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Bachelor’s Thesis Business Administration

Supervisor: Dr. Michele Piazzai

Date: 25-06-2019

Optimally Differentiated Products in the Music Industry

A case study on how optimal differentiation on product level in music recordings might be achieved.

Name Student number

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Statement of Originality

This document is written by Thomas Lieftinck who declares to take full responsibility for the contents of this document.

I declare that the text and the work presented in this document are 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.

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Abstract

Uncertainty in product performance is relatively high in cultural industries making it challenging for organizations to assess whether the launch of a new product will yield the desired results. Previous research suggests that uncertainty may be decreased by achieving optimal differentiation on product level. Therefore, this study examines the advantages and disadvantages of achieving optimal differentiation in music recordings at the product level by combining two or more different types of music genres. This is done by first analyzing relevant literature in order to compare the literature to multiple cases which involve optimally differentiated products in the music recording industry. The case studies confirmed and illustrated multiple advantages and disadvantages as anticipated by the literature. Finally, this study suggests method improvements and options for further research.

Keywords

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Index

1. Introduction 4

2. Literature Review 5

2.1 Similarity versus Novelty 5

2.2 Optimal Differentiation 6

2.3 Combining Music Genres 7

2.4 Category Spanning 8

3. Research Design 9

4. Results 12

4.1 ‘Old Town Road’ 12

4.2 ‘Walk This Way’ 14

4.3 ‘Daddy Lessons’ 16

5. Conclusion and Discussion 17

5.1 Conclusion 17

5.2 Discussion 18

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1. Introduction

The total revenue of the global recorded music industry in 2018 reached a significantly high amount of 19.1 billion US Dollars with a market growth of 9.7% compared to 2017 (IFPI, 2019a). This indicates that the music industry is recovering after its decline in 2005 that followed the digitisation of musical recordings. According to IFPI (2019b), the best selling artist of 2018 reached 14 million streams with a single track in one day breaking streaming records at both Spotify and Apple. Such an achievement is likely to be categorized as a significantly high product performance and therefore an accomplishment to strive for as a record label. Although high product performance seems to be a logical objective to aim for, it appears to be difficult in the music industry to determine how it is accomplished. According to Caves (2000), uncertainty in product performance is relatively high in cultural industries making it challenging for organizations to assess whether the launch of a new product will yield the desired results. This can partially be explained by the subjective evaluation that comes in to play when products of cultural industries are being consumed (Krueger, 2005). Therefore, it is important for organizations in the music industry to come up with product strategies that minimize risk and maximize potential for high performance in order to deal with this uncertainty.

According to recent research on product performance in the music industry, uncertainty may be decreased by achieving optimal differentiation on product level (Askin & Mauskapf, 2017). By combining conventional product features with novel product features, Askin and Mauskapf (2017) argue that a similarity-differentiation tradeoff will result in a greater possibility to obtain high product performance. Although the advantages of optimal differentiation are supported by previous research (Askin & Mauskapf, 2017), little is known about the process needed to achieve optimal differentiation. Therefore, the purpose of this

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study is to give more insight in how optimal differentiation on product level in the music industry may be obtained by combining sociological research on cultural taste with literature on product performance, and then comparing the literature to multiple cases which involve optimally differentiated products in the music recording industry. This study examines whether optimal differentiation on product level in the music industry might be obtained by combining two or more different types of music genres. This leads to the following research question:

What are the possible advantages and disadvantages of achieving optimal

differentiation in music recordings at the product level by combining two or more different types of music genres?

In order to answer this research question, the following sub-questions need to be addressed. Firstly, how can optimal differentiation in music recordings on product level be defined? Secondly, how can optimal differentiation be achieved through the combination of different music genres? Thirdly, what are the possible advantages and disadvantages of doing so?

2. Literature Review

2.1 Similarity versus Novelty

Previous research has addressed the importance of managing the balance between imitation and differentiation with respect to competitors (Deephouse, 1999). Firms need to act similar to competitors to conform to certain norms, expectations and practices in order to avoid condemnation (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983; Goldberg et al., 2016). Besides that, by acting similar to competitors that are performing well, firms are able to obtain success by imitating

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the same strategies and practices (Dhanaraj & Logan, 2005). For products in the music industry this implies that by following certain trends and copying past success, product performance would improve when offering a product that sounds familiar to listeners rather than unfamiliar (Askin & Mauskapf, 2017).

