansion of value chain. This is different from the historical
years (Chae, 2021). Consequently, discussion to attain a fair or chronicle of western music industry where the market transition
just distribution system of digital music has been an unsolved was induced by parent-free, independent firms such as Napster or
controversy and overlooked mission in Korea as well as around Spotify, with a primary purpose of promoting digital music itself
the globe. rather than seeking an extended pipeline and prioritizing market
While artists have been suffering from the current system for performance. Participation by local conglomerates may have
decades, scholars and practitioners have been paying attention to accelerated the development of digital music industry, however, it
blockchain technology which can bring the next revolution in the also endangered the balance between the economy and culture in
music industry via disintermediation and NFT (Baym et al., 2019; the local music ecosystem, interfering with the freedom and
Olsson, 2022; Taghdiri, 2019). It demonstrates a silver lining to creativity of music, and dominating the larger fraction of music
either reconstruct the share allocation between business actors copyright royalties with their power over the distribution system
and artists or diminish the responsible roles of the former on the Internet platforms (Han, 2011; Kim, 2018).
occupants, overcoming the decade-old problem of unfair dis-
tribution (Taghdiri, 2019). Furthermore, the Non-fungible token
(NFT) also presents a new possibility arising in the music Critical values of music streaming services. Accordingly, the
industry. Assuring ownership and rarity of digital products, influence of music streaming services on artists eventually grew
blockchain convinces consumers to buy NFTs, allowing artists to due to the increasing dependency on the critical values the
seek a new revenue channel by utilizing their intellectual prop- platforms provide - the user pool and brand value. First, when
erties (Chang, 2022). releasing albums, artists utilize music streaming services as their
Although there is a logical understanding that the adoption of first window to reach large user pool and earn royalty income via
blockchain defines the next era of the music industry, experts also streaming (Aguiar and Waldfogel, 2021). Furthermore, based on
criticize such technology is a utopian and radical panacea (Baym the utilization of user data and recommendation algorithms,
et al., 2019). Previous scholars have raised concerns over indus- personalized playlist services provided by platforms let users
tries’ readiness to accept blockchain, possible resistance by discover new songs which provides a vital opportunity for
incumbents, and mechanical issues of technology to provide undiscovered artists to gain exposure and promote their music to
transparency of data (Baym et al., 2019; Taghdiri, 2019; Tam, a large audience (Meier and Manzerolle; 2018; Prey et al., 2020).
2019). Despite the ambivalent potential, there exists lack of Moreover, the brand value of music streaming services has
research revealing how the different stakeholders within the evolved to represent the national or global music charts and
domain realistically perceive new possibilities through block- induced multiple partnerships with entertainment firms and
chain. Hence, there is a necessity to unveil the empirical views on music labels, signifying the significance of their existence in
such utopian scenarios. In response, this paper seeks to construe today’s music industry (Aguiar and Waldfogel, 2021). As the era
the introduction of blockchain technology in the local music of digital music has been introduced, these critical values within
industry in terms of artists’ identities, perceptions, and under- the current platform service providers have been prevailing in the
standings of new revenue opportunities this innovative disruption local music domain since the early years of vertical integration
may propagate to the ecosystem. Based on social representation undergone by the telecommunication conglomerates (Kim, 2018;
theory, the authors performed omnidirectional interviews with Kim and Choe, 2014).
Korean artists. The paper intends to build an academic milestone In a nutshell, Korean artists have been witnessing the
for developing the sustainable adoption of blockchain technology settlement of the digital music industry contributed by business
in the music industry. actors, prioritizing their revenue over the protection of music
copyright. However, regardless of realizing the dominance of
business actors, artists had little chance to escape from the current
Literature review system due to the critical values established by platform service
Development of the digital music industry by tele- providers. Essentially, artists in the local music industry have an
communication conglomerates. The core engine of developing inevitable dependency on platforms to continue their music

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Table 1 The distribution ratio of the streaming income and FKMP earn 0.945% share and 0.6875% share, respectively. In
among stakeholders. a nutshell, artists are the vital contributors of music creation but
paradoxically sacrifice a significant amount of income to business
actors.
Stakeholders Ratio of music royalty distribution
There is a clear bipolarity among the share percentages
Production firms 38.6% between business actors and artists. The contribution of original
Music streaming service provider 35% music is not appreciated, with artists receiving <10% of the total
Distributor 9.65%
streaming income. Instead, the roles of music streaming service
Producer 9.56%
Performer 5.56%
providers and production firms account for more than one-third
KOMCA 0.95% of the total income for both stakeholders. In fact, there has been
FKMP 0.69% consistent controversy regarding the transparency and fairness of
royalty distribution of digital music since the emergence of a new
Note: The authors revisited the distribution ratio proposed by KOMCA and developed this table. business model in the digital music industry (Lee et al., 2020).
Table 1 depicts the distribution ratio of the streaming incomes
careers regardless of the unfair royalty distribution system by among music streaming service providers, production firms,
music streaming services. distributors, producers, performers, KOMCA, and FKMP
(KOMCA, 2018).

