Zatann used our newssubmit to tell us that there is a report on Yahoo that shows that world music sales are lower. I would say no wonder, global economy seems to be going down, so why not music sales.
Another number named is the sales of casettes, that sales of these are going is not a miracle, more and more people will stop buying them because the technology is old !
World CD sales fell 4.6 percent while cassettes and singles continued their long-term decline to skid 16.3 percent and 14.4 percent lower respectively, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said in its interim report. |
The music industry has seen little growth in recent years as a boost from CD replacement sales seen over the past decade wanes. Music fans also now have a wider array of diversions to chose from, spanning video games, pay-TV and mobile phones.
The economic slowdown and extensive CD copying, often from pirate websites, have aggravated that trend this year, despite the downfall of former industry nemesis Napster. Among the hardest hit have been the five major music groups which account for 75 percent of sales -- Universal Music , Warner Music (NYSE:AOL - news), Sony , BMG (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: BTGGga.F) and EMI (quote from Yahoo! UK & Ireland: EMI.L).
However, easing the pain later this year will be a strong line-up of new albums from artists such as Sony Music's Michael Jackson and EMI's Robbie Williams, the IFPI noted.
Music sales fell in all but two of the top 10 markets in the first six months of the year. In Britain, a strong release schedule including hits from Gorillaz and Travis and a relatively robust retail sector lifted sales 10.5 percent, while a surge in local artists boosted French sales 7.9 percent.
However, sales in the world's biggest market, the United States, saw a 5.3 percent drop to $5.8 billion while the second biggest, Japan, saw sales slide 7.2 percent to $2.7 billion.
CD ``burning'' or copying on to blank discs has overtaken sales of legitimate CDs in some countries including Germany where music sales fell 11.3 percent to $935 million. Global sales of blank recordable CDs are expected to rise 40 percent this year.
As you see they also blame illegal copying. Do you think this part of the problem ?
Source: Yahoo.com
