The endorser role of the music radio
station: The relationship between the
producer and intermediary in music
industry
Yan Mai
11391308
Master Thesis
MSc. In Business Administration
Entrepreneurship and Management in the Creative Industries Track University of Amsterdam
Faculty of Economics and Business 1st Supervisor: E. Dirksen MSc 2nd Supervisor: I. Rozentale MSc 23 June 2017
Statement of originality
This document is written by Yan Mai who declares to take full responsibility
for the contents of this document.
I declare that the text and the work presented in this document is original and
that no sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have
been used in creating it.
The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the
supervision of completion of the work, not for the contents.
Abstract
Endorsement marketing is an important strategy in branding. In the music industry, media channel is the most vital intermediary in marketing and play and that is the reason for the appearance of “Payola”. After “Payola” is forbidden, new modified forms of “Payola” occur. This thesis suggests that the radio station has the tendency to act as another intermediary role TPO endorsers, besides the role of gatekeeper which is widely recognized. It relates the endorsement theory of branding in marketing to the new theory of “Payola” and Gatekeepers in the creative industry. Hong Kong music industry is taken as the main focus point. The thesis examines one main music radio station and its interaction with 240 artists. New modified cooperation relationship between music radio stations and record labels is found and the results support the hypothesis that there is a positive relationship between the output and input from the artists. Suggestions are given to both producer and intermediary based on the result stating that to build cooperation and change the gatekeeper into endorsers, namely changing the selection system. Besides, this study suggests a new idea when considering start to introduce endorsement cooperation, which is trying to afford unique non-financial offer, instead of the pure financial offer, since it is more competitive and attractive for the ideal endorsers.
Content
1. Introduction ... 5
2. Literature Review ... 7
2.1 Branding and Endorsement Marketing ... 7
2.2 Music Radio, Gatekeeper of the field? ... 11
2.3 Music Radio and “Payola” ... 14
2.4 Music Radio, TPO Endorser doing modified “Payola” within legal movement ... 17
2.5 Music radio and legal “Payola” in Hong Kong music industry ... 21
3. Methodology ... 26 3.1 Research Design ... 26 3.2 Dependent Variables ... 27 3.3 Independent Variables ... 29 3.4 Control Variables ... 30 3.5 Data Collection ... 31 3.6 Method ... 32 4. Result ... 33 4.1 Descriptive statistics ... 33 4.2 Correlations ... 36 4.3 Regression analyses ... 38 5. Discussion ... 40
5.1 Theoretical foundations, hypotheses, and contributions to the literature ... 41
5.2 Limitations and future research ... 46
5.3 Practical implications ... 48
6. Conclusion ... 50
1. Introduction
Marketing is the core item in product selling period and endorsement marketing has become a very common branding strategy nowadays. An endorser is hired to advertise the brand and there is another type of such intermediary, namely Gatekeepers. In the creative industry, such intermediary seems to be very important, as this field is somehow new and not well structured, and there is no fixed rule for cultural goods and services. In the music industry, the radio station is a very traditional, old but still useful, influential and common intermediary medium. Some articles have discussed the role of radio station as an important gatekeeper in the music industry (Rothenbuhler 1985; 1987; Sanjek and Sanjek 1991; Keith Negus, 1993; Segrave 1994; Caves 2000, in Mark Percival 2011). A radio station reflects audiences tastes and (Barber, 2010; Peltoniemi, 2015) it plays an important role in the selection process (Pacey Foster et al, 2011).
As its special and vital role in marketing, “Payola” occurred since the 1930s. Such illegal movement is prohibited, as a Gatekeeper is supposed not to have a beneficial relationship with producers. Within the recent decades, “Payola” still occurred from time to time, because of its special function in business. More strict law and rules were made at the same time. However, prohibition does not end such movement but makes it change into other modified form (Katunich, 2001). Wilcken (2009) mentions how “Payola” occurs with a new form, namely “third-party loophole”. Repyneck mentions "friendship exception" in 2006, while Kronemyer (1987) discusses different modified financial contracts and cooperation. More attention is paid to modified “Payola” in this area and it is shown that a music radio station is playing a role
more than a gatekeeper. What is the changing tendency of the role of a radio station? How does a radio station adjust its role and make it in practice? And what is the mechanism between such modified legal “Payola”? And what strategies can radio stations and record labels apply in the current market? And this thesis is going to answer such questions.
To answer those questions, this thesis relates the endorsement theory of branding in marketing to the new theory of “Payola” and Gatekeepers in the creative industry. Mol and Wijnberg (2007) focus on the relationship between selectors and competitors in the selection system in their article, especially paying attention to the cultural industry. They conclude four general strategies for the producers and among these four strategies, two of them are similar to the marketing behavior of record labels in the music industry and are applicable to them. This thesis applies this theory to the relationship between the radio stations and record labels and discusses what role a radio station plays in the music industry. The aim of this study is to find the new modified cooperation relationship between music radio stations and record labels. Hong Kong music industry is taken as the main point and the relationship between the radio station and record labels is studied and discussed. Suggestions are given to both the producers and intermediaries, based on the study result, which is to build cooperation and change the gatekeeper into endorsers, namely changing the selection system.
This thesis is structured as follows: first, the literature reviews of endorsement marketing in branding, the music industry and the role of music radio station, the real situation in Hong Kong music industry and the hypotheses are presented. Second, the research design and the methodology are described. Third, the results are presented. Fourth, the results are discussed. Fifth, the conclusion rounds off this thesis.
2. Literature Review
In this section, the existing literature is reviewed. First, the literature of endorsement marketing strategy, which belongs to the branding theory, and the role of endorsers are introduced. Second, specific attention is paid to record popular music industry. Music radio station, acting the role as “Gatekeeper”, is discussed. Third, “Payola” behavior and its link to marketing in the music industry are discussed. Fourth, a new role of the radio station, TPO endorser (Third-party organization) is introduced. The link between endorsement and modified “Payola” movement is built and the first hypothesis is presented. Fifth, the thesis pays special attention to such relationship and movement in Hong Kong pop music industry. The specific situation within this area is discussed and the last two hypotheses are presented.
2.1 Branding and Endorsement Marketing
Nowadays, as advertising is a very common way to attract attention from consumers, managing branding strategically has become an important issue for organizations. In a market where advertising plays a vital role in coordinating consumer purchases, companies are always thinking about how to induct all possible measures to influence motivate and inculcate a desire to purchase, in the consumer through an effective advertising campaign (Ohanian, 1991, in Khatri, 2006).