Royalty distribution among stakeholders. The distribution of

Governmental revisions of royalty distribution system.
royalty income yielded by online streaming is unjust and dis-
Throughout history, the governmental effort to amend the royalty
proportionate, with the majority being focused on business actors
share system since 2003 was primarily focused on the develop-
(Chae, 2021; Hur, 2017). There are primarily three stakeholders
ment of the industry and generosity to business actors. During the
when determining the share and distribution of streaming
digitization of the music industry, the artists were exposed of a
income. These three stakeholders include business actors, music
steep fall of unit price per track as the music consumption shifted
artists, and institutes that protect the copyright (KOMCA, 2018).
to digital format, from 12,500 won (USD $9.71) per physical
Business actors primarily refer to the music streaming service
album to 7 won (USD $0.0049) per streaming (Baek, 2016).
providers, entertainment firms, and distributors. Music artists
Despite prolonged hardship by artists, term revisions over decades
refer to producers and performers who originally create music or
less appreciated an ethical perspective to restore artists’ financial
partially participate in the production process. Producers—
income and pursue a sustainable environment by balancing roy-
referring to composers, lyricists, and arrangers—are entitled to
alty distribution ratio among stakeholders (Chae, 2021). Instead,
own the copyright of music as an original creator whereas per-
music artists were a passive passenger during the development
formers—referring to vocalists or sessionists—are entitled to own
phase of the digital market (Lee et al., 2020).
the neighboring copyright. Both rights allow artists to claim
According to the recent consecutive revisions, the government
moral rights and property rights to music where moral rights
passed the law to increase 5% royalty income to copyright holders
attribute authors of their work, protect their reputation, and
in 2019. However, its purpose only affected increase of proportions
prevent infringement. The property rights allow utilization of the
for distributors and production firms, who also own neighboring
copyrighted content to pursue economic profit, composed of
copyrights, by 1% and 4% respectively (MCST, 2018). Although
rights of reproduction, performance, public transmission, deri-
additional revisions were performed until 2021, it merely increased
vative work, and many more. Despite the similarities between two
distribution proportions of producers and performers by roughly
concepts of copyright, the neighboring copyright has less inclu-
0.70% and 0.76% respectively (MCST, 2021). The last revision in
sive terms for moral and property rights. Additionally, business
2023 allowed an exemption of in-app purchase policy enacted by
actors who assisted in production or broadcast of music are also
Google to protect the music streaming service providers and
entitled to own neighboring copyright without the moral rights,
stabilize the local industry (KOSCAP, 2023). In a nutshell, with or
giving them a chance to claim portion of streaming royalty share
without intent, the recent governmental revisions have increased
as well. Institutes refer to an official collective rights management
proportion rate of business actors with neighboring copyrights total
organization which protects the copyright of artists such as the
of 5% while the that of music artists increased by <1.5%.
Korea Music Copyright Association (KOMCA), and the Federa-
Furthermore, the Korean government approved bypass of 30%
tion of Korean Music Performers (FKMP), established in 1964
commission fee for all in-app purchases to Google for music
and 1988 respectively.
streaming service providers to maintain a sustainable marketplace
According to the royalty distribution system of a music
in terms of management. Hence, it can be inferred that recent
streaming service proposed by the KOMCA, given that one
revisions prosecuted by the government has been more in favor of
streaming of music accounts for 7 won (USD $0.0049), the artists
business actors, overlooking the internal illness led by the unbalance
(copyright holder and neighboring copyright holder) have the
of royalty distribution between business actors and music artists.
right to own 9.555% and 5.5625% share of total streaming income
respectively—<0.7 won per streaming (USD $0.00049) (KOMCA,
2018). Unfortunately, the ownership of copyright and neighbor- Adoption of blockchain in the music industry. Despite an
ing copyright earned by the music creation is not the best unfruitful path of regulatory actions to achieve fairness in royalty
attribute to appeal for a bigger sum of the distribution rate. In distribution, experts paid attention to blockchain for its potential
fact, the production firms, referring to entertainment firms in the to reshape the system. First introduced by Satoshi Nakamoto in
Korean context, hold a 38.6% share of the total income, and the 2008, Blockchain asserted values of transparency, security, and
music streaming service providers hold a 35% share, followed by a immutability of data (Nakamoto, 2008). Blocks refer to the saving
9.65% share owned by the distributor. Essentially, producers and unit of user data, and the connection of blocks through the chains
performers, who are vital contributors to music creation, sacrifice of all participants not only allows for the openness of information
a significant amount of income to business actors. Copyrights and but also the impossibility of data modification without the con-
neighboring copyrights of artists are not protected nor appre- sent of associated stakeholders (Koh, 2018). It is a digital record-
ciated by the current royalty distribution system. Lastly, KOMCA keeping system that removes the need for third-party

