And again are music sales down. This time the sales have declined 9.2%. Almost all countries have less sales, except France and Sweden who show still positive sales figures, mainly caused by strong sales of local artists. Again the file sharing networks and home CD burning are blamed for the decrease of sales.
Sales of DVD-Audio, SACD and video DVD is however growing, where casette tapes seems to be near to it's death.
The decrease reflects a number of factors including weak economic conditions, the widespread availability of free music, and competition from other leisure products such as DVD video, mobile technologies and computer games. |
The increased downloading of music from the internet and mass CD-R copying has affected sales, particularly in the more developed and technologically-advanced markets such as North America, Japan and parts of Western Europe.
Jay Berman, Chairman and CEO of IFPI said: "The figures are disappointing but not unexpected. The industry is in transition, with widespread CD-R copying and internet downloading continuing to affect sales. However, there is no doubt that the music on which our business depends is more in demand than ever, and it is encouraging that our member companies appear to have an exceptionally strong release schedule in the second half of the year. Meanwhile, the recording industry is taking positive steps to provide legitimate, consumer-friendly online services."
Unfortunately there is nothing mentioned about the high prices, music quality and marketing of the current record industry. Sweden and France clearly show that it IS possible to have good sales in countries where the internet is widely available and also CD burners are common. Read the entire story here.
Source: MI2n.com
