1. Proposed Project Area/Title:
This research will be dedicated to the subject area of music industry and will introduce the music industry company about EMI music group. Analysis how do EIM music become to one of the most popular recording labels

The proposed title of the dissertation is:
How would an E-commerce strategy help EMI adapt to a changing market in music industry?

2. Proposed Aim(s) and Objectives:
It is important to note that E-commerce model is one of the most popular models in music industry area in recent years. Music is an integral part of life, thus competition between businesses has become increasingly intense in music industry. Why EMI can be one of the biggest music group.
In this era of diversified networks, the company only has one business strategy or in one direction is not enough, who can develop new space or new markets first, who can achieve market share first, and who will win in the competition, and become more powerful. Like EMI, They through the use of e-commerce strategies to obtain greater success.
This dissertation is aimed EMI music group strategy analysis; compare and contrast difference with other in the music industry; E-commerce models and business strategy significance in music industry area. And also expect to find the music industry market is changing and revenue streams from current formats are under threat. The industry and the company should adopt new E-commerce models to create distribute music.

3. Organization background
In 1897 the Gramophone Company began trading in London, intending to establish a European market for the gramophone and its flat disc records which Emile Berliner had invented and patented in the USA some ten years earlier. The Gramophone Company flourished, selling both classical and popular recordings throughout the whole of Europe as well as Australia, India and other parts of the old British Empire.
Meanwhile, the Columbia Graphphone Company was also establishing itself in Europe, initially selling the cylinder records and phonographs invented by Thomas Edison. By 1929 record sales were booming as never before, with dance band recordings selling literally millions of copies, but then the Great Depression hit, and sales slumped dramatically. To avoid bankruptcy, the Gramophone Company and its arch-rival the Columbia Graphophone Company merged in April 1931 to form Electric and Musical Industries (EMI).
In November 1931 EMI opened the world's first purpose-built recording studio complex in North London at 3 Abbey Road, which remains to this day the centre of EMI's recording and post-production work. The 1950s saw the arrival of rock 'n' roll and the beginning of the pop culture that resulted in a massive sales explosion, aided by the arrival of the 45 rpm single and the 33 1/3 rpm long-playing record. In 1955, to replace the loss of its long-established licensing arrangements with RCA-Victor and CBS, EMI entered the important American market by acquiring Capitol Records, whose artists included Frank Sinatra, Nat "King" Cole and, later, The Beach Boys. In recent years EMI has further strengthened its position in the world record market by acquiring a number of other important record companies, including Chrysalis and Virgin, as well as developing its own roster of outstanding acts. Today EMI is unrivalled both for the richness of its past heritage.(www.emi.com)#p#分頁標題#e#

4. Rationale for the chosen topic
One of the recognized industries in the world today is the music industry. For years, music had very little to do with business. Basically, the music industry revolves on business activities including fast-phased unit-led production, licensing, marketing and distribution. The objectives of the music business is primarily concentrated on fast distribution of products, speed of re-stocking and selling products on major

