ABSTRACT
During the twentieth century the culture and media industries became a dominant force in modern life. In providing information and entertainment they not only fulfil important functions for democracies, but also regulate access to the global diversity of cultural expressions. With an annual turnover of some US$ 100 billion dollars, the business contributes substantially to what was called the global informational economy. 1 Certainly, the music industry is only one of the smaller sectors of the culture and media business. Nevertheless, it shows the same characteristics: 2 the largest share of revenues is gained by a handful of corporations, which are often part of huge media conglomerates with subsidiaries all over the world.
