iTunes is now the number two music retailer in the US

Apple announced that iTunes is now the number two music retailer in the US, behind only Wal-Mart, based on the latest data from the NPD Group. Apple also announced that there are now over 50 million iTunes Store customers. iTunes has sold over four billion songs, with an incredible 20 million songs sold on Christmas Day 2007 alone. (PR)

USA : Consumers Acquired More Music in 2007, But Spent Less

According to The NPD Group, the amount of music that consumers acquired in the U.S. increased by 6 percent in 2007. A sharp increase in legal digital download revenues could not offset declines in CD sales, which resulted in a net 10 percent decline in music spending (from $44 to $40 per capita among Internet users). As a result the overall portion of music acquisition that consumers actually paid for fell to 42 percent in 2007 from 48 percent in 2006. (PR)

U.K. Downloads To Soar In 2008, Says ERA

British consumers will likely spend more than £160 million ($312 million) on digital downloads this year, up by roughly 50% from the previous year, according to new figures published by ERA Digital, a division of the Entertainment Retailers Association trade body. A spike in interest for full album downloads is one of the catalysts for growth, ERA reports, a format which is forecast to account for £69.4 million ($135 million) in sales this year. Single track downloads will be worth an estimated £96.4 million ($188 million). (Billboard)

Forrester: Digital Music To Surpass CD Sales By 2012

Half of all music sold in the US will be digital in 2011 and sales of digitally downloaded music will surpass physical CD sales in 2012, according to a new report by Forrester Research. Digital music sales will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 23 percent over the next five years, reaching $4.8 billion in revenue by 2012, but will fail to make up for the continuing steady decline in CD sales. In 2012, CD sales will be reduced to just $3.8 billion. (PR)

Warner Music Group Corp. Reports First-Quarter 2008

Warner Music Group Corp. announced its first-quarter 2008 financial results for the period ended December 31, 2007. Total revenue of $989 million increased 7% from $928 million in the prior-year quarter, and grew 1% on a constant-currency basis. Digital revenue was $141 million, or 14% of total revenue, up 9% sequentially from $130 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2007 and up 41% from $100 million in the prior-year quarter. (PR, Financial Times)

Music Biz Pushes Piracy Blame To ISPs; Digital Sales Up 40 Percent

Kennedy is hoping to piggyback a new French policy that will force ISPs to monitor customers for illegal file sharing - and disconnect them after three strikes. Global music industry sales declined by around 10% in 2007, he said. Legal global track downloads grew 53 percent in 2007 to 1.7 billion. Individual singles make up 30 percent of the digital music market. Record labels made an estimated $2.9 billion from digital sales in 2007, 40 percent increase ($2.1 billion in 2006, $1.1 billion in 2005, $380 million in 2004). Digital now represents 15 percent of the total music market. (Paid Content, IFPI Digital Music Report, Dow Jones)

'Rock Band' pumps up music sales

The success of the video game Rock Band is drumming up revenue for the music industry. Virtual rockers downloaded roughly 2.5 million songs in the eight weeks since the game launched on the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3 systems. Rock Band, developed by Harmonix, which also created Guitar Hero, comes with 58 playable songs including the Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter and Metallica's Enter Sandman. But many more tunes can be downloaded over the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live for prices varying from 99 cents to $2.99. (USA Today, Billboard)

UK is largest European music download market, Germany 2nd

TiVo has paired up with Jaman.com, an online distrib of indie and international films, in a content deal that will increase the number of pics available to subscribers of its digital video recording service. The UK is responsible for 54 percent of all European music downloads, followed by Germany with 20 percent, according to a survey in 15 European countries by Nielsen SoundScan cited by the German music industry organisation. Number three is France with 7 percent, followed by Belgium and Italy both with four percent. (Telecom Paper)

