E-business models in the online music sector - a survey of 10 European countries

The online music market has changed significantly and fundamentally over the past few years, as more and more new players - many of them originally from other sectors - enter the market space of the original media companies. Although these new entrants provide the media companies with the opportunity to adapt their business to the new demands of the Internet, they are also competitors who are themselves able to offer music over the Net. In this paper we describe the current state of play in the online music sectors in Europe at May 2003. The outcomes are based on "expert talks" and an online survey. After initially discussing the justification for our chosen research approach, we describe the research design. We then report our findings. Finally we identify the key driving factors for online music today: the new competitive environment, the appropriate payment systems, the focus on core competences, end devices and the consumers.