Innovative entrepreneurship risks in the music industry: the context of (post)pandemic media communications transformations

The article dwells on the results obtained via examining risks of innovative entrepreneurship in the music industry. During the COVID‐19 pandemic and lockdown media communications and digitalization of the cultural sphere were developing rapidly, that provoked spreading of innovative entrepreneurial initiatives in international practice. There were created digital services for online attendance of music concerts that promoted social and cultural inclusion. In Russia this direction is just beginning to emerge, separate projects providing digital services for organizing and promoting virtual concert activities are appearing in the domestic business. Relevance. The limited knowledge about Russian practices in innovative entrepreneurship and existing barriers to the music industry development. Methods. A pilot online survey of the digital concerts target audience – representatives of young people aged 16 to 30 years (N=291) was conducted. Expert interviews were held with the organizers and managers of the business project, the LookPort streaming platform, which is the leader of interactive broadcasting and creative streaming solutions in Russia, Great Britain and European countries. Results. It was revealed that the most significant commercial risks are formed by consumers of new services and are caused by two main reasons. The first is difficulties of mastering technical features and the second is the sociopsychological effects of their use. Limited possibilities of interactive emotional communication do not allow the audience to feel involved in performance and realize their needs for emotional and physical collective expression. The key resources for overcoming emerging risks are the educational and managerial competencies of entrepreneurs, skills of using modern marketing tools to create a positive user experience.