Music DRM's Final Days

Less than a year after eMarketer asked "Is DRM Doomed?," the answer is fast becoming "yes." As The New York Times reported, Sony is the last of the big four music labels to offer music unrestricted by DRM for download from Amazon.com. The move is important for several reasons, but music marketers will likely be most excited by the prospect of a larger online music market. The move threatens to undermine Apple’s leadership in this area. Paul Verna, senior analyst at eMarketer, said that Amazon has a number of competitive advantages that may change the market share picture going forward. (eMarketer)

Music firms' DRM-free strategy yet to have an impact on digital sales

Standard and Poor's Rating Services said music labels are looking for alternative ways to boost digital sales to offset physical format sales declines, but it is uncertain whether the proliferation of music without digital rights management (DRM) will help to boost overall digital sales until a viable competitor for Apple's iPod emerges. The ratings agency views subscription-based models as most suitable to capitalize on rising music usage on social networking sites and said subscription services could create revenue opportunities from next-generation in-home audio systems with networking components. (Thomson Financial News)

7digital Posts Sales Surge

U.K. download retailer 7digital has credited a 188% year-on-year growth in sales during 2007 to the removal of digital rights management (DRM) from tracks and the availability of high-quality MP3s. The London-based company also benefited from an exclusive deal to supply bundled downloads of Radiohead's catalog. As a result, the band's "OK Computer" and "The Bends" albums made 7digital's top 10 sellers of the year, while Radiohead had a total of six albums in the top 20. "2008 is set to be the year DRM is gone for good," said Ben Drury, managing director of 7digital. (Billboard)

Amazon Tries On Role As Digital Pier Piper

If digital downloads are ever going to help save the rapidly shrinking music business, 2008 is emerging as an important test year. All eyes will be on Amazon.com and its CEO Jeff Bezos over the next 12 months now that SonyBMG and Warner Music Group have announced they will join Universal Music Group and EMI in selling songs in the MP3 format through the e-commerce powerhouse. Now the only retailer to offer music without digital rights management from all the major record companies, Amazon could contribute more than $500 million in sales in the near term, said Internet consulting firm Forrester Research. (NY Post)

Yankee Group Forecasts US Digital Music Revenue to Reach $5.34 Billion by 2012

Yankee Group anticipates that music industry revenue will begin to stabilize in the US, though at a lower level than previously seen. By the end of 2007, digital music revenue in the US grew to $1.98 billion, and will reach $5.34 billion by 2012. However, artists will increasingly keep the lion’s share of this revenue as record labels become marginalized. (PR)

2007 U.S. Music Purchases Exceed 1.4 Billion

Music purchases in 2007 reached 1.4 Billion, the third consecutive year music sales have exceeded 1 billion; 1.2 billion (2006) vs. 1 billion (2005) . Overall Album sales (including Albums and Track Equivalent Album sales) declined 9.5% compared to 2006. More than 840 million digital tracks were purchased during 2007; an increase of 45% over 2006. Digital album sales reached the 50 million for 2007; up 53% over the previous year and accounted for 10% of total album sales compared to 5.5% in 2006. (PR)

Trent Reznor 'disheartened' by state of music industry

As producer of rapper Saul Williams' new album 'The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust', Reznor decided to employ a similar business model to that of Radiohead, which gave listeners the option of paying nothing for a download of the album, or $5 for higher-quality MP3s. In a posting yesterday (January 3) on Nine Inch Nails' website, Reznor revealed the sales figures, saying, "Perhaps by revealing of all our data -- our 'dirty laundry' -- we can contribute to a better solution." (NME)

Canadians getting in tune with digital music

A Nielsen SoundScan Canada year-end report, released Friday, showed that sales of online digital albums are up 93 per cent from 2006, while traditional album sales have fallen by 6.9 per cent. Nearly two million online albums were sold in 2007. The figures show Canada has been quicker to embrace the online music world than the U.S., with Canadians buying 73 per cent more digital singles in 2007 compared to a 53 per cent increase south of the border. (CanWest News)