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This paper analyzes consumers’ attitudes and behaviors towards online piracy and their willingness to try subscription-based music services. The objective is to develop and test an attitude-intention model which includes ethical considerations in consumers’ decision making process regarding music consumption.

The study analyzes 505 consumer questionnaires using a structural equations model.

Attitude toward online piracy is positively determined by economic and hedonic benefits and negatively by moral judgment. A favorable attitude toward online piracy, in turn, negatively influences consumers’ willingness to try subscription-based music services, which is also directly determined by their interest and involvement with the services themselves.

The limitations of the paper are linked mainly to the adapted scales, to the analysis of just two subscription-based music services (Napster and Spotify) and to the fact that all respondents came from one country.

The results call for a greater commitment by music industry actors to educate consumers about the consequences and implications of online music piracy, while also stressing the value added and hedonic benefits offered by subscription-based music services.

This paper is the first to focus on consumers’ propensity toward online piracy and their willingness to try subscription-based music services as a possible alternative to the phenomenon, through the development and test of an attitude-intention model that includes ethical considerations.

Along with their immense benefit, online channels of communication and information-sharing also present a myriad set of challenges. The unauthorized downloading and sharing of copyrighted content such as music and movies is one such issue. This study aims to examine the factors related to the unauthorized downloading of content amongst young internet users in an emerging market.

An online structured questionnaire was used to collect primary data from 219 internet users between 17 and 24 years of age. The partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to analyse the primary data.

The study findings report that monetary savings and social influence are the main drivers underlying the propensity to engage in unauthorized downloading amongst young adults. Perceptions of harm caused to artists and producers appear to be a deterrent. Though the respondents perceive the quality of content downloaded from unauthorized sites to be less than desirable, and there is also a higher perceived threat from viruses, this does not appear to deter unauthorized downloading behaviour amongst this segment of consumers.

Combating unauthorized downloading and other forms of questionable online behaviours is a challenge for multiple stakeholders. Consumption of unauthorized digital content is examined in the context of online consumers whose demographic profile is often associated with this category of questionable behaviour. The study adds to the extant understanding of the aetiology of what are often considered online unethical and illegal behaviours and makes both practical and theoretical contributions to the subject field.

The study examines an important aspect of rapidly evolving internet technologies. The internet provides a veil to individuals engaging in unethical online activities. Despite the existence of laws declaring these activities to be illegal, instances of copyright violations of music and movies abound. The insights regarding the drivers and deterrents of a form of online unauthorized activity are used to present a set of strategies aimed at addressing such behaviours.

To provide a snapshot picture of the current e‐book industry from the perspectives of various key individuals in the industry.

Over 20 interviews were conducted following an extensive review of the published literature and examination of product/technical information.

The interviews revealed varying opinions on the current state of the industry and even on the definition of the e‐book industry itself. Key issues identified include: standards, digital rights management, content availability, pricing, device/reader technology, integration and market development.

This industry is still relatively young, generally marking its beginnings in 2000; however, its early years have been marked by market hype, investor fallout and slow market development. Today's industry is at a pivotal point: can obstacles to maturity be overcome or will the industry be either subsumed by the larger consumer electronics or web‐based industries?

Information professionals may find these perspectives useful in framing their own applications of e‐book technology in their planning for future technology, collections and services.

The interviews, generally conducted with the understanding that comments and other key competitive information would remain unattributed, provide an insider's look at a technology and industry developing in a larger arena of rapid technological and market change.

The Internet of Things (IoT) platform empowers the digital transformation of the manufacturing industry by providing information technology services. Simultaneously, it enters the market by offering smart products to consumers. In light of different service fee scenarios, this article explores the optimal decision-making for the platform. It investigates the pricing models and entry decisions of IoT platforms.

In this study, we have formulated a game-theoretic model to scrutinize the influence of the IoT platform ventured into the smart device market on the pre-existing suppliers operating under subscription-based and usage-based pricing agreements.

Our outcome shows that introducing an IoT platform’s smart device has a differential effect on manufacturers depending on their contract type. Notably, our research indicates that introducing the platform’s own smart device within the subscription-based model does not negatively impact the profitability of incumbent manufacturers, so long as there is a noticeable discrepancy in the quality of the smart devices. However, our findings within the usage-based model demonstrate that despite the variance in smart device quality differentiation, the platform’s resolution to launch their device and impose their pricing agreements adversely affects established manufacturers. Additionally, we obtain valuable Intel regarding the platform’s entry strategies and contractual inclinations. We demonstrate that the platform is incentivized to present its smart device when reasonable entry costs remain. Furthermore, the platform prefers subscription-based contracts when the subscription fee is relatively high in non-platform entry and entry cases.

These findings hold significant practical implications for firms operating in an IoT-based supply chain.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify issues related to the contemporary study of audiobook practices, in order to aid subsequent research on topics related to reading, digital audiobooks and streaming subscription services.