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intermediaries who traditionally facilitate a range of essential by 60% in 6 months (Guo et al., 2023; Vandergast, 2022). Despite
transactions (Crosby et al., 2016). The essence of blockchain is the rush dynamics of rise and fall of the NFT market, this
that it decentralizes the management of transactions and uses research still holds validity due to its fundamental purpose to
cryptography to enable the distributed verification of information investigate the artists’ realistic views towards seeking new
(Swan, 2015). It allows smart contracts among users, including opportunities via blockchain.
the security and transparency of data and is expected to increase There is one key requirement that needs to be met for artists to
the efficiency of the current right management system by cutting expect a meaningful outcome in the NFT market: fandom. The
out the intermediaries (Leja et al., 2017). Therefore, the adoption NFT market is primarily based on the participation of a large
of blockchain has been visible in multiple industries, including fandom because they need herd of consumers who wants to buy
finance, healthcare, and music. Specifically, there are two revenue their favorite artists’ products and desire ownership of digital IPs
opportunities utilizing the core values of blockchain; disin- (Olsson, 2022). Famous artists can deliver NFT content and
termediation of the music royalty distribution system and a new induce higher participation by fans, creating an interconnected-
revenue channel via NFT. ness between themselves and their fans, leading to consistent
interaction within the community and an increase in revenue.
Disintermediation of royalty distribution. While the music Therefore, the mechanism of the value chain may not include all
industry has been facing endemic inequality of the royalty dis- artists in the music industry because only a few top-tier artists
tribution system, the introduction of blockchain has brought enjoy a fandom community while the remaining artists lack such
attention by practitioners due to its latent capability (Tapscott values. It may be logically true for artists to seek new possibilities
and Tapscott, 2018). The adoption of blockchain technology has in creating their own NFT content and a new revenue model,
been regarded as the answer to realize disintermediation of the despite the fact that most artists wish to have fans who would
distribution system via a direct trade of music between artists and want their digital products.
consumers. Correspondingly, local and global start-ups have been
endeavoring to diffuse new type of streaming service and music
management via blockchain, such as Beat Someone, K-tune, Gala Theoretical framework. To understand the artists’ perspective
Music, and Audius. towards the possibilities from disintermediation and the NFT
Blockchain may be a groundbreaking technology in the future market, this paper utilized the social representation theory (SRT)
where the core nature of technology may be a noxious existence as a research framework. First proposed by Émile Durkheim in
to business actors in the music industry. Regardless of 1886, the theory was rescued by Serge Moscovici as his doctoral
governmental efforts to normalize the royalty distribution system, dissertation in 1961 (Moscovici, 1961). The main point of the
multiple revisions of the system have not yet justified nor restored theory is to investigate the common knowledge shared by similar
the righteous amount of proportion to music artists (Hur, 2017; individuals within a community (Moscovici, 1984). Durkheim
Kim, 2018). While artists are still trapped in the current system emphasized collective consciousness which minimizes individual
and unilateral contracts by music streaming service providers, the differences and creates a sense of unity, known as collective
disintermediation signifies an escape from the obsolete system representation. Moscovici extracted the idea of collective knowl-
and diminishment of the intermediary value chains of music edge to conceptualize social representation, meaning there is a
between artists and consumers (Lee et al., 2020). In other words, shared understanding of concepts among individuals who
the elimination of sharing commission fees to firms related to encounter a similar experience in reality and share a psycholo-
production, distribution, and music streaming service providers gical commonality, representing a socially commonsense form of
may significantly enhance share proportions to the original IP knowledge (Moscovici, 1984; Augoustinos et al., 2006). Knowl-
holders, meaning music artists (Baym et al., 2019). The edge by a group of members is not a reflection of reality but
distribution system can be either simplified by skipping the rather the outcome of a reconstructed reality built via continuous
intermediary process or developing an independent smart interaction and communication among members within similar
contract between artists and consumers, performing a direct societal and historical environments. Therefore, the theory has
interaction through blockchain-based music platforms (Chalmers been widely accepted by scholars as a lens to investigate a com-
et al., 2021; Lee, 2022; Taghdiri, 2019). In short, blockchain may munity’s thoughts and attitudes toward a new phenomenon or
enable a reconstruction of the current music distribution system. objects related to emerging technologies (Choi et al., 2019; Joia
and Vieira, 2021; Jung and Pawlowski, 2014; Na et al., 2023).
A new revenue model in the NFT market. The NFT market may For instance, previous scholars have explored the common
also develop a new possibility for those who are capable of understanding of innovative financial technology called fintech
creating original content. NFT, a non-fungible token, is a digital (Choi et al., 2019). As much as it brings convenience and diverse
asset stored in a blockchain and contains a cryptographic iden- services to customers in financial businesses, it also follows the
tification that makes every unit original. It can be any kind of art complex understanding among different players in the industry.
form such as a piece of digital photos, videos, and music. The study crawled online news articles published in Korea
Therefore, artists or production firms that own intellectual containing arguments expressed by major stakeholders such as
property (IP) can earn profits by selling their commodified IPs in financial authorities or Information Technology (IT) companies
the NFT market. In other words, the IP holders are able to open a and conducted a content analysis with a core-periphery approach
new revenue channel through the utilization of their IP-based to social representations. Also, as the consumption of virtual
content. As the identification of digital content authenticity has goods in cyberspace has become an essential functionality and
become possible, the rarity and ownership of digital content activity of users, the other study investigated the fundamental
released by one’s favorite artists have increased the value of the understanding of consumer behavior in the social virtual world
content (Jung, 2022; Olsson, 2022). with the SRT (Jung and Pawlowski, 2014).
Unfortunately, the global trend to sell NFT as a new form of Similar to how practitioners have been accepting SRT to
music commodity has been facing downturn along with the comprehend emerging technology or social phenomenon,
speculations of NFT bubbles (Hawkins, 2023). Correlated with perceptions about blockchain by professionals were also explored
cryptocurrency, the price volatility is evident where the NFT sales through the SRT. According to Joia and Vieira (2021), security,
peaked up to $12.6 billion in January 2022 and suddenly dropped bitcoin, and decentralization were perceived as the core values

