Behind the lines – September 2025
Beyond the Linear Narrative: Embracing an Ecosystem and 360° Model of Music.
As in the field of innovation studies, we observe an evolution in the model describing the role and interaction between the innovation process and value creation. From a linear model of innovation to the holistic models, and then to the emergence of an ecology of models anchored in concepts such as ecosystems, multi-channel, and complex interactions.
We can establish a parallel in the models and narratives created regarding the music industry. For decades, the music industry was often described through a linear lens. An artist creates, intermediaries distribute, and audiences consume. In this perspective, innovation is imagined as a one-directional pipeline: a spark of creativity flows downstream until it reaches the market. While this narrative captures a part of reality, it oversimplifies the dynamics of innovation in Music and obscures some of the features that the music industry model should be capturing.
The MUSIC360 works with a 360° ecosystem perspective on innovation and on the value of Music. Instead of a pipeline, the industry should be viewed as a complex network of interconnected stakeholders, including performers, authors, consumers, fans, producers, publishers, collective management organisations, digital platforms, venues, background music providers, live venues, policymakers, and technology providers. In such a system, value is not merely passed along from one stage to another but is continuously co-created, reshaped, and redistributed.
This ecosystem perspective recognises several critical dimensions:
– Value creation feedback loops
– Distributed innovation
– Collective value creation
– Resilience and adaptability.
The adoption of a 360° model of innovation, value creation, distribution, and appropriation empowers creators by providing them with a map that is closer to the territory, by sustaining the creation of a narrative of Music not as a product at the end of a pipeline, but as a living system of relationships, incentives, and shared meaning.
Embracing an ecosystem model approach is not just about developing better business models; it is about recognising Music as a collaborative, evolving, and interconnected experience.
references:
[1] Caraça, J., Lundvall, B.-Å., & Mendonça, S. (2009). The changing role of science in the innovation process: From Queen to Cinderella? Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 76(6), 861–867.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2008.08.003
[2] Benoit Godin. Models of Innovation : The History of an Idea. Cambridge, Massachusetts, The Mit Press, 2017.
[3] Wieringa, J. G. R. (2023). Digital business ecosystems: How to create, deliver and capture value in business networks.
Music360 