David Emery OnlineBritish recorded music sales rise for the first time in six years
26 April 2010
Record labels, which have faced a slump in CD sales and a long-running battle against internet piracy, experienced a rise in income from music sales from £916 million to £929 million in 2009, the British Phonographic Industry said.
The surprise increase marks the first time that the growth in income from digital services such as iTunes has outweighed the decline from sales of CDs. Income from digital singles and albums leapt by 53 per cent, to £154 million, while physical formats dropped 6 per cent to £740 million.
Yep, sure looks like the recorded music industry is dying, doesn’t it?
In a slightly less flippant way, what this article really shows is the pointlessness of looking at overall industry figures like this; acts like Susan Boyle and Lady Gaga skew the figures massively and hence obscure how the majority of the industry is doing. And a lot of it is doing alright, and has been doing alright throughout the ‘downturn’.
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