About the Institute
Music is not just a cultural activity, but also a market shaped by the intersection of art, commerce, law, and technology. These forces structure how music is financed, distributed, discovered, and monetized. Despite the size and global importance of the music industry, independent empirical research on how music markets function remains limited, in part because the data needed to study them is rarely accessible to researchers. The FFWD Institute was created to help build the data resources, research collaborations, and institutional infrastructure needed to support the systematic study of music markets.
Core Areas of Inquiry
The political economy of music markets — how power, institutions, and incentives shape outcomes for creators, investors, intermediaries, and consumers — draws on research from economics, law, management, media studies, and cultural policy. However, empirical research in this area remains fragmented across disciplines and constrained by limited access to market data. The Institute is working to build the data resources, research infrastructure, and analytical frameworks needed to support its systematic study.
Ownership & Rights
How rights are defined, valued, allocated, and enforced across evolving distribution architectures and licensing regimes — including copyright and neighbouring rights, licensing and collective management systems, and the growing role of catalog investment and the financialization of music rights.
Market Infrastructure
The structures, intermediaries, and channels through which music is transacted — from streaming platforms and distribution networks to licensing markets, direct-to-consumer models and ancillary channels — and how these shape discovery, competition, market access, and the distribution of revenue across the industry.
Market Design & Policy
How market rules and institutional structures produce outcomes for creators, investors, intermediaries, and consumers — including regulation, competition policy, copyright law, platform governance, and collective licensing regimes — and how markets could be designed or reformed to produce better outcomes.
Contact the Institute
FFWD Institute for Music Market Innovation
714 Gerrard St E
Toronto ON M4M 1Y3
Canada
ffwd-music@proton.me