In branding theory, such ideas are called brand equity, which is defined as the differential effect of brand knowledge on consumer response to the market of the brand (Keller, 1993). Keller (2001) set up the Customer Based Brand Equity (CBBE) model, which classifies
and “Attachment and Activity”, from low to high order. This model states that make yourself salience and make consumer identify you is the very beginning step. Once Awareness is created, the second level, Performance and Imagery, conveys the messages about “What are you”. This level, which is known by “Association” is very important, as the brand association is anything which is deeply seated in customer’s mind about the brand. A brand element as an internal side is usually the primary association and when it comes to the secondary
association, the external side. Keller (2005) argues that there are mainly four sources of Secondary Knowledge: People, Places, Things and other Brands. These four factors refer to what would consumer relate the brand to. Therefore, in order to create a stronger positive association, companies need to take actions to strengthen these factors. Attitude level refers to the judgment and feeling of the consumers and it is about consumer responses.Attachment and Activity level is the highest level in this model, referring the consumer resonance and loyalty. This thesis mainly focuses on the first and second level, as in the music product marketing, they are the basic levels and are more emphasized in the early stage of marketing.
Keller and Lehmann (2003) set up the Brand Value Chain model to explain how a brand creates values. In this model, the whole process consists of four steps: Market Program Investment, Customer Mindset, Brand Performance and Shareholder Value. Between
Customer Mindset and Brand Performance, there are some Multipliers that affect this process, which are marketplace conditions, channel support, and others. This process supports the CBBE model since once the brand image enters the consumer mindset, consumer response level is above Awareness and Association. To enter the next level of CBBE, the Attitude level, Keller and Lehmann (2003) point out the motivation: multipliers. Channel support is the link
between these two theories. To enter the fourth level of CBBE, the relationship should be built between the consumer and the producer, but this is not the point of this thesis.
In the music industry, the record labels’ goals are to influence consumer’s recall, to induce consumers’ trial, and therefore, eventually to affect consumer purchase decisions (Khatri, 2006). Moreover, recent technological innovations such as remote control television, video control systems, and cable and satellite diffusion have served to increase consumer power over programmed advertisements (Croft, Dean and Kitchen 1996). Because of this fact, the increasing competition for consumer consciousness and new product, marketers are encouraged to use attention-creating media stars to assist product marketing (Erdogan 1999).
In the Brand Value Chain model of Keller and Lehmann (2003), marketplace and
conditions and channel support are important multipliers for brand performance. In the music industry, the medium is that vital channel. And in the secondary association theory of Keller (2005), within the “Things” item, there is one important subfactor: third party endorsement. This is a very typical way for branding in the music industry. This part will be discussed in detail in chapter 2.4. Choi and Rifon (2007) use the sentence “mass media inundate audiences with celebrity images” to describe the situation in America. They point out that approximately 25% of all US television commercials feature celebrities, which implies the range of use of endorsement strategy. Such strategy, having celebrities help promote the services or products, is usually called endorsement in marketing. It is a frequently used approach in marketing for all brand building exercises (Khatri, 2006). These celebrities, usually enjoy a high degree of recognition, trust, respect or awareness amongst the people (Seno and Lukas, 2007). Seno and Lukas refer that endorser role can take the form of the celebrity as an expert, as a
spokesperson or as an aspirational figure. Khatri (2006) explains further roles of celebrities. A firm has a choice of using the celebrity as:
1. Testimonial: the celebrity used a product or service personally and then give out his testimonial to cite its benefits.
2. Endorsement: celebrities lend their names to ads.
3. Actor: A Celebrity may be asked to present a product or service as a part of character enactment rather than personal testimonial or endorsement.
4. Spokesperson: A celebrity who represents a brand or company over extended periods of time often in print and TV ads as well as in personal appearances.
The endorsers are seen as dynamic with both attractive and likable qualities (Atkin and Block, 1983, in Erdogan, 1999), for they use their fame and reputation to send positive signals to consumers and affect them. The purchase would be made after two steps: firstly, the product or service is within the remind set of consumers, and secondly, consumers consider its value positive. In this case, on one hand, influenced by such famous celebrities, consumers are easier to remember the products and services. On the other hand, consumers are easier to be convinced by the celebrities that the quality is trustable. By affecting those two consumer decision-making processes, celebrities help consumers remember and evaluate the products.
Meanwhile, another type of advertisement that appears to be growing in usage is product endorsement by a third-party organization (TPO), according to Dean and Biswas (2001). With TPOs endorsement has its advantage in sending positive signals of unobservable product quality. “By providing an evaluation of the products based on these experience characteristics, TPO endorsements may reduce consumer uncertainty and risk perception in a purchase
situation and reduce consumers' need for product information gathering” (Dean and Biswas, 2001). Relating TPO endorsement to selection system theory (Wijnberg and Gemser, 2000), we can define and adjust that TPO endorsement is positive expert selection, to some extent. The difference is that TPO endorsement is the corporation between marketers and TPO, and the TPO plays its role as a promoter, while expert selection in selection system is supposed to be the judger and is supposed that there is no beneficial relationship within. The beneficial relationship is the key to defining its role.
2.2 Music Radio, Gatekeeper of the field?
The entertainment industry is an important part of the cultural industry. Both
endorsement marketing and expert selection are widely applied in it. For example, a critic who is paid or hired to write his recommendation for a film would have very great influence in the box office, which can be seen as a celebrity endorsement. It is TPO endorsement when a famous film association makes the same action. However, if there is no beneficial
relationship between the critic and the film company, it is not an endorsement. When the critic is free and fair enough to judge the film, score it and decide whether recommend it or not, without interference, his role would be a selector in selection system theory.
The music industry is a significant segment of the entertainment industry, according to Florida and Jackson (2010). Music could be consumed only in real time before the 19th century. The invention of wireless and the radio in early 20th century greatly improved the way of music spread. In the 20th century, radio plays the most important role in music
commerce and “the developments in radio broadcasts have always involved an increase in popular music” (Kemppainen, 2012: 12). However, with the development of television, mobile, computer and Internet, the role of radio nowadays is weaker than its role in the past.
As Wijnberg and Gemser (2000) state in their article, a close inspection of the selection system of a particular industry is a very basic move to understand the dynamics of the competitive processes and the development of the institutional structures in that industry, a glance and analyses for music industry is the necessary work to giving deep study. In the music industry, the musicians and the record companies are seen as the producers, while those who are going to buy, listen or consume the music are seen as the consumers.
