According to figures released by music industry body the BPI, digital album sales rose 26.6% to 26.6 million which helped balance a large drop in CD sales.
Combined sales of digital and physical albums fell by 5.6% to 113.2m in 2011, with albums on CD declining 12.6% year-on-year to 86.2m in total.
The BPI has been lobbying against changes that it believes could weaken copyright law, and has called for greater protection from the Digital Economy Act, despite the increase in paid-for downloads.
The UK record industry has called for more Government protection against online piracy – despite legitimate downloads soaring.
“But the challenge of sustaining this performance against a backdrop of chronic piracy means that Government action remains absolutely crucial for British artists and their labels.” said Tony Wadsworth, BPI chairman
However Mark Goodge, a musician, local politician and activist, on his blog said “What that means, in translation, is ‘We’ve done better than our pessimistic predictions, but don’t be fooled – we’re still too incompetent to sustain that success in the face of technological change, so we want the Government to guarantee our future for us’,”
Where does this leave you? What do you think?
Article source: Music Industry Torn Over Album Download Success
TweetTags: bpi | digital economy act | digital piracy | illegal downloading
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