Recorded music is a loss-leader predicting a musician’s other revenue

Evidence

Just as the theatrical release of a Hollywood film is merely the first stage in a long advertising campaign and functions as a predictor for its success in lengthier, more lucrative release windows and its eventual value in the catalog, the recorded music business holds symbolic significance for how a musician will fare in the larger ecosystem of live performance, licensing opportunities, and radio play. — Andrew deWaard, Derivative Media, 202

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels the reader’s Hollywood release-window economics knowledge; direct cross-domain comparison between recorded music as predictor and theatrical film as predictor of catalog value.