On the other hand, firms need to be able to distinguish themselves from competitors by securing access to resources that are valuable, rare, inimitable, and nonsubstitutable in order to develop a sustainable competitive advantage (Barney, 1991). This way, firms are able to differentiate themselves from their peers by developing differentiated products that help organizations compete with their competitors (Deephouse, 1990). For products in the music industry this implies that product performance would benefit from a product that sounds like something completely new by offering a song that is novel and differentiated. Interestingly, previous research argues that a balance between imitation and differentiation is likely to yield the best results (Askin & Mauskapf, 2017; Deephouse, 1999; Zhao et al., 2016). This balance is often referred to as optimal differentiation.

2.2 Optimal Differentiation

Optimal differentiation is achieved by combining both conformity and novelty to obtain a similarity-differentiation tradeoff (Askin & Mauskapf, 2017; Deephouse, 1999; Zhao et al., 2016). According to Deephouse (1999), firms should focus on obtaining a moderate level of novelty in order to distinguish themselves from competitors while at the same time maintaining a ‘legitimate’ degree of conformity. This way, penalties that might result from breaking norms and expectations are minimized while firms are able to achieve differentiation compared to their peers (Deephouse, 1999).

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According to Askin and Mauskapf (2017), songs that achieve optimal differentiation on the level of product features are more likely to achieve success. Such product features would include song duration, key, instrumentation and thematic message amongst other product features (Askin & Mauskapf, 2017). Askin and Mauskapf (2017) found that most hit songs are optimally differentiated from their peers. To give an example, Askin and Mauskapf (2017) argue that optimally differentiated songs contain feature combinations that are considered as conventional and associated with successful songs, while also containing novel features that allow the song to distinguish itself from competitors. Therefore, in this research an optimally differentiated product in the music recording industry is defined as a music recording that consists of both novel product features as well as conventional product features.

2.3 Combining Music Genres

Recent research states that individuals tend to appreciate a broad range of cultural product genres (Smith Maguire, 2018), whereas a few decades ago individuals tended to have a more narrow taste (Bourdieu, 1997). According to Bourdieu (1997), individuals use cultural taste in order to distinguish oneself from others. This is often referred to as cultural capital and functions as a means of signaling identity. Bourdieu (1997) states that a preference for a certain cultural taste often comes in combination with aversion for another cultural taste. Individuals belonging to a certain social class would use their ‘univore’ cultural taste to distinguish themselves from other social classes. Opposing to Bourdieu (1997), more recent research suggests that cultural preferences has shifted from a univore taste to a broad omnivore taste (Fishman & Lizardo, 2013; Smith Maguire, 2018; Stichele en Laermans,

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2004). This is often referred to as cultural omnivorousness as first introduced by Peterson (1996).

For the music industry this could imply that individuals nowadays are more likely to appreciate songs that contain elements of multiple music genres. This might suggest that optimal differentiation in music recordings is achieved by combining multiple music genres. This way, a musical recording may sound like something listeners have heard before by using elements that are expected in a certain genre, while on the other hand the recording may sound like something novel as it contains unexpected elements from another genre. According to Ordanini, Nunes and Nanni (2018), artists who feature artists from other genres are able to produce more successful songs. They argue that by bringing together omnivores, songs that contain elements from multiple genres are able to increase the size of the audience. Although Ordanini et al. (2018) support their conclusion with arguments based on more levels than solely the product level, their findings may indicate that genre combination on product level is positively correlated to product performance.

2.4 Category Spanning

As stated by Askin and Mauskapf (2017), the category of a song can be defined by its music genre. In order to gain insight in the possible advantages and disadvantages of achieving optimal differentiation by combining different genres, research on category combination needs to be addressed. Category combination is often referred to as category spanning, and entails the combination of multiple categories in order to create a hybrid product (Wry, Lounsbury & Jennings, 2014).

