Many commentators and reports popularly place the record industry in an increasing state of crisis since the advent of digital copying and distribution. This thesis addresses how the interplay of technological, economic, legal and policy factors, particularly the copyright strand of intellectual property law, shape the form and extent of the Internet’s disruptive potential in the music industry. It points to significant continuities regarding the music industry in an environment where it is often regarded as experiencing turbulence and change, and in doing so the thesis challenges the form and extent of the crisis the music industry currently claims to be battling. The thesis questions the impact the internet is having on the power or role of major music companies, their revenue streams, their relationships with other actors in the music industry chain and their final consumers. The thesis further questions the extent to which the internet has evolved to realise its disruptive potential on the organisation and structure of the record industry by democratising the channels of distribution. It also serves to illuminate the impact of the internet on the role of more traditional intermediaries, particularly radio, in the circulation and promotion of music in the contemporary era. For its primary research material, the thesis draws on a series of thirty-nine interviews conducted with record industry management and personnel as well as key informants from the fields of music publishing, artist management, music retailing, radio, the music press, related industry bodies and policy fields, and other key commentators.