Music Sales Finally Increase, Piracy Goes Down
By Brandon Russell | 2
For the first time in 14 years, music sales are up by the slimmest of margins—just 0.3 percent. Even better, piracy reportedly fell by 17-percent overall in 2012, meaning the music industry is getting a double-dose of good news. The changes are attributed, of all things, to the evolving Internet. More specifically, streaming services like Pandora and Spotify, which isn’t much of a surprise.
According to a few new studies, one from the IFPI Digital Music Report and the other from NPD group, streaming subscription services saw a 44 percent increase in 2012, while global digital revenues hit $5.6 billion during the same year. The proliferation in available streaming lead to half of file sharers to either stop or reduce their pirating activity altogether, NPD said.
“The music industry has adapted to the internet world, learned how to meet the needs of consumers and monetised the digital marketplace,” said IFPI executive Frances Moore.
The streaming models obviously works; it’s no wonder why companies like Apple and Google want a piece of the action.