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while innovation, data, network, cryptocurrency, and technology The authors first defined the targeted group of artists who were to
remained as peripheral terms. Furthermore, bitcoin and dis- be interviewed in order to obtain first-hand data and consistency
sonance were found among the professionals’ perceptions of among the samples. In other words, the interview data needed to
blockchain. Lastly, the research also realized that experts were not represent the majority of the artist population, and the group of
aware of the potential the technology could have if adopted in interviewees needed to be in similar situations such as sharing or
their country, nor the role of the government in such realization having shared a similar environment and thoughts. The National
(Joia and Vieira, 2021). Accordingly, this study conducted a Tax Service’s report shows the top 1% tier of music artists
content analysis with a foundation of SRT and a core-periphery accounts for 53% of the total income of all artists (Cha, 2020). As
approach to understand the collective thoughts of music artists such, it may be reasonable to presume that only a few artists are
with graphical visualization towards the adoption of blockchain destined to become a celebrity and earn prosperity, whereas most
in the music industry. This study also conducted semi-structured producers and performers manage to make a living with extra-
interviews with artists in the local domain to collect data. curricular earnings, such as lessons, sales or other music-
irrelevant jobs. Therefore, we deliberately recruited interviewees
who currently have part-time jobs as a supplementary income to
Previous research on blockchain in the music industry. Uti-
make a living, regardless of one’s original identity as music artists.
lizing the SRT framework, this paper focused on discovering the
The recruitment of participants was conducted through a
realistic views on possible outcomes the blockchain can bring to
multi-method, utilizing the personal network of the author as well
music artists while previous research was constrained to eluci-
as posting an official announcement on a local online community,
dating expected scenarios within an explorative discourse. Chal-
Mule, with its primary users being musicians who seek contract
mers et al. (2021) conducted case studies on ventures which base
employment or second-hand trades of instruments. With consent
their business model on blockchains to elucidate the disin-
by every interviewee, the interview was voice-recorded through-
termediation of the global music industry. Sitonio and Nucciarelli
out the whole process to maintain legality and the private
(2018) have explored the possible outcomes in the music industry
information of interviewees was kept strictly confidential to
if blockchain were to be adopted based on the literature review
preserve anonymity. Consequently, a total of 16 interviewees with
and secondary data. Baym et al. (2019) provided an in-depth
a diverse range of expertise and years in the profession were
debate of both positive views and potential challenges of the
recruited for data collection. Majority of artists were independent
techno-utopian solution where the blockchain may introduce
singer-songwriter while there also existed composers who
fairness and transparency to music attribution but also ques-
specifically produce instrumental music for K-pop. Years of
tioned the readiness of society to absorb such technology.
profession were calculated by the years accumulated from the
Taghdiri (2019) anticipated resistance from current incumbents
year the artist registered to KOMCA or FKMP. Table 2 illustrates
from major business actors such as labels and publishers.
a brief description of each interviewee’s profession in music and
Meanwhile, Tam (2019) raised the question of the causal rela-
their years of profession.
tionship between the direct trade between right holders and
Semi-structured interviews were conducted to encourage
consumers and the increase in income, as well as the mechanical
interviewees with a moderate stimulus of thought development
issues during the verification of data regarding information
related to two specific revenue opportunities via blockchain
transparency. Regarding the NFT, there have been concerns
adoption in the music industry: disintermediation of the royalty
raised regarding the verification of originality of digital art and
distribution system and a new opportunity from the NFT market.
lack of standardized system to detact counterfeits (Jung, 2022).
While there is various research that can be used to understand
blockchain in the context of the music industry, the majority of
Content analysis. After the data collection was completed, one of
findings are confined to predictions of possible scenarios
the researchers first developed a detailed coding of the transcribed
pertaining to the double-sided coin of disruptive technology.
interviews. Deciding on codes for each sample was not pre-
This brings importance to filling in the academic gap by
determined but was rather an open coding process, meaning the
embracing real-life knowledge from major stakeholders in the
procedure to define and determine the codes for each sample
music industry regarding the future. Hence, this study focuses on
emerged from the continuous debate between coders through
discovering how the major stakeholder within the music industry
overall data. Throughout multiple discussions, a total of 13 codes
realistically perceive new possibilities derived from the introduc-
were agreed upon between both coders and were identified to
tion of blockchain. Specifically, the authors chose to understand
represent the derived thoughts of the artists. The inter-rater
two new revenue opportunities through the lens of Korean artists
reliability test - the degree of consensus between coders - showed
who have been suffering from the outdated and unfair royalty
92.2%, implying a high level of agreement during the coding
distribution system and also are the foremost beneficiary when
process. Table 3 depicts the expected 13 topics which represent
the adoption of blockchain is actualized. This research will also
each code and includes empirical examples achieved from the
observe the experiential views on the realization of the next era of
interviewees.
disruptive innovation through the lens of their understandings,
perceptions, and identities. Therefore, the research questions of
the paper are presented as follows:
Core-periphery analysis and visualization of social repre-
RQ1: How do artists perceive the reconstruction of the royalty
sentation. A core-periphery analysis was conducted and a
distribution system via blockchain technology?
visualization of social representations with maximum tree design
RQ2: How do artists perceive the new revenue channel through
was developed. The core-periphery model was first proposed by
the entrance to the NFT market?
Borgatti and Everett to identify the structure within the network
(Borgatti and Everett, 2000). Borgatti and Everett (2000) have
Methodology developed a statistical software UCINET to unveil a relative
Data collection. This study utilizes social representation theory coreness among elements through algorithmic calculations,
(SRT) combined with a core-periphery analysis to explore and dividing them into either core or periphery, within data networks
visualize the network of music artists’ perspectives on new pos- and indicating associations among themselves with the pre-
sibilities derived by adopting blockchain in the music industry. sentation of latent centers.