5. Literature review:
The literature will discuss several process models which are e-commerce and music industry business strategy. Today, the music industry does not only consist of cassettes, mini and compact discs. The music industry has gone a long journey which enabled it to become more loosely integrated vis-à-vis the rest of the entertainment industry. The music industry has become one of the most profitable industries in the global marketplace. Indeed, the music industry has been highly commercialized. The access to free music has made a great on the delivery of online music. As a result, companies under the music industry are pressured to devise strategies that can address the threats of online music delivery. There is also an urge for them to adopt new business models in order to meet consumer needs successfully in the e-commerce milieu. So my literature reviews mainly research about the music industry and e-commerce.
Production process: input to the manufacturing process of the dominant physical products (recordings on CDs, printed materials) is already, as a rule, in a digital form. Digital distribution, in other words, should allow for the elimination of traditional manufacturing costs.
Production technology: high quality digital recording equipment is widely available at affordable prices. Digital sampling and simulation techniques have decreased producers’ dependence on hiring the services of live musicians.
Distribution technology: networks and associated software allowing the creator, in theory, to meet a world- wide audience are becoming more sophisticated as well as user-friendly. Peer-to-Peer file-sharing techniques such as those used in Napster allow interested potential consumers to exchange samples of music at will. The physical process of creating groups of fans in the physical world can, to a certain extent, be replicated in the virtual environment. Even if bandwidth constraints still constitute limitations of delivery speed and quality, the potential is there.#p#分頁標題#e#
Music industry revenue sources: there has been a shift from tangible to intangible sources of revenue. In Sweden, for instance, over 50% of the music industry’s net revenue came other sources than the sale of pieces of plastic as early as 1992 (Wallis, R. and Malm. K 1984). i.e. primarily from publishing and performance rights. More recent figures from one of the five major players in the industry, EMI, show publishing activities ( generating revenue via exploiting or trading in intellectual Property Rights assigned to EMI by composers) accounting for 17% of the EMI groups turnover, but no less than 47% of net revenue in the year 2000 (Simon Frith and Lee Marshall 2004).
Music industry roles: The traditional music industry value chain involves a number of intermediaries. It assumes that a writer creates a work of music, and assigns the right to exploit the work to a publisher. The publisher was originally part of the production process, investing in and distributing sheet music. A50/50 revenue split with the composer was (and still is) regarded as reasonable because of the publisher’s earlier investment requirements for producing sheet music. The publisher would also seek to find artists and record companies willing to record and distribute the composer’s works. Once a combination of work and artists had been decided, the record company would produce the recording, manufacture phonograms, promote the product and distribute. The division of roles has hardly changed at all despite 1) the shift to intangible sources of income, and b) the de facto integration of publishing and recording activities in gigantic vertically integrated corporations.
Business strategy for music industry
Business model is an integrated and coordinated set of commitments and actions the firm uses to gain a competitive advantage by exploiting core competencies in specific product markets (Michael A, R. Edward, Jeffrey S. 2001). Only firms that continuously upgrade their competitive advantages over time are able to achieve long-term success with their strategy and implementation. Choosing the appropriate business model is intended to create differences between the industry’s positions relative to those of its rivals (Harry B. and A. Drejer 2005). To position itself a firm must decide to whether it intends to perform activities differently or to perform the different activities as compared to its rivals. Thus, the firm’s business model is a deliberate choice about how it will perform the value chain’s primary and support activities in ways to create unique value. Over the years, different companies and organization are trying to utilize the business model in which they think should bring success to the over-all performance of a business. In addition, business model is also referred as the mechanism or system by which any firm or business aims to produce profit or revenue. It is the totality of how the industry intends to serve its target market. It involves both the marketing strategy and its strategic implementation. Throughout the years, the uses of business model are regarded as complicated and sophisticated. Business models have different kinds.#p#分頁標題#e#
However, the business model that has been used by the music industry prior to the emergence of the internet is the basic business model which is the subscription business model. In this chosen model, different music industry like EMI do not sell their products directly. Instead, these industries are selling their products monthly or annually. In this model, the effect simply lies on the conversion of a one-time sale of a particular music labels or musical records into a frequent sale of a product. This to know where the target market lies, providing their products on time that they know it will hit the target market and tries to promote it through advertisement.

6. Methodology:
Several factors call for an inductive approach for this research. Firstly, the limited resources do not permit an exhaustive data collection as required for quantitative analysis. At the same time, the E-commerce developmen

7. Resource methodology
* Libraries: There are several university libraries (e.g. London school of economics, London business school) and public libraries (e.g. British library) I have access to. In addition, university libraries offer a nationwide inters library loan service.
* Association for computing machinery: This special interest group for computer professionals provides several valuable resources. Most of them can be directly accessed online via the ‘digital virtual library’.
* Primary Data (see the detail below)
8. Data collection methods and analysis
I plan to use questionnaires and interview methods to collect my primary data. Also I will consider case study about EMI music group, after analysis to get my data.#p#分頁標題#e#
Aim the dissertation content, the EMI group strategy, the market performance of power to produce the questionnaire. Aim the different crowd to produce different types of questionnaires (e.g. for consumers, EMI staff and so on).

