This paper examines how receiving a negative tie, such as being named as a defendant in a copyright infringement lawsuits, influences an artist’s future collaborations in the US music industry. From an egocentric perspective, I argue that individuals receiving a negative tie aim to “repair” their networks by increasing collaborations. From an altercentric perspective, I propose that collaborators selectively associate with an ego post a negative tie, favoring those with 1) more industry experience, seeking learning and experience from the ego and 2) different knowledge profile to limit spillover and risk of imitation. I plan to test the hypotheses using a matched sample of sued and non-sued artists from the Billboard Hot 100, matched on age, gender, genre, and prior chart performance, using data from MusicBrainz and lawsuit information from the Music Copyright Infringement Resource.
