A Tale of E-Business Models: From the Music to the Television Industry

Internet And Its Impact On The Music Industry

The structure of the music industry at the end of the 20^th century was totally dependent upon there being a strong copyright framework. The music industry was oligopolistic, with over 75% of market share owned by only four major labels. There were a handful of large independent labels and thousands of smaller independent labels. Copyright was crucial to all of them. It enabled them to recover the investment they made in songwriters and composers. Without copyright there would be no financial incentive for music publishers to invest in composers and musical works, and this could be to the detriment of artists, who depended upon publishers to manage the business of exploiting musical works and administering their royalty payments. Copyright was increasingly seen as a “pop commodity” (Frith, 1988); almost entirely defined in economic terms; a way of ensuring that revenue was derived from usage of a work and a means of establishing and enforcing legal ownership of a work. The privilege which came with this ownership was the exclusive right to make copies of the work, disseminate it, alter or adapt it. Copyright ensured that a flow of revenue was generated which went back to the rights holder.