Although the role of radio in spreading music is weaker than that in the past, the record companies are still paying much attention to music radio. Sidak and Kronemyer (1987) say “radio airplay is advertising for prerecorded music”. They point out two important factors that shape the economic organization of record promotion, which is life cycle and Federal
Communications Commission (FCC1)'s "rule”. The extreme short life cycle motivates record labels to add the song to the pop and hot chart list as soon as possible. Besides, FCC prohibits a single entity from owning more than several radio stations and television stations,
preventing an individual firm from fully exploiting. In order to cover and reach more audiences, the promotional staff should make a good strategy to promote the songs in choosing radio stations. Mark Percival (2011) argues that music radio has the power to influence specific practices and shape the types of popular music. The dominant selectors
1 FCC:the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government created
by statute to regulate interstate communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable. It was formed by
the Communications Act of 1934 to replace the radio regulation functions of the Federal Radio Commission. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the media, public safety and homeland security, and
were the persons making decisions about which records were broadcast by the media (Rothenbuhler 1985; 1987; Sanjek and Sanjek 1991; Segrave 1994; Caves 2000, in Mark Percival 2011). On the one hand, music radio is shaping what record companies produce. Anand and Peterson (2000) list out three ways of how market information shapes the field, the first of which is about commercial music. They mention that the spread of weekly
performance charts makes it possible for field participants to know what is popular and which kind of music is worthy to make. By reading the information from the weekly charts,
provided by the music radio, musicians general their direction and inspiration. On the other hand, by engaging with research methodologies, programmers enable listeners to help determine the playlists, reflecting tastes of audiences (Barber, 2010). The radio station, as a group of critics, is under pressure to appear knowledgeable and therefore, try to align with consumer tastes (Peltoniemi, 2015). Therefore, we can argue that music radio is exactly playing the role of intermediary, namely “Gatekeeper” in the music industry.
Hirsch (1972) defines “Gatekeeper” as “surrogate consumer” employed by mass-media organizations to serve as fashion experts and opinion leaders for their respective
constituencies. These gatekeepers use complex networks of information sharing and exchange to manage the selection processes in markets. In the music industry, music radio, as a
gatekeeper, holds sway in providing mainstream distribution for internet performers as mediators (Balaji, 2012). Keith Negus (1993) concludes radio station “are not merely gatekeepers involved in selecting, sorting and ordering recordings for the public, but are important mediators who have direct impacts on the ‘reconstruction’ of musical catalogs”. The number of times the songs are played can influence the perceived popularity of a song.
As gatekeepers in the music industry, the radio stations decide which songs they are going to recommend to listeners and this movement might seriously relate to the success of a song and the musician. From this view, there is no doubt that Music Radio station is a very important “Gatekeeper” within the music industry. However, this conclusion is made on the basis of the fact that there is no beneficial relationship between the radio stations and record labels. From what we discussed above, we know the key to classify the Gatekeeper and the Endorser is to define the relationship between intermediary and producer. In this case, a music radio station is supposed to be a selector, making choices with fair judgment. However, such relationship is not stable and when this assumption changes, the role of radio station changes.
2.3 Music Radio and “Payola”
“There is no better guarantor of a band’s success than a hit single on the radio luring the listener into record stores to buy the album” (Slichter 2004: 76). As a radio station is
important to music producer, how to make good use of such vital resource has become a big item for musician and record company. Mol and Wijnberg (2007) focus on the relationship between selectors and competitors in the selection system in their article. “Because the selector determines the outcome of the competitive process, firms will attempt to win their favor by offering goods or services that are more likely to satisfy their preferences, compared to goods/services offered by competitor”. They conclude and develop four strategic options for the competitor, which are: competing directly, convincing the selectors to change their preferences, supporting the selectors in their competition, and changing the selection system.
This theory is then applied to the music industry, which is marked by overproduction and therefore, there is a filtering process by which records are preselected for public consumption.
Mol and Wijnberg (2007) discuss the Rock and Roll case and introduce Payola as two of the four strategies: changing the selector system and preferences by giving payola to the radio. “Payola” is a proper noun in the music industry, referring to the illegal practice of payment or other inducement given to radio stations by record companies for playing their songs in exchange. In this case, as local DJs are claimed to be the representatives of their audience and enjoy much greater autonomy, they were provided new music by the
independent music labels in the purpose of getting into the playlist. This movement is exactly Payola and can be seen as how record companies use the strategy to ally the radio
programmers. It is also a modified form of endorsement between the record labels and radio stations.
Such payments, which first appeared in the 1930s, became apparent in the late 1950s. An American TV show pushed it to the peak in 1958, and then “Payola” has become illegal and is now prohibited in America since the 1960s and it is now written in 47 U.S.Code 317 (U.S. LAW). However, during the past decades, the debate about the rationality of anti-payola law never ends. Repyneck (2006) summarizes both the arguments of supporter and opponents of the anti-Payola law. The supporters argue that broadcasting radio stations use the specific material in limited nature of access so that it should be regulated. They hold the view that permitting Payola would forces "bad music" on listeners, while on the contrary side, the opponents point out that payola “offers new artists a means of competing against more
is a commodity market, so it should not be regulated in such way. Because of these different opinions and arguments, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of United State needs to make conferences occasionally to update and adjust the recent law and rules.
Payola is expressly prescribed by the law, but people are always looking for a gap to fix the problems. According to Repyneck (2006), “those engaging in legally questionable
practices often maintain that there is a difference between payola and the pay-for-play stratagems actually utilized throughout the industry”. In fact, the difference between Payola and pay-to-play is whether the audience is informed before they listen. When radio stations bill record companies for airplay but notify listeners at the time of broadcast that the song is paid for, the radio stations are not against the federal payola regulations. 47 U.S.Code 317 (U.S. LAW) states that “All matter broadcast by any radio station for which any money, service or other valuable consideration is directly or indirectly paid, or promised to or charged or accepted by, the station so broadcasting, from any person, shall, at the time the same is so broadcast, be announced as paid for or furnished, as the case may be, by such person”. This section contains the most significant restrictions on the practice of pay-for-play and it means pay-for-play must be open to the public and if not, that would be Payola and be illegal. Acknowledging that public disclosure is also necessary for Licensee disclosures required under 47 U.S.Code 508 (U.S. LAW). Both Sections 317 and 508 prohibit only undisclosed payments for airplay. Therefore, Repyneck (2006) points out that so long as radio stations announce that a song has been paid for, record companies would be free to continue the current practice of making payments for broadcast. Such definition can be applied to the implication by record labels, without breaking the law. However, pay-to-play is regarded as
immoral movements and it is also somehow risky and therefore, new forms of interaction are applied.
2.4 Music Radio, TPO Endorser doing modified “Payola” within legal
movement
The anti-payola law leads “Payola” to the illegal situation, but it also arouses more similar forms of “Payola”. Nowadays, more and more articles and studies are made to find how “Payola” occurs in the dark and how “Payola” is changed into another form. Both record labels and radio stations are finding new and potentially destructive ways to circumvent the laws’ requirements, according to Katunich (2001). Wilcken (2009) mentions about how Payola” occurs under the new form “third-party loophole”, which is a different form of
“Payola” that has been used by the record industry through the loophole of being able to pay a third party or independent record promoters.In this case, the independent record promoter promotes those songs to radio stations, representing their clients, the record labels. Stilwell (2005) thinks it is a new type of payola which is an attempt to sidestep FCC regulations.
