Despite the growth of digital music sales in 2008, the music industry suffered as compact disc music sales continued a downward slide.
The Nielsen SoundScan year-end figures also revealed CDs are the most profitable and common medium for all recorded music, as it still snaps up 85 percent of overall album sales.
The recording industry is trying to find ways to make up lost revenue when music listeners elect to download individual tracks rather than purchase entire albums. More than 1 billion digital songs were sold throughout 2008 -- a 27 percent increase from 2007 -- while physical album sales fell 20 percent down to 362.6 million.
Purchasing an individual song for $0.99 per song is more appealing than spending between $10 and $15 for an album with two or three songs. During the most important time of the year for music sales -- the final three months -- record sales declined the most, according to sales numbers.
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) originally tried to blame the decline of CD sales on peer-to-peer piracy, but analyst reports indicate piracy is not to blame.
Atlantic Records recently became the first major music publisher to announce digital music sales surpassed CD sales, with more than 50 percent of music sales now coming from music downloads. Warner Music Group also announced digital revenue also surpassed physical sales, with other record labels expected to announce similar trends.