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Table 2 Descriptive information of interviewees.

Interviewee Class Profession Years of profession

1 Performer Singer 8
2 Producer & performer Composer & sessionist 10
3 Producer Composer 5
4 Producer & performer Singer-songwriter 6
5 Producer & performer Singer-songwriter 5
6 Producer & performer Singer-songwriter 4
7 Producer & performer Singer-songwriter 4
8 Producer & performer Singer-songwriter 4
9 Producer & performer Composer & sessionist 10
10 Producer & performer Composer & sessionist 16
11 Performer Singer 8
12 Producer & performer Singer-songwriter 3
13 Producer & performer Singer-songwriter 12
14 Producer Composer 9
15 Producer Composer 6
16 Performer Singer 4

Table 3 Topics in the social representation of blockchain adoption in the music industry.

Code Topics Examples

T1 Opportunity “Adoption of blockchain is perceived as an opportunity for artists.”
T2 Solution for the current royalty distribution “Blockchain may provide minimization of intermediary actors.”
system “Blockchain may provide direct interaction between users and artists.”
“Blockchain may provide transparency of the distribution system.”
T3 Infeasibility of disintermediation “I believe disintermediation of the current distribution system is realistically not possible
regardless of blockchain adoption.”
T4 Expected benefits “Stability of music creation may be possible through blockchain.”
“Increase of income is expected through disintermediation and the NFT market.”
“Promotional effect via the NFT market may be helpful as an undiscovered artist.”
T5 Little expectations towards new “Disintermediation will not lead to a significant increase in income.”
possibilities “Entrance to the NFT market will only be helpful for celebrities because it is a fandom-based
market.”
T6 Values of current platforms “Artists cannot simply surrender brand values of the current platforms to transfer to the
blockchain-based platforms and gain disintermediation.”
“User pool and promotional effect by current platforms are significant for the artists.”
T7 Values for users “Blockchain-based music services must be able to provide competitive values for all users,
including consumers and artists, to compete with the prominent platforms.”
T8 Protection of copyright “Adoption of blockchain should lead to protection of artists’ copyright, transparency of income
distribution, and values of music to provide stability of music creation.”
T9 Unawareness & indifference “Most of the artists, including the public, are not familiar with what exactly the blockchain is and
how it can provide new opportunities in the music industry.”
“The public is not that interested in understanding the issues regarding the royalty distribution in
the music industry.”
T10 Movement by players “Influential players such as music streaming service providers, government, institutes, or famous
celebrities should show a first-mover movement and make it into a market trend to really change
the music industry.”
T11 Prematurity of industry “Despite the technological possibility through blockchain, the local industry is not ready
realistically regarding a small user pool or under-developed infrastructure of blockchain-based
platforms.”
T12 Ingrained sufferings “The production cost and efforts the artists go through is hardly paid back by income” “The current
royalty distribution system is unjust and lets down artists to continue music creation.”
T13 Intensification of polarization “New possibilities the blockchain can bring to the music industry will intensify polarity between
ordinary artists and celebrities.”

The authors furthered exploration by visualizing the networks (Degenne and Verg’es, 1973; Jung et al., 2009). The co-occurrence
of core and peripheral elements via mapping the associations matrix, indicated by a Jaccard’s similarity coefficient, was then
among the 13 topics. An analysis of similarity was conducted to translated into the inter-attribute similarity (IAS) matrix to
quantitatively identify relationships among the elements. This conduct a maximum tree visualization of social representation
analysis approaches computation of the co-occurrence of textual (Hammond, 1993). A maximum tree is constructed by connect-
data which reveals relationships between topics with similar ing the highest salience value of associations between topics, and
semantics (Degenne and Verg’es, 1973). By locating the frequency continuing the process by selecting the next highest salience value
of co-occurrence among similar elements, a maximum tree design until all topics are connected, forming one network of social
was constructed to visually elucidate the social representation representation. The coefficients for all connections in terms of an

