The music industry (or music business) sells 

compositions

 and performances of music. Among the many individuals and organizations that operate within the industry are the musicians who compose and perform the music; the companies and professionals who create and sell recorded music (e.g.,music publishers ,producers, studios, engineers, record labels,retail and online music stores, performance rights organisations); those that present live music performances (booking agents, promoters, music venues, road crew); professionals who assist musicians with their careers (talent managers, business managers, entertainment lawyers); those who broadcast music (satellite and broadcast radio); journalists; educators;musical instrumentmanufacturers; as well as many others.

The popularity of MP3 provided a wake-up call to the recording industry and to companies promoting proprietary digital audio formats. Because of the potential for piracy provided by open formats like MP3, the recording industry is attempting to establish a “secure” digital music format before they start releasing downloadable music by major artists.

Millions of people are already using MP3, so any secure format will need to have compelling advantages to convince them to switch. Even if new formats are sanctioned by the recording industry, consumers can still choose to convert songs from CDs (which are unencrypted) to MP3. Or they can use a sound card and a simple piece of software to convert encrypted music to MP3 (or other unencrypted format).

Even with secure formats, piracy will always be a threat. As fast as the industry comes up with security measures, hackers will find ways to crack them. But an even larger threat to the major record labels is the advent of Internet-based labels, and artists leaving the fold to sell their music directly to fans.