UK online music sales booming

2009-01-07 19:11

London - British music sales are booming as young fans increasingly buy songs online rather than illegally downloading them, the country's industry body said on Wednesday.

The BPI, formerly known as the British Phonographic Industry, said big-selling releases by artists including Leona Lewis, Coldplay, the Killers and Take That also helped drive sales to record levels last year.

The industry has struggled in recent years to adapt to rapidly changing technologies, and has been hit hard by illegal downloading of music via peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing websites.

But download sales grew by 33% last year, while 2008 was the biggest sales year on record in terms of singles sales in all formats, with 115 million single tracks sold.

The deepening recession has hit some retailers - notably Woolworths and high street music retailer Zavvi, formerly Virgin Megastore - but in other ways it could even be helping the industry, said BPI boss Geoff Taylor.

"Every business and consumer in the UK is having a tough time, and these difficult trading conditions make the resilience of the UK's music market all the more notable," he said.

A feel-good purchase

"During a recession, people look for purchases that are excellent value for money and bring a lot of enjoyment, and music does just this," he added.

While downloads of single tracks have soared, the market for albums has also been helped by growing online sales: some 10 million albums were sold, a 65% increase on 2007.

Kim Bayley, head of the Entertainment Retailers Association, said traditional high street music sales were also holding up.

"Music performed better in UK stores in 2008 than anyone had expected.

"The big lesson of 2008 is that if the music is strong enough and retailers work well with suppliers to get that product in-store, music fans will respond and buy in their droves."

The upbeat British music news came a day after US technology giant Apple said that every song in its iTunes library will be available without anti-piracy software by April.

- AFP