In fact, besides the pay-for-play and third-party loophole, there is another method for record labels. Although Payola is prohibited by the U.S. Law, the FCC made a gaping exception to the existing rules, commonly known as the "friendship exception." (Repyneck, 2006). The FCC held that "gifts of nominal value or social exchanges between friends are not Payola." Similar with a third-party loophole, this exception allows record companies and radio stations to use a mediator to sidestep the restrictions and to build cooperation. Sidak and Kronemyer (1987) discuss different modified financial contracts and cooperation in detail and
among those typical contracts and cooperation, Friendship Exception is one strong relative form. Friendship Exception is done by an intermediary named “Independent promoter” in this case. Record labels purchase service from the intermediary, named independent promoter, hoping that the independent promoter can secure airplay. This independent promoter is an individual or organization that pays specific attention to building the friendship and
cooperative relationship between media and record labels. Through the independent promoter, the direct or indirect relationship is built and once the relationship is built, the radio station is somehow involved in the promoting process.
In chapter 2.2 we discuss that music radio is playing the role of Gatekeeper in selection system. This conclusion is based on the assumption that there is no specific cooperation between music radio and record label. In chapter 2.3, we introduce the theory from Mol and Wijnberg (2007), stating that once cooperation or relationship is built, a new situation such as Payola and pay-for-play will occur. Since Balaji (2012) mentions that “gatekeepers are not independent of corporate-governed cultural production and in fact are often part of the labor involved in commodification”, it is reasonable to argue music radio has the tendency to involve in interaction with record labels. As endorsement marketing and endorsement are emphasized in chapter 2.1, it appears that music radio plays the role of TPO endorser to some extent. In the music industry, music radio station is the third-party organization besides the producer, musician and record labels, and consumers. The radio station does play the role of Gatekeeper. TPO endorser plays the role as promoter based on the cooperation with its partner. By receiving benefit from independent promoter indirectly or from record label directly, by building interaction relationship or by other ways, music radio seems not just play
the role of Gatekeeper anymore. Instead, some music radio stations enter the advertising and promoting process and become part of the marketing chain. Many cases and evidence show the interaction and cooperation between the radio station and music producer, so we make the first hypothesis:
Hypothesis 1: Music radio station has the tendency to act as the TPO endorser.
As a music radio station acts as a TPO endorser, the relationship between the radio station and record label is a beneficial interaction. We mentioned “Friendship exception” and the way of hiring Independent Promoter above, but both of them are about a financial
transaction, which is typical modified Payola and pay-for-play. Percival (2011) states that “Music radio needs records to fill airtime and to attract audiences the record industry needs the kind of pervasive exposure that airplay still provides to sell singles and albums and to build artist profiles. The rewards are mutual and equivalent”. Nowadays, most studies in this field are about modified “Payola”, especially financial cooperation and contracts, which mostly relates to the financial system between the radio station and record label. However, few studies have been made to pay attention to non-financial cooperation, other movements which are different from pay-for-play. “The methods change; the labels always trying to stay one-step ahead of the government, and obfuscate just enough to keep the system churning along as it always has” (TUNECORE, 2011). Actually, as regulation becomes more and more strict, more modified non-financial cooperation and interaction appear. And they can be seen as “legal Payola” in this era.
Balaji (2012) offers evidence that there is a substantive interaction between the corporation and the various intermediaries who shape the final product in his articles. This
relationship between the radio station and record label should be mutually beneficial. For musician and record label, there is no doubt that they would benefit from growing reputation of their songs. For the radio station, good quality music and famous artist help it attract more audiences. Ahlkvist and Fisher (2000) argue that commercial music radio is a segmented industry. They state that radio stations in larger markets are run in a morecommercialized way than the radio stations in smaller markets do. In this segmented industry, larger station tends to use famous artists to improve its quality and reputation. Ahlkvist (2001) then develops his theory into a specific model: Music radio’s discursive field of programming philosophy. He claims that radio stations with different styles and strategies have a different direction in choosing music, but “the task of audience programmers is to reflect the tastes of their station’s target audience by minimizing the difference between radio stations and the station’s core listeners”. Famous and popular singer usually own great amount of fans and followers, and that is why they are ideal partners for radio stations.
According to Percival (2011), one of the most common ways of promoters of record labels is the supply of the artist in person for an interview or live session. To ensure the place for their songs in the playlists, record labels ask the artists to go to the radio station in real and give a radio live session. For the radio stations, this movement improves their attraction and attention from the audiences, helps cut cost for promotion and keeps the possibilities of earning profit from copyright. What is more, Katunich (2001) discusses “Other Industry Practices Challenging the Laws” in detail, mentioning some non-financial interaction between the radio station and record company. According to Katunich, there is a new phenomenon in the music industry: a radio station agrees to increase airplay in exchange for an artists' free
concert appearance. As the role of gatekeeper, a radio station has the potential to abuse its power when demanding artist compliance. Artists often agree to play at free concerts because of the unspoken rule. A piece of news of The Guardian (2009) mentions that “a manager of a successful UK artist said that radio DJs in the US would ask for the artists to perform at the DJ's club for free in return for airplay (and the DJ would pocket the profit from ticket sales)”. Simon Wheeler, director of the digital for Beggars Group (whose artist roster includes MIA, the White Stripes and Adele), thinks that "Music has value," and consumption to music streaming services without any compensation is not wise. Since there is no clear financial contract for such show, live session, interview or performance, the anti-Payola law fails to regulate it. Therefore, we conclude that these are legal modified Payola. In this situation, record labels participate in the interaction mainly by giving a live session, interview and music show which held by the radio station. For exchange, radio stations play the songs from the artists. We make the sub-hypothesis:
Hypothesis 2a: There is a positive correlation between the frequency of legal Payola participation of both record labels and music radio stations.
2.5 Music radio and legal “Payola” in Hong Kong music industry
I have paid attention to the Hong Kong pop music industry for more than ten years, because of geographically link and language factor. For this reason, the Hong Kong pop music is familiar to me. Characterized by several different cultures and configurations of languages, Hong Kong music is special and famous for its diversity. Chinese Mandarin,
English, Japanese, Korean and Cantonese all play their roles in Hong Kong pop music. However, Chik (2010) states that Hong Kong is predominantly Cantonese-speaking with a growing proportion of the population knowing English and Mandarin. Cantonese is native language in Hong Kong and therefore Cantonese music, called “Cantopop”, stands its main status in Hong Kong music industry.
