This article discusses the way in which the internet and digital distribution has changed consumption patterns. Strategic Marketing Departments of Record Companies are seeking information on consumer behavior in order to anticipate competitors and to "improve the supply and demand." This article contains an empirical analysis on the industry including on-line survey results that illustrate that music downloading is not the only way in which consumers are tapping into the digital environment.

This article discusses the way in which the internet and digital distribution has changed consumption patterns. Strategic Marketing Departments of Record Companies are seeking information on consumer behavior in order to anticipate competitors and to "improve the supply and demand." This article contains an empirical analysis on the industry including on-line survey results that illustrate that music downloading is not the only way in which consumers are tapping into the digital environment.

Although the record companies have suffered great economic loss as a result of widespread downloading, they have been able to survive the drastic changes that the industry is undergoing right now.  However the same cannot be said of the traditional music retailer, the majority of which have had to declare banckruptcy or have had to close a number of branch locations.  The article estimates percentages of sales that will account for the future shift from physical to digital distribution in the next several years.

Mark Katz discusses how technology has served to preserve music while also serving as a "catalyst." Katz addresses how the innovation of the internet affected and continues to still affect the industry. He cites a series of case studies, that correlate the new ways of finding and listening to new music and the rising of new music genres to recording technology.

This paper explores the online or digital distribution of music "as a technology practice" and suggests that this new phenomenon reinforces the "loose integration" of the entertainment industry. Also the paper gives a business background about recording industry conglomerates, ownership infrastructure and the gate-keepers for the global markets.