Consumer Choice of Digital Music Services from Quality Perceptions

Recently, the popular channel for record albums has shifted from purchasing compact discs to downloading MP3 files. In fact, digital music service has seen tremendous successes, making hundreds of millions of dollars every year. However, few attempts have been made to understand the consumption behavior of this newly emerging market because of its unique characteristics that have made other behavioral models inapplicable. In this study, we surveyed college students, who are the most active in this market, concerning their digital music service subscription behavior. A modified theory of planned behavior model was used as the framework incorporating the technology acceptance model and a new construct, the perceived service quality. The present study depicts that the model explaining subscription behavior indicates that subjective norm has the most significant effect on the intention to subscribe. The results provide marketing implications for digital music service provider, and indicate possible direction for future studies