Interestingly, Negro and Leung (2013) state that products that are focussed on one or few market categories attain more success in product performance compared to products that

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are focussed on multiple categories. More specifically, they state that products that combine features from multiple categories are discounted as a result of generating less appeal. In agreement with Negro and Leung (2013), research on the audience’s reaction to spanning genres in feature film production states that films targeting broader niches attract larger audiences, but generate less audience appeal (Hsu, 2006). According to Hsu (2006), the former is the result of the difficulties multi-genre films experience in establishing fit with its audience. Films sticking to one genre are more likely to clearly communicate its fit with the audience’s preferences as the audience is likely to easily identify and compare the characteristics of the genre to other genres in order to asses fit (Hsu, 2006). For the music industry this would imply that songs that combine different music genres are able to reach a bigger audience, while at the same time less appeal is generated among this audience compared to songs that stick to conformity.

However, in contrast to the theories of Negro and Leung (2013) as well as Hsu (2006), other research states that category spanning not always need to result in negative effects (Wry et al., 2014). Positive effects are possible to occur as well as a result of category spanning (Ordanini et al., 2018; Wry et al., 2014). ​Surprisingly, little is known about the underlying process that causes the positive effects that might occur as a result of category spanning. As both theories contradict each other, this study will make an attempt of gaining more insight in the effect of category spanning on product performance.

3. Research Design

In order to answer the research question, case studies from the music recording industry are analyzed and compared. Consecutively, the relevant literature is applied to the case studies in order to demonstrate whether the discussed theories hold and in order to gain additional

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insight in the concepts as discussed in the literature. The sources for the cases are obtained via the internet and contain historical accounts, press releases, and published interviews with key industry actors. All cases were selected based on the fact that they involve songs that appeared in the Billboard Top 100, indicating that the songs achieved a significant degree of product success.

The first case involves hit song ‘Old Town Road’ by Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus ranking number one on the Billboard Top 100 (2019a) in 2019. This song combines Hip Hop genre elements with Country genre elements having reached the Top 100 Charts of both ‘Hot R&B Songs’ and ‘Hot Hip Hop Songs’ as well as ‘Hot Country Songs’ (CBS News, 2019). The instrumental of ‘Old Town Road’ can most likely be classified as Hip Hop, the artist Lil Nas X as a Hip Hop and/or R&B artist, and Billy Ray Cyrus as a Country artist. Therefore this particular case meets the criteria needed to be a relevant case for a study on achieving optimal differentiation on product level in the music recording industry by combining two or more different types of music genres.

The second case involves hit song ‘Walk This Way’ by Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith ranking number four on the Billboard Top 100 (2019b) in 1986. This song was the first hit song that combined Hip Hop genre elements with Rock genre elements (The Atlantic, 2019b) and may therefore be seen as a relevant case for a study on achieving optimal differentiation on product level in the music recording industry. Interestingly, ‘Walk This Way’ maintained a chart position for a significant period of 16 weeks (Billboard Top 100, 2019b).

The third case involves hit song ‘Daddy Lessons’ by Beyoncé and Dixie Chicks ranking number 41 on the Billboard Top 100 (2019c) in 2016. By combining a country band named Dixie Chicks with R&B singer Beyoncé, this case is suitable for a case study on achieving optimal differentiation on product level in the music recording industry by

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combining two or more different types of music genres. In contrast to ‘Walk This Way’, this track remained its chart position for two weeks (Billboard Top 100, 2019c).

When analyzing and interpreting the three cases, the most important factors that contributed to the product’s success are identified in order to assess whether category spanning on product level has played a significant role in product performance outcomes. By gaining insight in the other factors that might have had a significant impact on product performance outcomes, the relative impact of category spanning on product performance is assessed. The most important factors are identified by analyzing press releases and published interviews. In order to determine whether the songs in the cases can be classified as optimally differentiated, the balance between conformity and novelty is assessed. This is done by examining the mixture of conventional elements with novel elements. In this study, conventional elements are defined as the song features that are common within a certain genre, whereas novel elements are defined as the song features that are uncommon within a certain genre. In order to gain insight in the possible advantages and disadvantages of the combination of different music genre elements, the theories as stated in the literature on category spanning are compared to the performances of the songs from the case studies. Finally, a conclusion is drawn based on the above analysis in order to answer the research question.

By using multiple cases, this study makes an attempt of increasing the generalizability of the findings. This way, the outcome of this research is not based on a single case resulting in a reduced chance of drawing conclusions that only apply to one particular situation. As there might be factors that are difficult to detect but have a significant influence on the product performance of each case, the outcome of this study will be limited. Nevertheless, this study does provide insight in the processes that are detectable. Therefore, it is important

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the results are interpreted while having in mind that more factors might have had an influence on the product performance.

