Abstract

The digitalization of media content and the development of new communication and distribution channels change the media sector and the business environment worldwide. Over the last ten years, technical advances have enabled the consumers to digitize, store, share and modify the content quickly and cheaply on a mass scale. Presently there are lots of file sharing tools and peer-to-peer networks with which the consumers can illegally copy and share content for free. Consequently, companies have implemented internet-based business models for digital content. At the moment, only a limited number of these e-business models are really successful and realize profits. In this context, the following core questions arise: What kind of e-business models are suitable to manage digital media content? What are the key requirements for companies to be successful in the economical utilization of copyrighted media content, especially in the internet? How do the present e-business models fulfil these requirements? The target of this paper is the analysis of e-business models for digital content. In this context the authors examine different aspects with regard to the management of rights on digital content, the consumption of digital content, and the organization of internal processes and structures. The analysis is focussed on e-business models for digital media content in the German music market. The results of this analysis will show that the presented e-business models do not fulfil all requirements. Hence, the attractiveness of these e-business models is lower than peer-to-peer networks and the illegal download because of the restricted usage of digital media content.

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