12. A Song for Ireland? Policy Discourse and Wealth Generation in the Music Industry in the Context of Digital Upheavals and Economic Crisis

Drawing on a recent Irish-based study, this chapter examines how major players in the music business have restructured themselves in the context of an evolving digital environment, but also a period of global economic crisis. Rogers and Cawley are particularly attentive to the role played by the intellectual property rights (IPR) regime in shaping the music sector’s recent development, particularly through copyright, trademarks and new and evolving forms of music ‘brand partnerships’. Their findings not only challenge received opinion on the fortunes of the music industry in digital times, but crucially they highlight growing contradictions between IPR policies pursued by successive Irish governments and the wealth return of core music industry players to the Irish economy.