In this article featured in the Daily Pennsylvanian Marketing Professor Peter Fader blames downloading for the music industry's plummet. He argues that students will always steal music and that new music will always be leaked onto the internet, but that this is not responsible for the drop in sales.  In fact, it is the legal dowloading that is responsible for the decreasing album sales.

The collaborative fulfillment of consumer orders by Internet retailers and wholesalers has proven important in the realization of sustainable levels of online profitability. Concentrating on consumer direct fulfillment (or drop shipping), an empirical simulation model evaluates avenues for improving logistical performance. The empirical simulation model centers on the online music CD retailing industry. It evaluates the effects of emergency transshipments and demand dispersion on inventory and product-release performance, as well as on transportation costs, in consumer direct fulfillment operations. Results show that emergency transshipments improve inventory and product-release performances in these operations. Furthermore, the inventory-performance improvements are maximized when inventory facilities fulfill demand that is uniformly balanced across markets primarily assigned to each facility. Finally, gains in inventory and release performance obtained from emergency transshipments outweigh additional transportation costs incurred from a greater reliance on emergency transshipments for consumer direct fulfillment. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

This article discusses the ways in which record companies are compensating for their losses through marketing.  After the Sony/BMG merge, Columbia Record Executive Charlie Walk, leads the way.  He asserts his belief that for the majors to stay in on the game they need to legitimize the online music downloading space and create alliances with consumer-goods companies to make a profit where it is being lost. Thus downloading has changed artist marketing too.

This article considers the impact of technology and downloading on the "supply chain" of music. It describes economics of the global music market and the super-power five major record that dominate the entire sound recording industry. It has a positive take on the future for artists and consumers alike, despite the present turmoil.

This work seeks to predict the impact of government regulation, in terms of new policy and programs, upon the music field for the future. It raises some ethical questions concerning the direction of technology and tries to account for how technological advancements will influence the national and global economy. The central issue around which the whole work is concerned is the commerce of music.

This article critiques the "crisis of reproduction" that confronted the music industry starting in the late 1990's. It explores some of the ways in which the industry is going about re-working its structure to compensate for its losses.  Also discusses the roles of the big four- AOL-Time Warner, Sony/BMG, Universal and EMI in the reorganization.