Since Hong Kong has a large population of the very limited land area, it is easier for information to spread and also easier to grasp such data. In this city with high population density, media, especially the radio and television station, plays its vital role in advertising. In recent years, the music industry is facing difficulty, especially in the Compact Disc album field, the sales of which is falling year by year. According to the data collected by Dong (2011), the Compact Disc album market turnover in 1994 was 1.7 billion HKD. It fell to 0.63 billion HKD in 2004 and to 0.57 billion HKD in 2006, which is almost one-third of the data of 1994. Obviously, this fall is mainly caused by electronic development and the popularity of the Internet. However, it also reflects the atrophy of record market. Nowadays, fewer artists are confident in releasing albums. Instead, record label prefers extended the play, one type of mini album, for it has lower cost and lower risk. Before making a mini album, record labels make and release a single song to give testing. The market feedback seems to determine whether a singer could release an album. The most famous female singer, Joey Yung, said on the stage of Ultimate Song Chart Awards Presentation 2016: “Nowadays, it is really hard to find a good chance to publicize our songs after we release albums. There are very few shows opportunity and holding a concert seems to be the only way. That is why the radio stations are important for us, singers. And I am always grateful to them.” The words from the “Queen of
Cantopop” reflect the importance of the radio stations for record industry in Hong Kong. As Ho (2003) states, “Radio broadcasts of Cantopop and the presentation of Cantopop music awards have made a major contribution to the recognition of local popular music”.
Traditionally, there are mainly four big and reputable music electronic media, which are Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), Commercial Radio (CR, also known as Radio 903), Metro Broadcast Limited (Metro) and Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB). TVB is the biggest television station in Hong Kong and the other three stations are the main radio media. According to Ho (2003), RTHK first began promoting broadcasting Cantopop in 1974 on RTHK2, the popular music channel and later instigated a weekly chart of top Cantopop songs, and the annual ‘Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Awards’ from 1978. In the 1980s, Commercial Radio (CR) was set up. Its popular music channel, CR2, has started to promote local
Cantopop for twenty-four hours a day since the mid-1980s, as a result of which it accounted for about 90 percent of the music programs by December 1988 (Choi, 1990; Chao, 1995, in Ho, 2003). Another commercial radio station, Metro Broadcast has also been broadcasting Canto-pop since 1991.
Every year, these four media held their own popular music award ceremonies and these four ceremonies are seen as the most important and iconic marks for the artists. Among the four media, Radio 903, known to support independent artists and original singers, is said to be the fairest one. Its Cantopop ceremony, named “Ultimate Song Chart Awards Presentation” (USCAP) is held fixedly on January 1st every year, which is a very positive signal for its reputation. It has a long history with more than 50 years, similar with RTHK, while TVB and Metro are under 50. Every year USCAP is attended by most artists, compared to the other
three ceremonies. The most important factor is, the rule of USCAP is outward and open, which totally depends on the play times of songs and singers, while those of the other 3 media are a combination of Fans vote, peer vote, and radio vote. In another word, the awards from Radio 903 totally depend on the radio itself, therefore reflecting only the attitude of the radio, which greatly controls the variable and would be a good choice for research. As the rule of USCAP is open, a specific website is formed by the public to record every song Radio 903 plays during the whole year. For above reason, we choose Radio 903 (Commercial Radio station) and “Ultimate Song Chart Awards Presentation” (USCAP) as an object in this study. Since the awards in this ceremony totally depend on the play times, record labels in Hong Kong pay very much attention in the playlists. As we discuss much Payola and modified legal Payola in Chapter 2.4, a similar movement is applied in Hong Kong music industry. In Hong Kong, Law system consists of statutory law and customary law. In this case, the Statutory law refers to the “Prevention of Bribery Ordinance” (POBO) (Independent Commission Against Corruption2, 2017), which was published in 1971. According to the law in Hong Kong, the three major radio stations in Hong Kong are public bodies and their employees are the same as public officials, subject to more supervision than the private sector. According to section 5 of POBO (ICAC, 2017), “any public servant who solicits or accepts any advantage as an inducement to or reward for giving assistance or using influence in matters relating to a contract shall be guilty of an offence; the offeror of the advantage shall also be guilty of an offence.” It means that if any person that provides any benefits to them to win the prize for the
2 ICAC: The Independent Commission Against Corruption of Hong Kong was established by Governor Sir Murray
MacLehose on 15 February 1974, when Hong Kong was under British rule. Its main aim was to clean up endemic corruption in the many departments of the Hong Kong Governmentthrough law enforcement, prevention and community education. The ICAC is independent of the Hong Kong Civil Service. The Basic Law of Hong Kong stipulates that the ICAC shall function
singer, that is, to bribe public officials. The most noted scandal should be the Emperor Entertainment Group (EEG) Payola event. In 2003, EEG, the biggest record company, was exposed to bribe in relation with some radio stations. The boss of EEG, Yeung Sau Shing, was taken away by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) for investigation. EEG is suspected of providing benefits to the senior executives of the broadcasters to ensure that the songs of the company's singers are high in the charts and can be awarded in the music awards presented by the broadcaster. This event reflects the direct Payola usage in that time and it is also an alert for record labels. From then on, a new form of operation appeared.
With high reputation and recognition degree in Cantopop, Radio 903 pays much attention to music function and activities. Every year, a specific concert named “LIVE concert” is held by Radio 903. These concerts sell tickets and they are somehow profitable. Besides these large concerts, some other small concerts are also available. For example, in 2016, three small concerts named “Rooftop Concert” were really successful. In these concerts, singers are invited to participate and according to what we discuss in chapter 2.4, it is exactly the artists’ participation in cooperation relationship. Besides musical events, Radio 903 holds a very meaningful and important charitable event every year, “Hunger 30”, which is “world vision famine events”. It is a global charitable event, aiming to raise money for the hungry people around the world by experiencing fasting for 30 hours. This event was firstly held in Hong Kong in 2000 by World Vision Hong Kong and Radio 903. Every year, Radio 903 takes part in it, and also invites famous artists to compose annual theme songs and publicizes the great event. By taking part in such charitable event, artists support Radio 903 in the non-musical area. Since Radio 903 controls the playing of songs, it is reasonable that playing the
songs from the artists who support the radio station could be a reward of the gift. Therefore, in this chapter, relating to Hong Kong Cantopop, the last two sub-hypotheses about playing times and music ceremony award separately can be made:
Hypothesis 2b: In the specific period, artists who take part in activities held by Radio 903 would enjoy more playing times for their songs in Radio 903.
Hypothesis 2c: In the specific period, artists who take part in activities held by Radio 903 would have greater probability to win award in “Ultimate Song Chart Awards Presentation” (USCAP)
3. Methodology
In this section, the research methodology is presented firstly, Research Design is described. Secondly, explanation of data is given. Thirdly, the process of data collection is shown and described in detail. Finally, the method for analysis is introduced.
