The Internet is swamped by music. It ranges from an extension of a CD mail order catalogue to a broadcast medium for radio, concerts and DJ nights, to providing downloadable songs. But is anyone actually making any money out of it?

Dotmusic - selling CDs online but only making 'coffee money'

For Nick Pincott, partner of Music Stop, the answer is yes. Music Stop is a small independent music company with two stores in Bristol, but thanks to an Internet site set up 18 months ago the business now has a worldwide customer base.

The site, set up by Pincott for less than ú1,000, offers a catalogue of 200 albums which can be ordered by email, fax, phone or Net, once the company moves to a secure server. 'It was a minuscule outlay for what we get out of it,' says Pincott. 'When we started, we decided not to pour lots of money into it but to put a little in and see if we got any response.' Now, the site contributes roughly two per cent of the business, generating ú5,000 to ú6,000 a year and recouping the initial outlay monthly.

Many sites use the Net as an extension of the mail order concept, including CDNow in America. And Dotmusic, the Internet arm of Miller Freeman, United News, publisher of Music Week, has been selling CDs on its site since September 1996.

'Take-up has been international though it isn't huge,' says Ian Nicolson, Dotmusic online editor and Webmaster. 'However, we were approached by the likes of CDNow and those services are also a long way from being profitable.