IFPI: GLOBAL MUSIC SALES FLAT IN 2004 FMQB According to a report just released by IFPI (International Federation of the Phonographic Industry), global sales of recorded music were flat in 2004, with a slight reduction in physical audio sales offset by growing sales of DVD music videos and a sharp increase in sales of digital music (up more than tenfold from 2003 in US, UK, France, and Germany). 2004 also saw strong markets in the US and UK and a slowing rate of decline in other major markets.
Even excluding digital sales, 2004 was the best year-on-year trend in global music sales for five years. Top 10 albums sales globally rose by 14 percent, while the top 50 albums were up 8 percent in value. Eight albums sold more than five million in 2004, up from five in 2003.
"There are now good signs that the pattern of falling sales is behind us, but there is still a long way to go to get satisfactory rates of market growth," said IFPI Chairman and CEO John Kennedy. "On the positive side, digital sales are booming, helping the overall market to its best year-on-year performance in five years, and this growth is set to continue strongly in the coming year. This is testimony to the tremendous progress of the legitimate digital music sector in the last 12 months, as well as to our decisive enforcement actions against illegal file-sharing.
"However, the global music market currently presents an extremely mixed picture. Commercial piracy and illegal file-sharing are continuing to depress our markets, particularly in Continental Europe and Asia. The priority in the coming year is to step up the advance of legitimate digital sales, sustain our anti-piracy efforts and reverse the declines that we are continuing to see in all but a small handful of major markets." |