Editorial

The October 2021 issue of the International Journal of Music Business Research (IJMBR) covers a broad range of topics from different parts of the world. Our journey starts in Sweden with an article by Muhammad M. Ali, Jenny Karlsson & Per Skålén of the Centrum för tjänsteforskning (CTF – Service Research Center) of Karlstad University entitled ‘How Has Digitalisation Influenced Value in the Music Market?’ The authors highlight the impact of digitalisation on actors’ value determination and creation in the Swedish music market by interviewing 52 actors including consumers, distributors, producers and other stakeholders. The research is based on the service-dominant logic (SDL) and the service ecosystem perspective to highlight how value is co-created by integrating resources of different actors in service exchange.

The second article takes us to Nepal at the foot of the world's highest mountains. The Nepalese Subash Giri, who researches the music industry at the Department of Music of University of Alberta in Canada, investigates the impact of current trends of digitalisation and new business innovations on the Nepalese music industry. He conducted and analysed eight semi-structured interviews with major, medium and independent Nepalese record labels to highlight the challenges industry's stakeholders are faced with in Nepal. The article also shows a viable route for a digital music business model in Nepal's music industry, which is dominated by the country's big neighbours India and China.

The third article brings us back to Europe, more precisely to Austria. Marina Kalser-Gruber, from the Archives of Contemporary Arts of the University of Continuing Education, Krems, presents in her article a case study on the power of reputation of artistic directors of famous music festivals in Austria. Accordingly, she interviewed 14 managers of different festival organisations as well as journalists, politicians, artists and sponsors to highlight the relationship between the artistic directors’ reputation and the music festivals’ business performance. Martina Kalser-Gruber also demonstrates how reputation, defined as a person's or organisation's public standing, impacts tourism and trade relations.

The October 2021 issue is rounded up by a book review by Daniel Nordgård on Fabian Holt's ‘Everyone Loves Live Music – A Theory of Performance Institutions’.

The IJMBR is aimed at all academics around the world, from students to professors, from all disciplines and with an interest in music business research. Interdisciplinary papers will be especially welcome if they address economic and business-related topics in the field of music. We look forward to receiving as many interesting papers as possible. Please submit your articles at the journal's webpage: https://www.editorialmanager.com/ijmbr/default1.aspx.