Peer-to-Peer and Crisis in the Record Industry

A Historical Perspective
By Marc Bourreau, Benjamin Labarthe-Piol
English

PEER TO PEER AND CRISIS IN THE RECORD INDUSTRY An historical perspective

The exchange of music files on peer to peer networks (e.g. Kazaa or eMule) is blamed for the slump in music sales since the late nineties. In this article the authors describe the characteristics of this crisis in the US and France, and analyse explanatory factors. They show that, in the past, technological changes (the appearance of radio, LPs and audio tapes) were often a challenge to the organization of the industry as they triggered the appearance of new actors or business models. The 'digital'? crisis in the record industry has the peculiarity of affecting both the medium (with the dematerialization of music) and its promotion (with new tools allowed by information technologies such as communities of experience).

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