Bloomberg has the following story today:
“Global Music Sales Fall to $32 Billion on Piracy, Less Spending
April 7 (Bloomberg) — Global recorded music sales fell to $32 billion last year, their fourth annual decline in a row, hurt by illegal copying and increased consumer spending on products such as video games and DVDs, an industry group said.
World music sales dropped 7.6 percent in 2003, said the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, a London- based group representing companies including EMI Group Plc and Universal Music. The rate of decline slowed in 2003 as U.S. sales started to rise again in the second half…
[Read the full story]
Of some interest, sales in the U.S. started to climb again towards the end of 2003. The industry notes that there were some popular releases but what about services like Apple's iTunes, available for now online in the U.S. Could Apple's iTunes and other downloading services have helped boost sales of CDs?