4. Results

4.1 ‘Old Town Road’

‘Old Town Road’ by Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus has been ranking number one on the Billboard Top 100 (2019a) for seven weeks while being on the charts for eleven weeks. The song can be considered as a major performance success being streamed 527,2 million times on streaming platform Spotify (2019) and around 168,6 million times on streaming platform YouTube (2019a; 2019b).

In order to assess whether the song can be considered as optimally differentiated, the elements that the song consists of are analyzed. According to a press release from Wired (2019), this song contains both familiar elements as well as unfamiliar elements. As noted before, this song contains genre elements from Hip Hop as well as genre elements from Country (CBC, 2019; The Atlantic, 2019a; Vox, 2019; Vulture, 2019). This is supported by Lil Nas X, the writer of the lyrics, stating in an interview with the New York Times (2019a) that the song can be considered as a genre hybrid, namely ‘Country-Trap’. The rhythm and bass section of the instrumental can be considered as conventional within the genre Hip Hop using drum and bass in a way that is common in the Hip Hop subgenre Trap (Wired, 2019), whereas the use of a banjo in this genre is sparsely used. However, the use of banjo is considered as common within the genre Country (Carney, 1980). Besides that, the involvement of country artist Billy Ray Cyrus adds vocal performance elements that are considered as conventional in Country music (Taste of Country, 2019), while Lil Nas X

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shows vocal performance characteristics that are common in both Hip Hop and Country (CBC Radio, 2019; Taste of Country, 2019).

Optimal differentiation is obtained by combining both conformity and novelty in order to achieve a similarity-differentiation tradeoff (Askin & Mauskapf, 2017). As ‘Old Town Road’ contains song elements that are common as well as uncommon within the genre Hip Hop and song elements that are familiar as well as unfamiliar within the genre Country, ‘Old Town Road’ seems to meet the criteria needed to obtain optimal differentiation. Press releases state that the song sounds novel indicating that the product’s differentiation has contributed to its performance, whereas the press releases did not mention anything about the song being too differentiated (Vox, 2019; Wired, 2019). For example, Vox (2019) stated that the combination of genres arguable caused the initial success of the song. This is in line with the theory of Askin & Mauskapf (2017) stating that songs that achieve optimal differentiation on the level of product features are more likely to achieve success. Besides that, the press release of Wired (2019), states that the combination of the genres in ‘Old Town Road’ has a unifying effect. This seems to conform the theory of Ordanini, Nunes and Nanni (2018) stating that songs that contain elements from multiple genres are able to increase the size of the audience by bringing together omnivores.

Interestingly, press releases also seem to highlight negative effects as a result of category spanning. ‘Old Town Road’ received criticism on whether it should be listed in the charts of ‘Hot Country Songs’ (CBC Radio, 2019). Controversy about the genre of the song has led to the removal of the song in the ‘Hot Country Songs’ chart which in return opened a public debate on whether the song should be classified as Hip Hop, Country or both (CBC Radio, 2019; The Atlantic, 2019a; Vox, 2019). According to the literature, firms need to act similar to competitors to conform to certain norms, expectations and practices in order to

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avoid condemnation (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983; Goldberg et al., 2016). Therefore, the exclusion of ‘Old Town Road’ in the ‘Hot Country Songs’ chart might indicate that the song is perceived as too differentiated by some individuals. On the other hand, the exclusion might be explained by the theory of Hsu (2006), stating that multi-genre products are difficult to identify and compare to other genres in order to effectively categorize multi-genre products.

It is difficult to assess the relative influence of category spanning on the product performance as the product’s success may be attributed to several factors. Besides the fact that it was the intention of the artist to create a multi-genre song, several press releases state that social media has played a significant role in the performance of the product (CBC Radio, 2019; Medium, 2019; The Atlantic, 2019a; Thrillist, 2019). For example, Lil Nas X focussed on promoting the song through memes on social media resulting in the song going viral on social media platforms (CBC Radio, 2019; Medium, 2019). Besides that, the controversy about the genre of the track and the song being excluded from the Country Billboard Chart arguable played a role in creating even more exposure for the song as well as the involvement of well established Country artist Billy Ray Cyrus. Nevertheless, alongside social media, the public debates about the genre of the song, and the collaboration with artist Billy Ray Cyrus, the balance between imitation and differentiation seems to have had a significant impact on the initial appeal of the song.

