Samenvatting

In the past ten years, music consumption has witnessed a dramatic shift from the predominant consumption of music via physical music carriers, toward a consumption pattern that excludes the employment of a music carrier. This form of consumption has been called Download to Own (DtO). In recent years, a third variety of music consumption has emerged in the form of streaming music without having to download the songs. This form of music consumption has been called Music as a Service (MaaS); it provides music streaming as a service without transferring the ownership for the content. Users of these services consume such music without transferring any content for storage on their devices.
The purpose of this research is to effect a clear understanding of the relationship between personal traits of users and their preference for music consumption through either MaaS or DtO modes. The research question is stated as follows: What personal traits determine the preference for MaaS versus DtO?
We have hypothesized six reasons that could influence the choices music consumers make, we theorized that certain people traits guide music consumers in their preference for MaaS over DtO, or vice versa. These personal traits are Music Involvement, Need for Ownership, Extended Self, Curatorship, Connectedness and finally we consider Age and Gender as influences.
Through an online questionnaire we measured these hypotheses. In total 411 respondents were included in the analysis. The hypothesis Connectedness and Curatorship showed a significant influence on the preference for DtO or MaaS. The other hypotheses were rejected. Three additional questions at the end of the survey were used to discover other personal motives for why respondents used DtO or MaaS. MaaS users have a preference for this music service 4 because of Abundance of Choice, Ease of Use and Price. DtO users regard Ownership as the main reason for preference, followed by Ease of Use and Offline Use.
Respondents indicate no expected change in music consumption behavior. The managerial implication for artists, content owners and intermediaries who distribute the music, is that users of DtO and MaaS services are satisfied with their current practice and the service performance of their providers of music products. This could be a sign of a two-tier non tangible music consumption pattern that will remain steady for the coming period. Based on these findings, all parties involved could adjust their strategies accordingly.