Giesler, Markus (2008), “Conflict and Compromise: Drama in Marketplace Evolution,” Journal of Consumer Research, 34 (April), 739-753. (lead article, based on dissertation thesis).

How do markets change? Findings from a 7-year longitudinal processual investi- gation of consumer performances in the war on music downloading suggest that markets in the cultural creative sphere (those organizing the exchange of intellec- tual goods such as music, movies, software, and the written word) evolve through stages of perpetual structural instability. Each stage addresses an enduring cultural tension between countervailing utilitarian and possessive ideals. Grounded in an- thropology and consumer behavior, I illustrate this historical dynamic through the process of marketplace drama, a fourfold sequence of performed conflict among opposing groups of consumers and producers. Implications for theorizing on market system dynamics and the consumption of performance are offered.