CD sales slip as music downloads surge

CD sales declined in both the UK and the US last year as fans chose music downloads over buying discs. CD sales dropped 15% in the US, down to just over 500 million units. Total album sales fell just 4.9% in 2006. Music downloads and a music industry that is yet to move with the times are causing record-label bosses to rethink their strategies for 2008.

The music industry had been relying the increase in legal music downloads to make up for losses in CD sales. While digital album sales rose 53%, this only accounted for 10% of total revenue in 2007.

Legal music downloads increased 45%. Music-download stores like iTunes and Amazon’s new MP3 store did a booming trade in 2007. It should be noted that people are still getting as much music as they were before, but it’s just that the must industry isn’t making as much money from it now. A sign of the times, perhaps.

Oh, and if you’re into music downloads, don’t forget to check out Omemo, the new filesharing service that just launched.

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Posted on 4 January 2008 by mike in News

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