In the first half of 1999, the format MP3 is controlling the Internet music market. It bears exceptional possibilities for personal CD duplication and commercial Internet sale in the future. The compression of the files allow more than 14 hours of music on one CD in good quality, and the portable playing devices increase the transportability of music.

Beside the legal use for free and sold music on the World Wide Web, MP3 also gave way to the growth of online piracy and infringement of copyright. With the prices for computers in steady decline and the ongoing expansion of the Internet, this type of technology means a threat to the conventional music industry.

Most of the questions concerning the music industry and the Internet are still open. In a few years, the whole system of distribution could look different. The trade with physical soundcarriers in shops could be widely replaced by online-transfered digital trade. Or the free software principle will empower the Internet community to flexibly react on the conventional market place.

Right now it does not seem too late for the record companies to react to the challenges of global computer networks. MP3 is just a symptom in a faster and faster changing economic and social environment that the new media provide.

The Internet will have an impact on the structures of the music business, but in what degree will be decided on the scene in the coming months.