The data collection methods must observe the ethical principles of research.
Take some time to carefully review all of the data I have collected from the questionnaire and interview. Try to find the results what I have expected, and then summarize. I will need to perform calculations on my data in order to get the results from which I will generate a conclusion.

8.Timescale

Preparation
-Review Literature 1 week
-EMI group analysis 1 week
-Define Methodology 1 week

Research (survey)
-Selection of expert group to receive a questionnaire 1week
-Preparation of questionnaire and question for interview 1 week
-Evaluation of the questionnaire 1week
-Finalization of the questionnaire 1week
-Interview 1week
-Data retrieval 1week

Research (evaluation)
-Data analysis 1week
-Identify sensitive areas to be covered in interviews 3days
-Identify experts within the expert group available
for expert interviews 4days
-Data retrieval 3days
-Data analysis 4days

Formulate Dissertation 2weeks
-Introduction
-Literature Review
-Methodology
-Research
-Conclusion
Finalize
-Final version
Total 14 weeks

9.Bibliography

Dominic Power, Allen John Scott (2004) Cultural industries and the production of culture, Routledge.Donald A. DePalma (2002) Business without borders: a strategic guide to global marketing, John Wiley and Sons.Harry Boer, Anders Drejer (2005) Managing Innovative Manufacturing, Volume 25, Issue 2, Emerald Group Publishing.Kenneth C. Laudon and Carol Guercio Traver (2004), E-commerce: Business, Technology, Society, 2nd Edition, Pearson/Addison Wesley.Mark N. K. Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill (2000), Research methods for business student, 2nd Edition, Financial Times/ Prentice Hall, Page 26.Michael A. Hitt, R. Edward Freeman, Jeffrey S. Harrison (2001) The Blackwell Handbook of Strategic Management, 2nd Edition, Wiley-Blackwell Publish, Page 289.

M. William Krasilovsky, Sidney Shemel (2000) This business of music: the definitive guide to the music industry, 8th Edition, Billboard Books.Peter Tschmuck (2006) Creativity and Innovation in the Music Industry, Springer.Roy Shuker (2005) Popular music: the key concepts 2nd Edition, Routledeg Republishing, Page 220. Referenced Burnett (1996)Simon Frith and Lee Marshall (2004) Music and Copyright, 2nd Edition, Edinburgh University Press, Vol “EMI Revenues rise 6%”, London.Tawfik Jelassi, Albrecht Enders (2008) Strategies for E-business: creating value through electronic and mobile commerce, 2nd Edition. Pearson Education.Wallis, R. and Malm, K (1984). Big Sounds from Small Peoples: The Music Industry in Small Countries. London: ConstableWilliam R. Childs, Scott B. Martin, Wanda Stitt-Gohdes (2004) Business and Industry: Business cycle to copyright, Marshall Cavendish.#p#分頁標題#e#

Total words: 2430

Reference

Harry Boer, Anders Drejer (2005) Managing Innovative Manufacturing, Volume 25, Issue 2, Emerald Group Publishing.

Mark N. K. Saunders, Philip Lewis and Adrian Thornhill (2000), Research methods for business student, 2nd Edition, Financial Times/ Prentice Hall, Page 26.

Michael A. Hitt, R. Edward Freeman, Jeffrey S. Harrison (2001) The Blackwell Handbook of Strategic Management, 2nd Edition, Wiley-Blackwell Publish, Page 289.

Roy Shuker (2005) Popular music: the key concepts 2nd Edition, Routledeg Republishing, Page 220. Referenced Burnett (1996)

Simon Frith and Lee Marshall (2004) Music and Copyright, 2nd Edition, Edinburgh University Press, Vol “EMI Revenues rise 6%”, London.

Wallis, R. and Malm, K (1984). Big Sounds from Small Peoples: The Music Industry in Small Countries. London: Constab04/08/0english essayhttp://www.400190.com/Thesis_Tips/

Dissertation Proposal

about

E-commerce and Music Industry

MBA 2/ International Business Group B

Dissertation Supervisor : David G.

Student Name : Yang Zhang
Student ID No. : 0293VLVL0808