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inter-attribute similarity (IAS) matrix can be found in shared files the reality. In this section, the authors interpret two contradictory
explained at Data Availability at the end of the article. understandings with a comprehensive discussion throughout the
journey of the social representation map.
Results
The result of the content analysis indicated 13 topics that illus-
trate social representations of Korean artists regarding the new Perceived expectations of new opportunities through block-
possibilities in the music industry through blockchain. Table 4 chain. There are several positive recognitions towards the adop-
explicates a quantified coreness for each topic. Top three topics tion of blockchain in the music industry. A similarity between
were classified as cores (concentration = 0.977) and the remain- core attributes, Opportunities (T1) and Expected benefits (T4),
ing eleven as periphery. The core topics are Opportunity (T1), elucidates a solid belief in seeking new hope through this inno-
Infeasibility of disintermediation (T3), and Expected benefits vative technology. Interviewee 2 demonstrated how one’s identity
(T4). Figure 1 shows the social representation map illustrating the as an ordinary music artist views new possibilities rising from the
artists’ common understanding of the new possibilities derived by adoption of blockchain in the music industry.
blockchain in the local music industry. “The distributors and music streaming platforms are taking
too much share just by delivering music to consumers,
Discussion while we are the ones who create music. I believe removal
As visualized on the maximum tree design (Fig. 1), the social of intermediaries through disintermediation may not only
representation map demonstrates a roadmap of perception by increase financial income but also the value of music itself.
Korean artists towards the new revenue opportunities derived by Fundamentally, I wish a new era would come via
adoption of blockchain in the music industry. Specifically, two blockchain where our creations are much more appreciated
distinctive perceptions were identified: expectations of new and rewarded properly based on its musical value.”
opportunities in the music industry and skepticism of a new Correspondingly, the majority of artists sought a betterment in
future in reality. While artists perceived blockchain as an financial income through disintermediation of the current royalty
opportunity to discover new era in the music industry, they were distribution structure. Ultimately, they urged for a proper
also skeptical towards the near future due to the recognition of appreciation and return for musical values and a stable
environment to maintain professional careers. Furthermore,
Table 4 Coreness of each topic. artists perceived that selling their own NFT content would be a
new way to gain exposure among a new user pool and increase
opportunities to meet potential listeners. Throughout the inter-
Topics Coreness
view, it was noticeable that artists were deeply motivated by
T1 Opportunity 0.774 witnessing the audience listening to and enjoying their music. Not
T3 Infeasibility of disintermediation 0.466 only it would assist in overcoming the income hardship with
T4 Expected benefits 0.345
more streaming, but as an entertainer, artists also felt alive when
T5 Little expectations towards new possibilities 0.217
T10 Movement by players 0.079
their creation is enjoyed by the public - something vital to the
T12 Ingrained sufferings 0.061 continuance of their careers.
T9 Unawareness & indifference 0.050 Protection of copyright (T8) also showed a connection with
T8 Protection of copyright 0.041 Expected benefits (T4) and Solution for the current system (T2).
T2 Solution for the current royalty distribution system 0.032 In other words, artists not only expected revenue benefits but also
T7 Values for users 0.030 felt the need to reinforce the fundamental rights to their creations
T6 Values of current platforms 0.024 through new possibilities emerging from blockchain. They raised
T13 Intensification of polarization 0.011 opinions about the unfairness of the current royalty distribution
T11 Prematurity of industry 0.008 system leading to the unbalanced royalty share between
Note: Core elements are shaded on the social representation map.
themselves and business actors. Interviewee 10 addressed the
need of blockchain to restore artists’ copyrights within the

Fig. 1 Social representation map of Korean artists towards new possibilities through blockchain.

