January 16, 2009
Music sales worldwide fall by 7 percent
Music sales worldwide fell by about 7 percent last year as another sizable jump in digital sales failed to make up for a deepening decline in the compact disc market, according to John Kennedy, chief executive of the industry's main international trade group. The IHT reports.
Revenue from music sold over the Internet, via mobile phones and in other digital forms, rose by 25 percent last year, to $3.7 billion, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said in a report set for publication Friday. Digital sales accounted for 20 percent of the industry's revenue, up from 15 percent a year earlier.
... Meanwhile, growth in downloads from online music stores like Apple's iTunes has slowed. ... That is hastening the music industry's push to develop new business models for digital music.
... Major record labels have joined with Nokia, the maker of cellphones, to provide free, unlimited music downloads in Britain. ... "The industry has shifted to Plan B," said Mark Mulligan, an analyst at Forrester Research. "The record companies have realized that the only way they can fight free is with free itself."
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