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Recorded music sales down down down
By CMU Editorial | Published on Thursday 23 April 2009
Global recorded music sales declined 8.3% in 2008, which is nice. We know this because of the latest figures from the International Federation Of The Phonographic Industry, who calculate the wholesale value of recordings across the record industry worldwide.
Their figures include CD sales, digital music revenues and the licensing income that comes from TV, radio, websites and other organisations who play recorded music in public. The figures mean that while digital sales and licensing income boom, the boom is not enough to cover the widely reported slump in CD revenues.
The decline was worst in the US, where overall record sales income was down 18.6%. CD revenues were down 31.2%, while digital sales increased 16.5%. In Europe overall market decrease was 6.3%, with CD sales down 11.3%, while digital sales grew by 36.1%. The Latin American market was also down, though Asia bucked the trend and saw a 1% rise overall where digital increases are starting to compensate for physical product declines.
So record companies, more diversification into areas other than recordings and continued Asian expansion should be on the agenda for 2009, methinks.
