Rejoinder on “Frontiers: The Interplay of User-Generated Content, Content Industry Revenues, and Platform Regulation: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from YouTube”
Nils Wlömert, Dominik Papies, Michel Clement, Martin Spann
Marketing Science · 2024 · Volume 43 · Issue 1
Abstract
Tushnet [Tushnet R (2023) Comment on “Frontiers: The interplay of user-generated content, content industry revenues, and platform regulation: Quasi-experimental evidence from YouTube”. Marketing Sci . 43(1):13–15] provides a commentary on Wlömert et al. [Wlömert N, Papies D, Clement M, Spann M (2023) Frontiers: The interplay of user-generated content, content industry revenues, and platform regulation: Quasi-experimental evidence from YouTube. Marketing Sci . 43(1):1–12], who analyzed the quasi-experiment that occurred when numerous songs became available as user-generated content (UGC) on YouTube, following an agreement between YouTube and the German collecting society GEMA. Tushnet’s thoughtful commentary centers around the scope of legal protection that UGC platforms enjoy, and whether the situation examined in Wlömert et al. qualifies as a “legal safe harbor.” In our rejoinder, we clarify the study’s relevance for questions concerning platform regulation, highlight the implications of these regulatory aspects for platforms’ strong bargaining power, as reflected in comparatively low payouts to rightsholders, and discuss how the sampling versus cannibalization effects that we study impact market outcomes for different stakeholders under these market conditions. History: Olivier Toubia served as the senior editor.
Keywords
user-generated content, digital platform regulation, safe harbor, channel cannibalization, music streaming
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