The impact of the internet on the record industry: towards a new growth regime.

Summary This thesis demonstrates that the Internet is at the origin of a new growth regime, i.e. a sectoral reorganization caused by a technological innovation responsible for two simultaneous phenomena: a break in the market's growth rate and the entry of new players made possible by a decrease in barriers to entry. We show that the Internet plays a role in the industry's record sales crisis. The Internet also allows for a decrease in search costs which results in a lowering of promotional barriers. We study the resulting sectoral reorganization by showing the evolution of power relations within the value chain. The economic models are modified and the point of control shifts towards the downstream part of the chain. This reorganization also upsets the balance of copyright between incentive to create and diffusion of knowledge. Economic solutions that aim to restore this balance are discussed.