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realistic perspective towards the persisting system in the Korean weaknesses in multiple dimensions for both consumers
music industry. and artists, such as lack of competitiveness in music library,
usability of service, and the user pool to promote music.
“Despite 20 years of the fixated system by business actors Disintermediation may be only realized through investment
within the Korean music industry, I believe this must be by sponsors and cooperation with leading business actors.
fixed for the next generation of musicians, and blockchain Such movement shall also be supported by the government
may be the way to go. It will be a long journey though, to to convince reallocation of royalty shares.”
convince transparency in streaming data provided by
business actors. Also, I do not even trust KOMCA because Figure 1 also stressed the significance of Values for users (T7)
they may be related with the term revisions which had little who would use blockchain-based services along with the active
to do with the artists, but much favored the business movement by players (T10). Artists believed that the current
actors.” status of emerging start-ups lacks critical values dedicated to
users, including both consumers and artists, compared to those
Interestingly, the artists connected the unfairness of the royalty provided by current music streaming services (T6). Specifically,
distribution to discontent and distrust with the role of copyright from a consumer’s perspective, blockchain-based streaming
institutes. Furthermore, music streaming service providers had service is inevitably short on competitiveness in delivering music
hardly ever provided any transparent information detailing how libraries because only a limited number of artists have uploaded
often music is consumed by users nor how the streaming income their music on the infant channel. The price value the consumers
is distributed with other stakeholders. earn from the blockchain-based services is not aggressive enough
Overall, artists have been facing a degree of violation and no to surpass that of leading players who provide unlimited
copyright protection as early as they started making music. streaming counts of the mature music library. Furthermore, from
Therefore, they believe blockchain can reconstruct the current the artists’ perspective, they were concerned with losing the
system and restore their rights via the openness of information critical values current music streaming service providers can
and direct interactions with consumers without an intermediary. offer, such as the brand values of named charts, accessibility to a
A strong connection between the Solution for the current system larger user pool, and promotional features. They believed that the
(T2) and Ingrained sufferings (T12) reiterates the urgent desire to chance to gain more exposure and a larger audience was crucial to
escape from the obsolete system pertaining to the local domain. achieving positive outcomes than betting on new opportunities
Artists have persistently voiced that the platforms responsible for via blockchain. In fact, artists considered this to be even more
providing back-end streaming services to consumers garner an significant than the switching costs they will likely face during the
excessive share of royalties. The findings implicate that the transition to blockchain-based platforms. This all led to the
significant role of music artists and their innocent sufferings are fundamental problem of the blockchain-based music industry
overlooked by the local industry raised by the unbalanced royalty that mostly consisted of start-ups, it is still at an infant or
share. Artists have been consistently fighting with a feeling of loss premature level (T11) in terms of technology and the user pool,
and lack of motivation to maintain their professions due to futile compared to mature infrastructure organized by the current
royalty income compared to their contribution in labor, time, and music streaming industry.
money to produce original music. Extending to the other perceptive path, little expectations of
new possibilities (T5) acted as a bridge between Infeasibility of
Perceived skepticisms towards new opportunities. Regardless of disintermediation (T3) and Unawareness and indifference (T9).
positive perspectives towards blockchain by Korean artists, Not only did the artists believe that these new opportunities were
Opportunity (T1) exhibited a peculiar connection to Infeasibility realistically unlikely, but they also did not expect meaningful
of disintermediation (T3), demonstrating a contradictory rela- outcomes or benefits through the realization of disintermediation
tionship between two perceptions. As much as the artists believed or entrance to the NFT market. Little expectations on new
that the adoption of blockchain in the music industry could create possibilities (T5) were also linked with the Intensification of
potential ground for new opportunities, they also held a cynical polarization (T13), following the belief that the NFT market will
view regarding the actualization of the next paradigm in a realistic provide greater benefits to those who own fandom culture,
context. A number of artists interviewed mentioned the unlike- exasperating the bipolarity between celebrities and ordinary
liness of disintermediation related to the fixated system developed artists. Paradoxically, artists were also desperate and willing to
during the early age of digitization by business actors. Although gain even the slightest chance to increase their financial income
there have been multiple revisions of distribution by the gov- and achieve stability in music creation, regardless of the
ernment, the fundamental issue regarding royalty distribution possibility that the prevailing polarity in the current system
appreciating a considerable amount of income share to the music may intensify. Interviewee 2 explained honest feelings towards
streaming service providers still exists. Therefore, most artists open possibilities via blockchain.
believed that disintermediation will be possible only when the
influential players come forward to adopt blockchain technology “I do figure the NFT market will definitely intensify the gap
(T10) and lead a transition to a sustainable ecosystem for both of income levels between us and the celebrities. But
artists and business actors. Influential players include the music honestly, as long as I can earn just a little more, such a
streaming service providers, celebrities, and the government who phenomenon is not my concern. Bipolarity has been pre-
have the power to trigger and fortify the industrial movement and existing for decades anyway. It is perceived more as a relief
publicize the reconstruction of the music industry. Of all, the to have an extra income channel considering my financial
willingness of business actors to surrender some of their shares status.”
and cooperate with progressive stages of disintermediation is a Furthermore, the artists believed in the existence of Unaware-
critical factor in meeting new possibilities through blockchain. ness and indifference (T9), acting as an obstacle to the new
Interviewee 3 specifically illustrated the need for participation by paradigm. According to years of experience, artists realized that
business actors to realize disintermediation. there exists lack of public awareness regarding the hardship and
“Emergent blockchain-based start-ups may not hold instability most artists suffer. Artists believed that the public tends
enough values to fight original platforms. They have to perceive music artists with generalized identifications of

