ABSTRACT
The Internet has become a powerful force in marketing and commerce and now accounts for an ever-increasing percentage of retail sales. Jupiter Research predicted that by the year 2012, one-quarter of the world’s population will be online ( Jupiter Research, 2008 ). By 2008, digital music sales were accounting for 15% of the global music market (IFPI Digital Music Report, 2009). In 2008, PricewaterhouseCoopers predicted that by 2012, half of global music industry revenues would come from digital music sales (in IFPI, 2009). According to the NPD Group (2008) , 48% of U.S. teens didn’t buy a single CD in 2007, compared to 38% in 2006. In early 2008, Apple claimed that its online retail store iTunes had moved into the top spot as the number 1 U.S. music retailer, beating out Wal-Mart.