4.2 ‘Walk This Way’

Being the first Hip Hop song to enter the Billboard Top 100, ‘Walk This Way’ reached number four on the charts in 1986 (Billboard Top 100, 2019b). The launch of this song can be considered as a significant product success remaining on the Billboard Top 100 for as long as 16 weeks ( (Billboard Top 100, 2019b).

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According to multiple press releases (Esquire, 2019; Hess, 2009; The Atlantic, 2019b; The New York Times, 2019b; WGBH, 2019), ‘Walk This Way’ by Aerosmith and Run-D.M.C. can be considered as a genre hybrid combining the genres Hip Hop and Rock. As the genre Hip Hop was not well known before the release of ‘Walk This Way’ (Hess, 2009), one may argue that the combination of the product features of Hip Hop with the popular genre Rock created a both novel and familiar sounding song. Genre elements that are considered as unfamiliar within the genre Rock would include the vocal performance of Run-D.M.C., whereas all the other elements of the song can be considered as conventional within the genre Rock. By combining novelty and conformity, ‘Walk This Way’ meets the criteria of being an optimally differentiated product (Askin & Mauskapf, 2017).

Whether the combination of the two genres has significantly contributed to the success of the song can be derived from the book ​Hip Hop in America written by Hess (2009) stating that the exposure of rap to the mainstream white audiences had a weakening effect on the boundary between Hip Hop and Rock, which allowed both genres to reach a bigger audience. This seems to confirm the theory of Ordanini, Nunes and Nanni (2018) stating that songs that contain elements of multiple genres have an increased chance of being successful as they are able to reach a bigger audience. Interestingly, this in contrast with the theory of Negro and Leung (2013) and Hsu (2006), who state that products that combine features from multiple categories have a reduced chance of achieving high product performance.

Opposing to ‘Old Town Road’, there are no press releases that state that the boundary spanning characteristics of the song resulted in any disadvantages for the performance of the song. Besides that, little is known about the other possible factors that might have contributed to the products success, apart from the fact that Aerosmith was already an established artist with a significant fan base.

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4.3 ‘Daddy Lessons’

R&B singer Beyoncé reached number 41 with ‘Daddy Lessons’ on the Billboard Top 100

(2019c) in 2016 with Country group Dixie Chicks. Although the song is relatively less popular than ‘Old Town Road’ and ‘Walk This Way’, one may argue that reaching the charts of the Billboard Top 100 can be considered as a high product performance.

As ‘Daddy Lessons’ is a collaboration between an R&B artist and a Country artist group, the song is a genre hybrid between R&B and Country consisting of an instrumental that is most likely classified as Country (The Guardian, 2016; The Rolling Stone, 2016), while the performance of Beyoncé is likely identified as the genre R&B (The Guardian, 2016). By adding genre elements of R&B to the genre Country, one may argue that the song is a combination of novelty and conventionality, thus resulting in song characteristic associated with optimal differentiation.

Interestingly, controversy about the genre of ‘Daddy Lessons’ has led to the exclusion of the song by the Recording Committee in the genre Country (AV News, 2016; The Rolling Stone, 2016). This caused disadvantages for the song as the song was no longer eligible for Country price nominations. This situation seems comparable with the the exclusion of ‘Old Town Road’ in the ‘Hot Country Songs’ chart and is in line with the theories of DiMaggio and Powell (1983) and Goldberg et al. (2016), stating that firms that are deviating from norms, expectations and practices are discounted. On the other hand the exclusion might be explained by the theory of Hsu (2006), stating that multi-genre products are difficult to identify and compare which causes difficulty when categorizing multi-genre products.

Whether category spanning has played a significant role in achieving high product performance in this particular case remains unclear. On the contrary, this case only seems to

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support the theory about the disadvantages that might occur as a result of category spanning on product level.