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celebrities, leading to an apathy towards their wellbeing. Because the music industry from multiple perspectives. Expanding the
famous artists are what the most public encounter on media, it is boundaries of interviewees may be critical to understanding the
hard for the public to notice ingrained sufferings faced by the different stakeholders within the music royalty distribution sys-
dominant group of artists who manage to make a living. Lack of tem such as business actors, including music streaming service
public interest and sympathy for artists may be a critical burden providers, production firms, or distributors. Also, institutes
to realize the need to reconstruct the music royalty distribution managing the artists’ copyright may elucidate different views
system. The public attention is imperative to bringing the regarding the transparency of information and unfairness of
unfairness of the decade-old system to light and thus alleviating royalty shares within the system in respect of their identities.
artists’ continuous hardship. This paper also provides practical implications for stakeholders in
Additionally, artists shared a commonality in that they were the local music industry, as well as for the government. First, the
not completely aware of what exactly blockchain is nor the findings suggest that artists do not believe in the disintermediation
potential it could have in the music industry. This reflects the fact without the participation of influential players. Regardless of mul-
that the definition of blockchain is complex and difficult to tiple start-ups already emerging in the local scene, their growth and
understand due to the lack of a publicized definition the general success inevitably encounter realistic constraints without the help of
population can discern, hampering people’s understanding of leading actors (Woo, 2022). Hence, it is critical for the start-ups to
how it can lead to other opportunities for the industry. Moreover, find the unmet needs which can be delivered to the current music
artists tended to associate blockchain with cryptocurrency, which streaming service providers via blockchain technology to induce
is one of the major derivatives among multiple possibilities. There their voluntary investment.
is an overgeneralization of blockchain which alludes to instability Secondly, the engagement of the government to develop a
and uncertainty pertaining to the technology itself. Additionally, sustainable environment for both business actors and artists shall
the cryptocurrency market has been facing downhill since its be supportive but also minimal. For instance, the growth of
highest peak in 2021, demonstrated by Bitcoin and other major blockchain technology and its industry may be accomplished by
virtual assets. This is in line with the crypto winter after the deregulation. Regulatory barriers can be an unnecessary hurdle to
bubble burst in the NFT market which also may have affected encourage innovations to businesses. Therefore, regulatory sand-
artists’ perceptions as well. Therefore, artists speculated the boxes shall be offered to experiment services without a compliance
possibility of a co-relationship between the insecurity of the to local laws. Freedom of conducting test beds without bureau-
cryptocurrency market and an unconscious resistance to invest- cratic obstacles may attract investment of capitals and foster
ing in the NFT. healthy competitions. Also, fundamental research on case studies
from other countries with a developed music scene is advised prior
to revisiting the music royalty distribution terms. A navigation to
Conclusion and implications reform fixated legislations will not only require long term per-
This paper sought to understand the new revenue opportunities sistence but also extensive knowledges to undergo reconstruction
blockchain can provide to the music industry through the lens of all stakeholders can consent. Thus, the government can learn
Korean artists. Prior studies have approached the discussion of insight via research on the case from the United States where the
blockchain within the digital music industry with either idealistic Copyright Royalty Board has accepted to increase songwriter’s
expectations or possible challenges, constrained to explorative royalty rates up to 15.35% by 2027 (Ingham, 2022). Also, Ger-
discourse. This research contributes by recruiting major stake- many established the Music Modernization Act in 2016 to update
holders as interviewees and utilizing empirical data to observe the copyright laws concerning transparency and royalty payments in
realistic perspectives towards such possibilities. It employed the music streaming services. It may be helpful to scrutinize the
SRT as a theoretical framework to discover the collective processes and results of external examples which revisited the
understanding of Korean artists and discovered that the realistic music royalty distribution system to protect the artists and
recognition of the adoption of blockchain in the music industry is benchmark the critical findings into Korean context.
ambivalent - hoping for new opportunities while also perceiving This paper is not without limitations. First, the research was
the impracticality of such innovation. Indeed, it may be too good limited to a Korean context. Regardless of the global recognition
to be true for artists who have observed the local domain with of unfairness in music royalty distribution, the research on the
little change regardless of their continuous voice for help. SRT’s Korean digital music industry should be considered a unique case
contribution to this paper may be summarized as follows. First, study with vertical integration by business actors. Therefore, the
SRT could provide the theoretical framework and method for this social representation of artists may vary according to countries
exploratory study of the feelings and thoughts evoked by a par- with different cultures and different music industry histories.
ticular technology among the general people who were previously Furthermore, the research focused on the perspectives of one
unfamiliar with it (Na et al., 2023). Second, SRT was helpful to stakeholder. Business actors, such as music streaming service
understand the knowledge of occupational communities from providers, production firms, or distributors may also perceive the
their perspectives (Pawlowski et al., 2007). Third, the structural adoption of blockchain from different perspectives. Managers
model of SRT enabled the researchers to clarify the cognitive from copyright institutes may be well aware of the history of
structures of social representations, which consist of core and revisions of the royalty distribution system, which may also bring
peripheral elements (Rateau et al., 2011). Accordingly, SRT new insights to attempt the radical transition through blockchain.
contributes to this paper by providing a (core-periphery) The comparison of multiple social representations is a promising
structure-based explanation, which enables a richer interpretation future research that can help figure out essential needs or dis-
of the social representation map. agreements pertaining to new possibilities. Such findings may
This paper provides academic contributions by unveiling rea- contribute to a detailed development stage of a sustainable music
listic barriers the artists perceive regarding the feasibility of the industry with blockchain. Lastly, the paper did not conduct
next music industry with blockchain. The paper filled a vacancy longitudinal analysis due to a limited data. As much as the
by revealing empirical findings about how the related stake- blockchain has been radically rising as an innovative technology,
holders within the ecosystem perceive disruptive technology the understanding towards such technology can also alter in short
according to their experiential perspective. Further, the research period of time affected by the change of environment or degree of
provides future guidance to study the adoption of blockchain in technological adoption in certain industries. Thus, tracking

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Author contributions Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to Seongcheol Kim.
All authors participated in designing the research and were involved in subsequent
revisions. The first author performed interviews with 16 interviewees, analyzed the data, Reprints and permission information is available at http://www.nature.com/reprints
and interpreted the results. The second author participated in determining the metho-
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in
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published maps and institutional affiliations.

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