The creation of copyright is related to the protection of the intangible: an idea, an idea that becomes reality and needs protection. Artists who have dedicated their lives to creation are protected by norms that are constantly evolving (sometimes faster, sometimes slower), but which are a reflection of the times. From the 18 th century until today, the development of copyright went hand in hand with some of the greatest technological discoveries such as the printing press, the phonograph, radio, television and eventually the Internet. Digitalization, which has completely changed our everyday life, our habits, the way we work, the way we spend our free time, has brought authors new opportunities to create and present their works. The music industry, which is the subject of this work, also adapted its development to the spirit of the times and followed the trail of money all the time, adapting to all innovations and challenges, until the advent of the Internet. The unlimited amount of data that can be accessed quickly and easily, the emergence of websites that offer all possible free music, caught the big players off guard and decided to solve the problem by force, but without success. Napster and Pirate Bay defiantly implemented their vision of free music sharing worldwide, destroying the established standards of the music machinery for years to the detriment of all participants in the music industry, especially authors and performing artists who lived from fees for public playing or reproduction of their music and album sales. At the same time, Apple is taking advantage of its position as a leader in the industry and is starting to work more intensively on mass, legal and paid access to music content. On the other side of the world, in Sweden, Daniel Ek observes how record companies are losing the battle with illegal services for sharing low-quality music and comes up with the idea of a streaming service, Spotify. The intention was that the music content does not have to be downloaded from the Internet, which took a few minutes and a lot of memory on computers, but that with one click of the mouse in the free search engine you can enter the desired song and it will start playing in an instant. Although it was not the first streaming platform, Spotify managed to create an aura around itself as the most desired and best platform despite all the controversies that surreounded it during its embryonic stages. Music began to be consumed in a different way, it became mobile, as you were no longer limited to the 100 or 1000 songs that could be stored on your iPod. Instead, you use mobile phone, with the installed app - the source of all the music in the world which you can listen whenever and wherever you want. And where are the authors and performing artists in this whole story and how are their fees regulated? Unfortunately, the Internet revolution hasn't been too kind to artists who create and perform music. Physical sales of music have dipped, unregulated pirated access to music did not bring any income, radio and television were no longer the go-to media, and a new strategies had to be re-imagined as to how to proceed. Authors and performing artists with large fanbases somewhat easily adapted to the "new times" as they focused their work on live performances and lucrative tours, various partnerships, collaborations and merchandise deals while the lesser-known artists barely made ends meet. The troubles continued with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which stopped absolutely all live performances for almost a year and a half and dealt a heavy financial blow to everyone, except for streaming services whose revenues grew during that period. Adaptability and innovation proved to be the most important characteristics of artists who overcame this difficult period with new ideas and approaches to their creativity. Right now, the music industry is experiencing a boom, the return of records, the return of bands that haven't played together in years, the return of live shows and big tours, but until when? History has shown that changes come suddenly and unannounced, people simply get fed up with everything quickly and are always looking for "more for less" invested time and money, and artists who change our world with their creations if they haven't made smart moves are simply always at a loss, if not financially, then mentally because they had to sacrifice their art for the sake of...money.