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CD sales RISE DESPITE DOWNLOADS


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AS DIGITAL music hogs the headlines, the humble CD has made a comeback at the cash register. However, music retailers may still be feeling the pinch. Figures released by the Australian Recording Industry Association yesterday show an increase of almost 8 per cent in the volume of wholesale physical music products, such as CDs, in 2006 compared with 2005, despite a decrease of more than 5 per cent in overall revenue.

The association's 2006 wholesale recorded music statistics also show that Australians bought three times as much digital music in 2006 compared with the previous year.

The chief executive of the association, Stephen Peach, said the drop in wholesale CD revenue was attributable to tougher competition between retailers and pressure from consumers attracted to the cheaper digital music.

"People continue to be interested in music, although the average value of CD sales is continuing to decline," Mr Peach said. "At a time when the CD seems to be dying, we are selling more units than ever before, although [the retailers] are needing to sell more and more CDs to earn less money."

While Australians are buying more albums on CD, sales of CD singles have almost halved.

"The decline in the CD single market is most likely a migration to the digital market," Mr Peach said, "but album sales on digital are still not significant.

"It still takes a long time to download, an album and people who use digital music seem to buy tracks, rather than albums."

He said that despite a rise in sales of digital music of more than 300 per cent and a 250 per cent increase in revenue, digital music cornered only 5 per cent of the Australian music market, compared with between 10 per cent and 20 per cent in the US and Europe.

While wholesale CD sales in 2006 totalled more than $421 million, wholesale digital music sales totalled $27.8 million.

Mr Peach said that as record companies released large parts of their back catalogues into digital channels, the association expected stronger growth in the digital market, including the mobile phone market. Track downloads, videos and music ring tones made up almost 50 per cent of the overall digital market in 2006.

source:AP

image:Lisa Wiltse:Reach for the stars … Isabella Previtera, 8, and her sister Adrianna, 5, of Greenacre, browsing through the CDs at a record shop yesterday.

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