VALUE CREATION ON YOUTUBE

Lorenz Grünewald, M.A.

Joachim Haupt, M.A.

How Musicians, YouTubers and Commercial Networks Create Social, Cultural and

Economic Capital

Research Question

How and with whom do musicians on Youtube create

which forms of value?

AGENDA

1

2

3

4

Theoretical Framework & MethodologyResearch basis

Research InsightsCultural, Social and Economical Value Perspectives

Media IntermediationHow YouTube Structures the Value Creation of YouTubers

ConclusionScope, More Forms of Capital and (un)equality

1 Theoretical Framework & MethodologyResearch basis

Theoretical FrameworkYouTube as a Holistic Economy with Contingent Definitions of Value

Cas

tells

, 200

9

Circulation/Exchange!Economic Capital Cultural Capital Social Capital

Bour

dieu

, 198

6

Value is what is processed in every dominant network at every time in every space according to the hierarchy programmed in the network by the actors acting upon the network.

“

Methodology Object of research and research method

FocusYoutuber Germany Musicians

MethodsIn-depth interviews Exploratory approach Qualitative content analysis Induction/Deduction

DimensionsContent Careers Identity/Selfconcepts Networks/Collaborators

InterviewsYoutube Musicians

Name alias does… on YT since Abonennten overall views number of videos

Gregor Hilden GregsGuitars Gitarrensoli 2007 42.266 43.921.289 5900

Rieke Werner StrawbellyCake Anime-Songs 2010 53.998 7.048.627 105

Noah Hunold Noah Hunold Sound-Tutorials 2008 3.553 395.696 77

Robin Segebarth DeservingDeath A-Capella-Solo 2007 17.136 3.538.538 145

Jannik Brunke JannikBMusic Pop-Musik 2012 25.771 1.358.494 43

Lukas Moeller YoungPianoTV Piano-Cover 2009 20.094 3.325.719 174

Jan-Hendrik Dreyer J Dryor / Playerboy Hip Hop Satire 2010 12.972 304.209 13

Anonym Anonym Rock-Musik 2006 124.008 8.757.311 36

Vincent Lee Rosovits Vincent Lee Music Musikproduzent 2010 25.513 1.742.648 96

Christian Behrens - Manager McFitti 2012 113.462 19.569.325 124

+ an anonymous representative from UFA Labs, a TV production studio also working with YouTubers

Ten interviews from April to Mai 2014Duration: 49 to 77 Minutes

2 Research InsightsCultural, Social and Economical Value Perspectives

Cultu

ral Social

Economic

Exploring Value CreationPerspectives and Practices

Cultural Perspective

Skills as Starting Point Famous YouTubers as Role Models Cross-Promotion & Collaborations Cover Songs and Parodies Importance of Freedom and Cultural Intuition Various Forms of Selfpresentation and Fan Communication

!

ADDING UP TO CULTURAL CAPITAL

From Skills to Cultural Capital Cultu

ral Social

Economic

The Story of…J Dryor alias Playerboy

JuliansBlog

Social Perspective

Friends and Acquaintances Fans as an Active Audience Subscribers as a Key Figure Economy of Collaboration Calculus vs. sympathy and friendships

!

ADDING UP TO SOCIAL CAPITAL

The Valorization of Relationships Cultu

ral Social

Economic

The Story of…Vincent Lee

Economic Perspective

YouTube Partner Programme Monetization by Advertising Indirect Revenues Professionalization Fostering the Economy of Collaboration

!

ADDING UP TO MONETARY CAPITAL

YouTube as a Source of Income Cultu

ral Social

Economic

The Story of…YoungPianoTV

„Wow, the guy who used to be

on a poster in my child’s room

just gave me feedback!“

“

Friendship

Relationships

Collaboration

Networking

Fan Communication

Economy of Collaboration

Cultu

ral Social

Economic

Skills Role Models

Cross Promotion

Cover Songs Freedom Intuition

Selfpresentation

YouTube Partner Programme Monetization by Advertising

Copyright Indirect Revenues Professionalization

How YouTubers Create Value…and with whom?

MCN+

What do MCN do?Quotations from our interviews

Today nothing really works without a network. If you wanna get support and you contact Google without being in a network, you can wait for two month until you will get a reply. And if you are part of a network you will be served more quickly.

“Selected network partners will be placed on the homepage in cooperation with YouTube. [Or] you can get special permissions like for music that would otherwise not be displayed because of the GEMA but it is unlocked for such a purpose.

“

Ranking of the top 10 YouTube partners according to their unique viewers in Sep. 2013 (in Mio. in GER) | Source: comScore / Statista 2014

Multi-Channel Networks

Multi-Channel Networks

Companies with economic interest Collect and Administrate YouTube(r’s) Channels Locked into Content-ID (Tracking and Blocking Content) Attract Advertisers Earn Revenue from Advertising Empower and Connect YouTubers

The Rationalization of Value Creation

3 Media IntermediationHow YouTube Structures the Value Creation of YouTubers

Intermediaries…offer services between two parties

Artist Record Company Distributor Retailer Fan

Intermediaries

Dis-IntermediationThrough digitally networked media

Artist Fan

YouTube, Bandcamp, Facebook

Re-Intermediation…?Through digitally networked media

ArtistFan

YouTube, Bandcamp, Facebook

MCN

???Artist

Artist

Artist

Media-Mediation?Through digitally networked media

Artist FanYouTube

Media-Intermediation

YouTube’s “Scope“Empowerment Through Digitally Networked Mediation Media

YouTubeYouTube

The possibility to plan viral [video] was gradually scaled back. With just one video you have fewer and fewer influence on how many people get to see your video. Some people talk of conspiracies. (YouTube Musician in an interview)

“SCOPE

YouTube? SoundCloud?

Bandcamp?

What do MCN do?Empowerment and Rationalisation

YouTubeYouTube

Systematic ‚Cross-Promotion‘ Dealing with legal issues (strikes) Getting licences Coaching (Format Development, Channel & Profile Building) Studios & Equipment Relationships w/ YouTube

SCOPE

MCNs influence YouTube’s Scopein social, cultural and economic respects

MCNArtist

Artist

Artist

Label

YouTubeYouTube

SCOPE

YouTube

It’s about the scopeAnd about increasing it through empowerment

Artist FanYouTube

Media-Intermediation

MCN

4 ConclusionScope, More Forms of Capital and (un)equality

ConclusionEmpowerment and Rationalisation

‚New’ forms of capital as restricting element in of value creation & participation MCNs trying to concentrate cultural and social capital Additional source of inequality in the network society Neo-Capitalism vs. Post-Capitalism

!

YouTubeYouTube

SCOPE

MCN

Friendship

Relationships

Collaboration

Networking

Fan Communication

Economy of Collaboration

Cultu

ral Social

Economic

Skills Role Models

Cross Promotion

Cover Songs Freedom Intuition

Selfpresentation

YouTube Partner Programme Monetization by Advertising

Copyright Indirect Revenues Professionalization

Summary

Thank You!Lorenz Grünewald, M.A.

Joachim Haupt, M.A.

@lorenzguitar

@joachimhaupt