[Berlin, GERMANY] "More music, less money, better quality". This is how positive the future of music distribution over the Internet looks to Christian Seidl, the editor of "jetzt", a youth magazine from the "Suddeutsche Zeitung", one of Germany's leading newspapers. In the podium discussion on the topic "Wadde hadde dudde da - who will take care of music in the future?" at the Munich Media Days, Seidl categorized the opportunity for the free exchange of music as a structural revolution on the music market: customers are taking matters into their own hands and, when downloading from the Internet, they're not looking for cheap music but rather for quality.

Additionally, the new possibility of distribution over the Internet also provides publicity to artists without record contracts. This is where Seidl believes the opportunity lies for "a new music culture". He sees the uncomplicated exchange of data leading to worldwide forums of musicians that could set free an explosion of creativity and diversity.

Dr. Hans-Herwig Geyer, the spokesman for GEMA (the German Author's Rights Society), naturally could not share this vision of the future. Geyer stressed that the Internet must be reconciled with the basic s of the artists. The GEMA representative warned that intellectual property is a value that must be protected, and under no circumstances may it be forgotten.