Three Perspectives on Digital Content Markets: An Analysis of Trends in Technologies, Business and Consumer Behaviour

Abstract:

In this paper, we focus on digital content markets (DCMs), which have typically been seen as an offspring of technological and business innovations. However, recent trends indicate that these two perspectives are not enough when attempting to understand how DCMs actually work.Technology is obviously a prerequisite for business innovations, which in turn provide new possibilities for consumers. Nevertheless, consumer behaviour is not only a result of technological and business innovations, but by itself a crucial factor of DCMs, and therefore also an important focus of study. In this paper, we attempt to clarify the general view of DCMs by carrying out a literature study that is based on the above mentioned three perspectives: technology, business and consumer behaviour. As a result of our study, we present some critical issues that need to be taken into account when developing ways of trading and distributing digital content.