Artistic Collaborations in Popular Music Industry

Artistic collaborations of musicians (that is, the joint work of two or more independent musicians on a music track) as a phenomenon originate from American rap culture, however, now they have become a mass phenomenon. So, as of last year, 60% of songs that took first place in the authoritative music chart were collaborations (for comparison, 10 years ago they were about 25% of the number of songs that took first place). The study is focused on one segment of the music industry: the market of the American industry of popular (mass) music, which is the most developed, fastest growing and most profitable among the other music markets. The sample for research was made from the popular music chart "Billboard Hot 100", which is an excellent representation of the chosen music market. To identify the main trends in the formation of collaborations, it was decided to analyze the collaborations recorded in three different time periods: 1992-1998, 1999-2004. and 2013-2016. As a result of the study, that was conducted with the usage of statistical and social network methods, it was revealed that, over time, the leading role of rap performers in the process of recording collaborations is preserved, while segmentation disappears: rappers freely record collaborative tracks with performers of other genres. In addition, the role of recognized artists is noted: those musicians who are recognized by critics, industry colleagues and fans are more likely to participate in the process of recording collaborations as guest artists, which may indicate that their "recognition" is used by other musicians for their own recognition in within the industry. Finally, there are a number of artists who constantly record collaborations, using them as an opportunity to promote themselves and increase their sales.