Innovation and institutionalization in the Brazilian music industry: A case study of the business strategies of autonomous musicians in the digital environment

This paper presents an exploratory case study of the business strategies applied by the Brazilian artists in the digital environment: O Teatro Magico, Moveis Coloniais de Acaju, Forfun and Calcinha Preta. The objective is to identify the diffusion of innovative business strategies among a new category of phonographic producers, the "autonomous artists". The hypothesis is that a repetition of some business strategies among these new band-ventures in the digital environment can be identified, what constitutes an "institutionalization" of these commercial practices. By analyzing the artists' web pages and semi-structured interviews with these agents, it is demonstrated that some practices such as the free distribution of record files and the selling of merchandising are adopted in a systematic way. After all, it is concluded that a process of institutionalization of business practices is in progress among autonomous artist and it can be considered a new phase of the creative destruction of the record industry in Brazil.