British album sales decline again in 2010
Album sales fell by seven percent in Britain last year, despite a 30% jump in the number of digital albums purchased, industry lobby group the BPI said on Wednesday.
January 05, 2011 / 21:15 IST
Album sales fell by seven percent in Britain last year, despite a 30% jump in the number of digital albums purchased, industry lobby group the BPI said on Wednesday.
The figures compiled by the Official Charts Company extend the trend of recent years, where the sharp rise in legally downloaded music has failed to arrest the overall decline in an industry struggling with online piracy.Digital and physical album sales reached 119.9 mn in 2010, down 7.0% from 128.9 mn in 2009 and compared with 154.7 mn in 2006.Of that total, 21 mn units were sold in the digital format last year, a 17.5% market share and an increase of 30.6% on 2009.CD sales slumped 12.4%, however, to 98.5 mn versus over 150 mn in 2006.The singles market hit a record high of 161.8 mn units sold in 2010, up 5.9%on the previous year. Of the total, 98% of singles purchased were in the digital format."However encouraging it is to see the digital market grow ... legal downloads are unable to offset the decline in CD sales because they are dwarfed by illegal competition," said Geoff Taylor, BPI chief executive."Meaningful action to tackle illegal downloading remains absolutely critical if we are to stabilise British music sales, let alone return to growth. Without it, investment in new digital services and in British musical talent will begin to dry up."On the retail level, music, books, DVDs and games group HMV announced on Wednesday that its sales in the five weeks to Jan. 1 dropped sharply and that it would sell or close around 60 British stores over the next year.Take That's "Progress" was Britain's top-selling album last year, moving more than 1.8 mn copies, while Eminem's "Love the Way You Lie", featuring Rihanna, was the most popular single with sales of 854,000.Universal Music, the world's biggest label, had six of the top 10 best selling artist albums in Britain in 2010, followed by Warner Music with three and Sony Music with one. Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
