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Global recorded music revenues grew .3-per cent to £10.9 billion last year, marking the first increase since 1999. That’s the year, you’ll remember, that Napster and file sharing brought the industry to its knees.
According to the report from the IFPI, growth is being driven by digital revenue, which was up 9-per cent in 2012. That digital sales accounts for £3.7 billion in revenue, which is just over one-third of the total. A full 70-per cent of the digital total comes from online download stores like iTunes, which means that despite their millions of users, subscription-based services like Spotify and Pandora aren’t generating nearly as much industry-sustaining revenue as some of them would have you think.
Either way, growth is growth. Congrats to the music industry on its .3-per cent bump. Don’t spend it all in one place. [IFPI via AllThingsD]
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“brought the industry to its knees”
I stopped reading after this. What kind of bollocks is this?
Yep an industry making £10.9 billion is on it’s knees alright. That .3% rise won’t even cover Beibers coke and hookers bill. I suggest we have a whip round for them.
I think he’s quoting: http://www.gizmodo.co.uk/2012/12/how-napster-brought-the-recording-industry-to-its-knees/, one of the Napster guys said just that :p
The way people are consuming content has changed and the industry has been too slow to adapt.
Only because they REFUSE to adapt. They are blinded by their own greed and this stops them from seeing the vast market that is the internet.
I would say they are blinded by the monopoly they enjoyed for decades. That monopoly is gone and they have lost control over what content we enjoy and how we enjoy it. That is was the ‘war on piracy’ is really about.
I wonder what the profits were thou..
To be honest I haven’t really bought any of the crap product on offer since 99. This is good news, must get down to HMV and check the new music out – so glad to hear of the demise of urban, rap, boy and girl bands and those tedious talent show survivors. Something exciting must be going on, like a new Bowie album or something….