UK Digital Music Industry Passes £1bn in Sales
UK sales of digital music have surpassed a billion pounds.
It’s not difficult to cast your mind back and remember a time when buying singles on cassette from the likes of HMV was very, very normal. There they were, on the shelves along with their more expensive counterpart “CDs”. However, the music industry has since gone digital; X-Factor performances are available on iTunes immediately after they’re sung live on TV and it’s not unusual for bands to release exclusive online content to fans. This week digital music hit a milestone in the United Kingdom: It’s finally become a billion-pound industry.
The International Business Times cites BPI in reporting that £1,014 million has been spent since the launch of a legal online music service in 2004. It’s a milestone for sure, and though it’s taken a long to time to hit, last year’s explosive growth was instrumental in getting to one billion. According to BPI, £316.5m was spent in 2010 alone. Prices are falling too. The industry group says the average price of an album has fallen from £10.02 in 2004 to £7.32 last year.
As for the most popular music, 'I Got a Feeling' by the Black Eyed Peas is the most downloaded single while Adele's '21' is the most downloaded album.
Do you still buy music on a physical medium or do you prefer to download it from iTunes, Amazon Music or another similar service?
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So piracy is rife then is it?
Im listen to mostly Trance / Techno & European dance. I buy a lot digitally but still like the sound of 12" vinyl so shop in HMV for those, as they're the only place that makes the effort to find and get in a record you request from overseas.
Yeah you can see how piracy is killing the industry.
Piracy is killing the industry. If piracy wasn't rampant, overall sales wouldn't be declining, the music industry would still be expanding and music wouldn't have been a mass consumable device.
Do I still buy CD's? Absolutely. I want lossless audio and high quality audio downloads are few and far between (and expensive too).
This is an
interesting topic!