April 23, 2009
Global music sales tumble by 8%
Global music sales fell by more than 8% to $18.42bn in 2008, according to the body that represents the record industry worldwide, reports the BBC.
Physical formats like CDs and vinyl performed particularly badly - dropping by 15% globally and 31% in the US.
Sales of digital formats like MP3s and ringtones grew by 24% worldwide but failed to make up the shortfall.
This is partly due to the lower price of downloads, but also because people tend not to buy entire albums online.
According to figures released by the Official Charts Company earlier this year, Only 10.3m albums were downloaded in the UK last year, compared to 110.3m singles, or individual tracks.
The prevalence of pirated music on the internet also plays a key role in the decline in music sales overall.
Above image: Coldplay's lead singer Chris Marting. The rock band's Viva La Vida was the biggest-selling album of 2008 globally.
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