3.1 Research Design
The empirical setting of this study is the relationship between the music radio station and the musician and record labels in Hong Kong popular music industry. The research has two objectives. The first aim of is to prove that as a gatekeeper, music radio station is also playing the role of TPO endorser. The second aim is to prove that there is a positive interaction
between them. Four hypothesis (Hypothesis 1, 2a, 2b and 2c) are made in the literature review section, and there is a close relationship among them. Hypothesis 1, supposing that music
radio station has the tendency to act as the TPO endorser, is a general assumption and issue. Hypothesis 2a, which assumes that there is a positive correlation between the two sides, is the actual practical action of the assumption of Hypothesis 1. In another word, Hypothesis 1 can be supported if Hypothesis 2 is proved. Furthermore, the empirical setting and research area of this study is Hong Kong popular music industry, and Hypothesis 2b and 2c are the concrete manifestations of Hypothesis 2a in Hong Kong Cantopop industry. That is, Hypothesis 2b and 2c is the real practical appearance of Hypothesis 2a within the specific real case, the Hong Kong Cantopop field. To sum up, in the study method and design, attention will be paid to test the Hypothesis 2b and 2c. By testing Hypothesis 2b and 2c, we can probably get useful data to support Hypothesis 2a, and therefore finally discuss Hypothesis 1.
In this research design, two analysis, about the playing times and awards separately, are made and six variables are included. Correlation Analysis among the variables is made in the first step. Second, Regression Analysis about the playing times and awards are made.
3.2 Dependent Variables
In the research, there are two dependent variables: Playing times and Awards.
Playing times refer to the total times of a singer’s all plugged songs played by Radio 903 within one year. It is the dependent variable of the H2b, including all the artists. As mentioned in chapter 2.5, the ranking of Radio 903 weekly chart is based on the playing times within the week. It starts at 12:00 of every Wednesday and ends at 11:59 of the next Wednesday. Songs are played in every program by the DJs and they have the right to choose the songs. Although every DJ owns his taste, there is a content in every week for all DJs, which reflects the
attitude of the whole radio station. Therefore, by focusing on the playing times, we can find the attitude towards the artists from Radio 903.
This set of data can be accessed on a website named “Cool Music Forum”, which started to record every playing song and the times from 2013. Therefore, we can get the full data from 2013 to 2016, including playing times of each song during the year and weekly chart. This set of data is secondary, complied, numerical, discrete, scattered and observational data, need to be summarized in Excel form and showed as charts. It is quantitative and is divided into different artists, followed by their plugged songs in the same period.
As every singer would plug a different number of songs every year, it is not reasonable to compare the total playing times of a singer. Furthermore, this research is made to pay attention to the singer activities, not about the songs. Therefore, instead, average playing times of every song is introduced. Achieving the total playing times of a singer and the number of songs the singer plug in that year, average playing times can be calculated:
Average playing times = number of songs the singer plug within the yearTotal playing times of a singer Awards refer to how many awards a singer wins in the “Ultimate Song Chart Awards Presentation” (USCAP). It is the dependent variable of the H2c. Every January 1st, this
ceremony is held by Radio 903. In the ceremony, around 40 awards are given to the artists, based on the playing times of certain items. There are mainly two types of awards, which are singer award and song award. For example, for the “Annual Top- 10 song”, is given to the 10 highest playing times songs, under the rule that every singer can get no more than 1.5 songs in this award. When it comes to singer award, such as the “Golden Men singer”, it is for the men singer who owns the highest playing times of all his songs within the year.
This set of data can be accessed in Radio 903 official website and large encyclopedia website and contains the annual ceremonies from 2005 to 2016. This set of data is primary, complied, categorical, ranked, complete and observational data, which can be obtained directly. It is qualitative and is divided into years, followed with every award in the annual music ceremony.
3.3 Independent Variables
Times of activities participation in any specific year is the independent variable of both H2b and H2c, which is about the singers’ participation in specific activities held by Radio 903. There are three main, important and iconic activities: annual musical event “903 LIVE concerts”, annual musical event “903 Rooftop concert”, and annual charitable event “Hunger 30”.
These three activities are mentioned in the literature review section already. They are chosen as the sample activities because of their importance. The two musical concerts are not only the vital and ace musical events for Radio 903 during the year but also very attractive opportunities for singers. The charitable event is also the biggest non-musical event for Radio 903 during the year, which manifests its social responsibility.
This set of data can be accessed in Radio 903 official Facebook and website, and also from large encyclopedia website. This set of data is primary, raw, scattered and observational data, needed to summarize and showed as text and charts. It is qualitative and is divided into different artists, followed by their participation in different activities and time.
average playing times and awards in one specific year can be seen as one observation. The running rules and ceremony rules of Radio 903 remain stable in the past ten years.
Furthermore, this research is to compare the relationship between activities and reward of every single observation, instead of comparing the same singer in different years or different singer in the same year. Therefore, the time factor Year, in this case, is not a significant factor. In order to make the model easier and concentrated, and to achieve larger observation, year factor is ignored, which means, one singer can be divided into 16 items observation. For example, Singer A owns his awards number from 2005 to 2016 (totally 12 years) and average playing times from 2013 to 2016(totally 4 years), with his different activities-joining-times in that specific year. His activities times “an” in 2005 and awards number “b” in 2005 are the first item observation: (a, b). And his activities times “c” in 2006 and awards number “d” in 2006 are the second item observation: (c, d), etc.
3.4 Control Variables
Three control variables are included in this study: the singer category, the record labels of the singer and how powerful it is, and origin place of the singer. These three variables are not the emphasis of this study. However, they should play important roles in the reaction mechanism.
The singer category refers to the form. A singer can be male, female, and group. In the traditional Cantonese market, an individual singer always owns more stable and better advantages. Radio 903 is known to be inspiring and encouraging new music style. In the past few years, more and more groups appeared and therefore, the singer category is included as a
control variable.
The record label is a very important factor because most of the marketing and promoting process is made by the record label, instead of the singer. Different singers come from different record labels, and the power of them differs, such as the size, capital, resources, and reputation. There are several biggest record labels in Hong Kong, such as EEG, Media Asia Music, Universal Music Group, and etc. These labels are usually more powerful and mature in songs marketing and negotiation, so it is believed that singers from these labels enjoy the better reaction. However, as Radio 903 is known to encouraging small labels, new music, and individual singers, more and more singers without strong backup are having their places in Radio 903. For this reason, the record labels of the singer and their power are included as a control variable.
Origin place of singer refers to whether the singer is a local Hong Kong singer or a singer from other areas. Encouraging and improving local music is one of the most important aims of Hong Kong music market. Singers from other areas, usually from mainland China and Taiwan, sometimes make their market expansion and promotion in Hong Kong. However, their goals are normally for short term marketing. It is reasonable that local singers are the main focus of Radio 903. For this reason, origin place of the singer is included as a control variable.
