With a little help from my fans: the transformative role of the consumer in music co-production

This paper examines how the transformative role of the consumer in co-production is affecting key stakeholders within the music industry. The study explores the changing consumer role in co-production, how it is affecting content quality, the implications for music artists and record labels, and how they are approaching (and should approach) co-production. The research methodology consists of a three-stage interview design of 52 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with senior members of music organisations (including artist managers and major labels). An inductive, data-driven four-phase constant comparison analysis technique is used to analyse the data. The findings contribute to the co-production research domain by offering new insights from a music industry context and presenting new theoretical models for how co-production is affecting industry stakeholders. Implications for industry, policy and future research are also provided.