Abstract

The international character of the music recording industry and market and the weight carried by an increasingly narrower group of multinational companies in Italy are the starting point for this analysis, which addresses the key aspects of the Italian market: distribution, consumption, royalty earnings, musical score sales revenues, and investments in the recording industry. The mixed performance of total revenues between 1995 and 1999 is analysed, as well as the small size of the market in comparison with other European countries similar to it in socio-economic and demographic terms, and the sales trends of recorded music delivered over the Internet in Italy.