THE TWO SIDES OF THE MUSIC STREAMING COIN: AN INNOVATION THAT BLESSED THE INDUSTRY BUT IS NOW TEARING IT APART.

This thesis revolves entirely around the topic of music streaming and its ambiguous impact on the music industry. The focus of the paper is the research question: How exactly has such an innovative phenomenon as music streaming shaped the blessed but problematic landscape of the music business industry that we can observe now? The research attempts to specify economic and common problems that this innovation brought to the complex network of the music business industry. Additionally, it explores how and which of the main agents and participants music streaming phenomena affected the most. The evolution of digital music consumption throughout history, as well as the factors that led to this, are analyzed in depth. The current situation of the music business industry in Europe and in the world, as well as the broad dominance of digital music, are presented to emphasize the relevance of music streaming in modern reality. Attention is also drawn to an analysis of the relations within music streaming, its main participants, together with their perception and attitude to innovation, and economic and legal aspects of the system. The main problem points identified are the issues of the music rights market, the remuneration of recording rightsholders and song rightsholders, and general problems of the music streaming platforms market. The main reason for the problems of the rights market is shown to be the sharp concentration and cross-ownership of rights which led to the dominance of the rights market by majors. Streaming technology legal classification issues, metadata peculiarities, and royalty chain length are identified among the main reasons for the problems with remuneration. The main troubles faced by the music streaming platforms market are safe harbor provisions in the law, monogamy of platform services, intense competition, and privacy concerns. The conclusion presents possible future trends for music streaming within the music industry business.