3.5 Data Collection
The main dependent variable, playing times can be assessed at a website named “Cool Music Forum”. In the website, data are formed on a weekly chart, showing the top 20 played songs, their names, their singers and the times. In this case, annual data are needed. Therefore, weekly chart data is a spin-off, divided into songs. Excel form is used to record. Each singer
is one entity, their play times every week are added and the total times are calculated. Adding the number of songs the singer plugged in that specific year, the average playing times of a singer can be calculated.
Another dependent variable: awards, along with the independent variable: activities participation times, can be obtained from Radio 903 official website. Data is recorded in Excel file. For the awards data, only awards related to playing times are recorded and only the number of the award is recorded. In this case, the level of award is ignored. For example, the gold male singer is recorded as 1, the same as a silver male singer.
For the three control variables, data are recorded one by one, by searching and matching the data of the singer. For the singer category, male singer is recorded into “1”, female singer is recorded into “2” and group singer is recorded into “3”. For the record labels, the names are listed. According to the general power, three levels are made. The companies EEG, Universal Music Group, Media Asia Music, Rock, East Asia Music, Warner Music, Sun Entertainment, Sony, HIM International Music and EMI are seen as the powerful labels, recorded into ”3”. The other several labels with medium size, artists and reputation are recoded into “2”. The individual singer or singer from small labels are recorded into “1”. For the Origin place of the singer, singers from Hong Kong are recoded into “1”, while the other are recorded into “2”.
3.6 Method
SPSS 24 is the main analysis tool of this Study.
Firstly, simple and normal data overview and analysis of every variable are made.
singer category, record labels and origin place is made. As there are two different models for playing times and reward separately, the variable are different, therefore two Correlation Analysis are made.
Finally, as the main aim of this study is to test and prove how activities participation affects the playing times and ceremony awards, linear regression is made. However, three control variables are introduced in the study, therefore, hierarchical regression is made instead.
4. Result
In this section, the results are presented. First, the descriptive statistics of the observation are described. Second, correlations are presented. Third, the results of the regression analyses are discussed.
4.1 Descriptive statistics
There are totally 240 singers. Table 1 shows the basic descriptive statistics of three control variable. 100 (41.7％) singers are male, 93 (38.8％) are female, and 47 (19.5％) are a group. The percent presents that individual singers take up the majority of the observation. When it turns to the record labels, among the 240 singers, 137(57.1％) of them are from most powerful record labels, 41(17.1％) of them are from medium labels, while the rest 62(25.8％) are from small labels or independent singers. From this data, a truth is told that more than half of the singers in the observation own strong back-up from their record labels. Although unbalanced
with strong resources still benefit the singers much in a marketing promotion. Furthermore, 188(78.3％) of the singers are local Hong Kong singers, while the rest 52 (21.7％) are from the other areas.
Table 1: Descriptive statistics of three control variable
Singer Category Male Female Group
100 (41.7％) 93 (38.8％) 47 (19.5％)
Record label Strong Medium Weak
137(57.1％) 41(17.1％) 62(25.8％)
Place of Origin Hong Kong other
188(78.3％) 52 (21.7％)
(Source: author) In the relationship between activities participation and playing times, activities
participation is the independent variable and average playing times is the dependent variable. As we have the data for playing times from 2013 to 2016, totally 4 years, and the initial observations are 240 singers, after we see the year as a simple mark of data, we get
240*4=960 observations in this model. Since the premise of playing times is that one singer plugged his/her song in that year, therefore, observation with “0” in plugged song are deleted from the 960 observations. And there are 462 effective observations left. Table 2 shows the descriptive statistics of activities participation and playing times. Among the 462
observations, 420 (90.9％) singers did not participate in the three activities. This result is not surprising because of the famous and influential activities of the reputable radio station, there is a very limited vacancy. Just 8.9％ of the observations have experience in these activities
and one singer participates twice within the same year. For the dependent variable, the average of the 462 observations is 44.2 and the mean is 43, very close to the average number. Among them, the max is 154 times and the min is 2 times.
Table 2: Descriptive statistics of activities participation and playing times
Activities participation times 0 1 2
420 (90.9％) 41 (8.9％) 1(0.2％)
Average playing times Average Mean Max Min
44.2 43 154 2
(Source: author) In the relationship between activities participation and ceremony award, activities participation is the independent variable and ceremony reward is the dependent variable. As we choose the data of reward from 2005 to 2016, totally 12 years, and the initial observation is 240 singers, after we see the year as a simple mark of data, we get 240*12=2880
observation in this model. Table 3 shows the descriptive statistics of these two variables. Similar finding with table 2 can be found. The majority of observations did not participate in the activities. And referring to the reward number, as the reward number of Ultimate Song Chart Awards Presentation” (USCAP) remains very stable every year, keeping the number around 25-30. What are more, observations who get no reward take up the majority percentage, while some singers are possible to get maximum 5 awards in one year.
Table 3: Descriptive statistics of activities participation and reward number Activities participation times 0 1 2 3 2716 (94.1％) 156 (5.5％) 7(0.3％) 1(0.1％) Reward number in the same year
0 1 2 3 4 5
2688(93.3％) 126(4.3％) 51(1.8％) 10(0.3％) 4(0.2％) 1(0.1％)
(Source: author)
4.2 Correlations
Table 4 and Table 5 show the result of correlation analysis for model 1 and model 2. Table 4 is about the correlation analysis of activities – playing times model. The table shows that both company power and activities had significant positive correlations with the average playing times (resp., r = .208, p < .01; r = .268, p < .01). Origin of the place had significant negative correlations with the average playing times (r = -.202, p < .01). This could suggest that singers with stronger record label background and with more activities participation enjoyed higher average playing times. Also, it shows that company power had a significant negative correlation with nature (r =-.165, p < .01). However, this result does not make sense in reality. Furthermore, activities had a significant negative correlation with origin of place (r = -.092, p < .05). This result is reasonable since local artists are much possible to take part in the activities for geography reason.
Table 4: Means, standard deviations, and correlations -1 Variables Mean SD 1 2 3 4 1 Singer Category 1.76 .750 2 Company Power 2.38 .832 -.165** 3 Origin of Place 1.14 .347 -.010 .009 4 Activities .10 .309 -.006 .076 -.092*
5 Average Playing times 43.83 29.97 -.022 .208** -.202** .268**
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
(Source: author’s Calculation) Table 5 is about the correlation analysis of activities – reward model. The table shows that both company power and activities had significant positive correlations with the reward number (resp., r = .140, p < .01; r = .584, p < .01). Origin of place had significant negative correlations with reward number (r = -.112, p < .01). This could suggest that singers with stronger record label background and with more activities participation enjoyed more reward in the annual ceremony. Similar with model 1, it shows that company power had a significant correlation both with nature and origin of place (resp., r = -.130, p < .01; r = .055, p < .01), but they does not make sense in reality. Moreover, it shows that activities participation time had a significant positive correlation with company power and negative correlation with origin of place (resp., r = .119, p < .01; r = -.095, p < .01). They are meaningful since singers from the local market have the natural geography advantage in the possibility of activities participation. Similarly, singers from powerful record labels have an advantage in getting opportunities while competing singers from other labels.