5. Conclusion and Discussion

5.1 Conclusion

This study examined the possible advantages and disadvantages of achieving optimal differentiation in music recordings at the product level. Specifically, this research examined the advantages and disadvantages of achieving optimal differentiation by combining two or more different types of music genres. This was done by applying literature about optimal differentiation, cultural omnivorousness, and category spanning on three different cases which involve examples of optimally differentiated products in the music recording industry. The first case confirmed the theory of Askin & Mauskapf (2017) as well as Ordanini, Nunes and Nanni (2018) concerning the advantages of achieving optimal differentiation through the combination of product features. At the same time, the first case was in line with the theories of DiMaggio & Powell (1983), Goldberg et al. (2016) and Hsu (2006) regarding the disadvantages that might occur by achieving optimal differentiation. The second case also confirmed the theory of Ordanini, Nunes and Nanni (2018) regarding the advantages of achieving optimal differentiation through genre spanning. Interestingly, the second case did not show any signs of disadvantages incurred by achieving optimal differentiation. In accordance with the findings of the first case, the third case mainly confirmed the theories of DiMaggio & Powell (1983), Goldberg et al. (2016) and Hsu (2006) regarding the disadvantages that might occur by achieving optimal differentiation. However, the third case did not show significant signs of the positive factors that might occur as a result of achieving optimal differentiation.

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In conclusion, the possible advantages that are identified and illustrated by the cases involve an increase in audience size and in general an increased chance of product success. The possible disadvantages that are identified and illustrated by the cases involve condemnation as a result of deviating from norms, and penalties as a result of experiencing difficulty identifying the product. In short, the cases in this study illustrated the possible advantages and disadvantages of achieving optimal differentiation on product level in music recordings by combining two or more different types of music genres.

5.2 Discussion

The findings confirmed the expectations as the advantages and disadvantages as stated in the literature were identified in the cases. While the advantages contradict the disadvantages, both seemed to occur as a result of achieving optimal differentiation. Interestingly, the first case showed signs of both advantages and disadvantages, whereas the second case only confirmed the advantages, and the third case only confirmed the disadvantages. Although this study seems to affirm the advantages and disadvantages of achieving optimal differentiation as discussed in the literature, stronger methods are needed in order to infer a causal relationship between optimal differentiation and the advantages and disadvantages that might be caused by optimal differentiation. For example, this study only uses three cases whereas a larger amount of cases might positively benefit the validity of this study. On top of that, by gathering and analyzing data about the genre features of a song and the corresponding song performance, a more concise conclusion can be drawn by investigating the relationship between genre features and song performance. Therefore, it is important to be aware of the fact that this study was conducted in a limited time frame with limited resources when interpreting the results. Besides that, while this study illustrated the possible advantages and

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disadvantages of achieving optimal differentiation on product level in music recordings by combining two or more different types of music genres, this study did not explain why songs that may be considered as optimally differentiated are not able to achieve high product performance, idem for songs that may be considered as undifferentiated but are able to achieve high product performance. Nevertheless, as the literature suggested several advantages and disadvantages caused by optimally differentiated products, this study added additional insight to the literature by giving examples of optimally differentiated products in the music industry that illustrated the advantages and disadvantages.

By identifying and illustrating the possible advantages and disadvantages of achieving optimal differentiation on product level by combining two or more different music genres, comprehension is created in the possible factors that have an influence on product performance. Firms in creative industries can use this insight to alter their strategies in order to minimize risk and maximize potential for high product performance in order to reduce uncertainty. For firms in non-creative industries, this insight might translate to products that are common in industries other than creative industries and may therefore be valuable during the development of new product strategies. Therefore, for future research it might be interesting to investigate whether the advantages and disadvantages that were identified in this study also occur as a result of achieving optimal differentiation with products that are common in non-creative industries. Besides that, it could be interesting to examine whether the advantages and disadvantage as identified in this study also apply on firm level besides product level. For example, Paolella and Durand (2016) found that category spanning firms receive a better evaluation compared to firms that stick to conformity. For this reason, it could be interesting to investigate the advantages and disadvantages of achieving optimal differentiation in the repertoire of an artist or a record label.

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6. References

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Spotify (2019, May 28th). Old Town Road. Retrieved from:

https://open.spotify.com/album/38kpkGLuPr1nNfD3iEyOlJ?si=g-LXr0PCQd-hjVv6b piI2Q

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Changed Everything. ​Retrieved from:

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Thrillist (2019, April 12th). ​How Lil Nas X's Controversial Country-Rap Hit 'Old Town Road' Conquered the Internet.​ Retrieved from:

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