Using the concept of remediation, this paper covers four messy issues for audiobook researchers, primarily by developing the concept of reading by listening and then exploring the different remediations of the audiobook, clarifying the audiobook as a book and exploring the context of streaming subscription services.

Reading is here conceptualised according to the human sense used when making meaning from text, with reading by listening suggested for reading done with the help of the ears. Three different forms of remediation can be seen in subscription-based audiobooks, related to format, content and sense. Audiobooks simultaneously follow traditions of reading aloud, remediates the printed book and previous audiobook formats. It is suggested that the content is what makes an audiobook a book. The concepts library model and bookshop model are introduced to understand different audiobook subscription service models.

This is a research area on the rise with several messy issues and the concepts and clarifications in this paper may benefit future research.

COVID-19 preventive measures disrupted the media and entertainment business ecosystem, increased over the top (OTT) consumption, brought new OTT players, thus increased competition, and shaped consumer behaviour and habits. Despite this knowledge, in-depth insights into OTT's consumer behaviour, new usage habit and strategies used by subscription-based OTT platforms to maintain resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic are unknown. This paper aims to fill the two gaps in the extant OTT literature.

This study used Eisenhardt's multiple case studies approach to derive the strategies used by the top-performing subscription-based OTT platforms in India. Moreover, a purposive semi-structured Google survey was used to explore consumers' OTT experience during the pandemic. This study analysed data using NVivo 12 (survey) and MS Excel 2010 (case studies).

This study derived seven resilient OTT strategies; competitive low pricing, enhancing customer experience, launching innovative service plans, content localisation, strategic collaboration, flexibility in technology adoption and proactive sales promotion. Consequent to adopting these strategies, consumers' usage of OTT evolved from occasional to habitual. Convenience, ease of accessibility, risk of contracting COVID-19, variety and quality of content, online reviews and affordability drive consumer preference for OTT. Also, this study revealed consumers' varied OTT experiences.

The contribution is two-fold; the derived strategies for maintaining resilience and the in-depth insights into habit formation and consumer behaviour during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study is valuable for media and entertainment stakeholders like streaming service providers, OTT services, cable operators, etc.

The purpose of this study is to examine the trends and developments of subscription business models (SBMs) over the past two decades.

The study extracted 469 documents (articles and reviews) from the Scopus database during 2000–2022 and analysed 132 documents (articles and reviews). A bibliometric methodology of scientific mapping was employed, including a cluster analysis based on the bibliographic coupling of documents. Content analysis was also conducted to reveal emerging trends in SBMs.

The study revealed six emerging themes in SBMs related to consumer behaviour, digital advertising, online news media, journal publications, circular economy and sustainability strategies.

The results of this study provide new and unique insights into the development and trends of SBMs over the past two decades and offer guidance for future researchers to investigate further the phenomenon of SBMs in emerging areas.

This paper aims to study the pricing strategies of an online trading platform with indirect network externalities by considering heterogeneous trading behavior in the downstream market and the long tail.

The game theory, optimization and comparative static are used in this research. The equilibria are derived from the game theory, and with them, the authors optimize the platform’s profit function. Comparative static is used to study pricing strategies.

It is found that with heterogeneous trading behavior, the transaction-based model is more profitable than the subscription-based model by reason of the feasibility of “price discrimination”. However, with certain advantages of subscription fees such as avoiding offline transactions, the subscription-based model is better with a concentrated distribution of sellers’ revenues (the Gini coefficient is small). With a lucrative long tail, the platform should set a low price to attract small sellers in the long tail. Besides, if the Gini coefficient is large, the effects of the market entry barrier of sellers on the optimal price in each model may be opposite.

It implies that the choice of revenue models and pricing strategies are influenced by the Gini coefficient or the long tail. The exogenous setting in which buyers can use the platform for free needs further extension.

The authors provide insights on how to choose revenue models and how to price the sellers with the long tail phenomenon.

This paper emphasizes the role of the long tail on pricing strategies and the effect of heterogeneous trading behavior on model selection.

The regional library systems of England and the interlending organisations in Wales and Scotland have been subjected to some drastic domestic changes and much modification of procedures during the last two years. Local government reorganisation in England and Wales has dominated the deliberations of the regional executive committees, and within the Bureaux the staffs have had to face up to the fact that their union catalogues will provide locations of authorities that no longer exist. The new authorities reached varying decisions regarding interlending within their boundaries — some moving rapidly towards total centralisation, others deciding to conduct loans through former independent towns until a central union catalogue could be created. LASER had of course seen all this before under the London Boroughs' reorganisation, but suffered the upheaval again in the outer areas of the region. With consequent decreases in membership, changes in representation on their governing bodies became necessary, rates of subscriptions had to be adjusted, and constitutions redrafted. Some regions took the opportunity to abandon the “usage” charge as a means of income, reverting to the standard method of subscriptions based on population — although interestingly the Northern region now bases its subscriptions on rateable value.