Filmmaker Jed I. Rosenberg directed a documentary 'System Shock' which provides an intriguing and insightful overview of how the MP3 set in motion a series of events that completely disrupted the music industry. The bottom line of this docu is that the MP3 technology nearly destroyed the music industry, but that its principle made much more money elsewhere.

"In just over a decade it changed the record business completely. Twice. It also paved the way for streaming – all streaming, not just music streaming – to become the default way to, drawing on the industry’s own terminology, 'consume' 'content'" - the Quietus argues in an essay about the importance of MP3. It's, tQ is convinced, more influential than vinyl because - "all formats before the MP3 were designed specifically to plump up the profitability of the music business; the MP3 ripped it to shreds".