Music Sales Decline Two Percent

Even with legal music downloads taking off during 2005, it was still not enough to offset an slight decline in music sales due to lagging physical media purchases for the entire year. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry estimates that final sales data will indicate a two percent overall drop. In 2004, revenue from music sales totaled $33.6 billion.

The industry can take some positives out of the IFPI's data -- the organization indicated that in several countries, including Great Britain and Germany, legal music download numbers now surpass file sharing downloads. "We have tipped the scale on Internet piracy. Newcomers are going to legal online stores," IFPI CEO John Kennedy told an industry conference this past weekend.