Lisa Cameron, The Impact of Digitization on Business Models in Copyright-Driven Industries: A Review of the Economic Issues

"The paper proceeds as follows. Sections II, III, and IV consider the impact of digitization on the music, film, and book publishing industries, respectively. Within each section, the paper first describes the industry’s traditional supply chain. Second, it addresses the impact of digitization on this traditional supply chain, focusing on profound changes in methods of distributing copyrighted material to customers. Third, it considers the new business models emerging from the internet and technological innovations, and the extent to which these models rely on enhanced legal and technological impediments to piracy. Fourth, it discusses how digitization is affecting the traditional intermediaries (i.e., the record labels, movie studios, and publishing houses). Fifth, it assesses the impact of digitization on the producers of copyrighted works, as distinct from the traditional intermediaries that have dominated each industry. Section V, our conclusion, presents research questions that might be pursued to obtain a better understanding of how these different industries will evolve over time...."