Table 5: Means, standard deviations, and correlations -2 Variables Mean SD 1 2 3 4 1 Singer Category 1.77 .748 2 Company Power 2.31 .855 -.130** 3 Origin of Place 1.18 .387 -.012 .055** 4 Activities .06 .252 -.034 .119** -.095** 5 Reward .10 .409 -.031 .140** -.112** .584**
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed). *. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).
(Source: author’s Calculation)
4.3 Regression analyses
Table 6 and Table 7 present the results of two regression analyses. Table 6 is about the correlation analysis of activities – playing times model. In correlation analysis, we find that company power, the origin of place and activities had significant correlations with the average playing times. Therefore, a hierarchical regression with 3 steps is made and all the 3 steps analyses are significant (p*** < 0.001). In step one, nature and company power are the independent variables and the result shows that 3.9％ of the average playing time changes are explained by them, which is not high and obvious. In step two, the origin of the place is added into the model and it causes 4％ of R square change. In step three, the main variable we focus on, activity times is added. However, this main independent variable just causes 5.4％ of R square change, which overweighs little than company power and origin of place. In this model, the Standard Error all remains high. Two important reasons can be given: there is just 460 observation and the recode for the variables are small range number.
Table 6: Hierarchical regression result of Model 1 R R² R² Change F B SE β t Step 1 .20 8 .039*** 10.4 79 Nature .508 1.841 .013 .276 Company Power 7.556 1.660 .210*** 4.553 Step 2 .29 1 .079*** .040*** 14.2 77 Nature .434 1.803 .011 .241 Company Power 7.609 1.625 .211*** 4.682 Origin of Place -17.612 3.846 -.204*** -4.579 Step 3 .37 5 .133*** .054*** 18.8 06 Nature .375 1.749 .009 .214 Company Power 6.946 1.581 .193*** 4.392 Origin of Place -15.723 3.748 -.182*** -4.195 Activities 23.038 4.25 .237*** 5.453 Significance: p*** < 0.001
(Source: author’s Calculation) Table 7 is about the correlation analysis of activities – reward model. In correlation analysis, we find that company power, the origin of place and activities had significant correlations with the reward. Therefore, a hierarchical regression with 3 steps is made and all the 3 steps analyses are significant (p*** < 0.001). In step one, nature and company power are the independent variables and the result shows that 1.9％ of the reward changes are explained by them, which is low. In step two, the origin of the place is added into the model and it just causes 1.4％ of R square change. In step three, the main variable we focus on, activity times is added. Different from Model 1, this main independent variable causes 31.6％ of R square
2880 and the Standard Error all remains low. These low standard errors improve the credibility of this analysis.
Table 7: Hierarchical regression result of Model 2
R R² R² Change F B SE β t Step 1 .140 .019*** 28. 88 8 Nature -.007 .010 -.013 -.684 Company Power .066 .009 .138*** 7.417 Step 2 .185 .033*** .014*** 33. 83 0 Nature -.007 .010 -.013 -.723 Company Power .069 .009 .145*** 7.812 Origin of Place -.127 .019 -.120*** -6.548 Step 3 .591 .349*** .316*** 38 6.6 85 Nature -.001 .008 -.002 -.162 Company Power .036 .007 .075*** 4.901 Origin of Place -.066 .016 -.062*** -4.103 Activities .924 .025 .569*** 37.36 3 Significance: p*** < 0.001
(Source: author’s Calculation)
5. Discussion
In this section, the results of the analyses presented in the previous section are discussed and possible explanations are presented. Firstly, the results of the hypotheses are discussed and related to existing theory. Secondly, limitations of this study, directions for future research and contributions to the literature are provided. Lastly, practical implications are presented.
5.1 Theoretical foundations, hypotheses, and contributions to the literature
In chapter 4, correlation analyses and regression analyses are made. Firstly, company power is found to have a significant low correlation with the singer category. This finding is not reasonable in reality, as there is no logical relation between two variables. Secondly, the origin of the place is found to have a significant medium correlation with company power. The correlation coefficient is medium and this relationship is not obvious in reality. One possible explanation for this finding could be: for the singers from other areas, the company power plays an important role in whether they can make their song promotion in another area. For example, if someone is an individual singer in Taiwan, he has very limited resources and relationship link to Hong Kong market. Therefore, it is difficult for him to publicize his song in Hong Kong and he can not make his place in the observation of this study. Finally, activity is found to have a significant correlation with company power and origin of place. The
correlation coefficient of company power is low, which means company power does affect the possibility of participation in activities, but the correlation is not strong. The correlation coefficient of origin of the place is very high (-.95), showing that geography directly affects the activities.
For the average playing time model, company power, origin of place and activities are found to have a significant influence on average time. However, in regression analyses, all the three variable explain the little change of total average playing times (around 5％ each). This finding is out of expectation since for radio station, playing song is much easier and more feasible than affording awards to singers. In this model, average playing times, instead of total playing times, is used as dependent variable. This setting would somehow influence the result,
as the singers who plugged only one or two songs in the specific year would increase the reliability of average playing times. Even the influence is not high enough, participation in activities is still the most important variable in this model and this data support hypothesis 2b - In the specific period, artists who take part in activities held by Radio 903 would enjoy more playing times for their songs in Radio 903.
For the ceremony award model, company power, origin of place and activities are found to have a significant influence on it. Both company power and origin of place just contribute a very low percentage of award change (1.9％ and 1.4％ respectively). In contrast,
participation in activities plays very main and important role here, as a 31.6％ change of dependent variable is explained by activities. This result indicates that taking part in the activities held by Radio 903 would greatly increase the possibility of winning the award in the annual ceremony. This finding strongly supports hypothesis 2c - In the specific period, artists who take part in activities held by Radio 903 would have a greater probability of winning the award in “Ultimate Song Chart Awards Presentation” (USCAP).
In chapter 2, hypothesis 2b and 2c are derivative from hypothesis 2a and they are a concrete manifestation of hypothesis 2a. Since we have argued that the resulting support hypothesis 2b and 2c, especially for hypothesis 2c, hypothesis 2a can be supported. In this study, taking part in the activities to support radio station is the offer from record labels, and song playing and ceremony award are the offers from music radio stations. Hypothesis 2b and 2c state that the taking part in activities would increase the possibility of enjoying more playing times and winning the award. Therefore, it is reasonable to argue that there is a
