Worldwide sales of music CDs, records and cassettes fell for the third year in a row, hit largely by rising Internet piracy in the United States, according to an international recording industry group.
“This year’s figures hold no surprises,” said Jay Berman, chief executive officer of the IFPI. “Widespread use of illegal sites, made easier with the growth of broadband access in the major markets, is affecting an industry that is also having to compete with increased sales of other entertainment formats such as DVD films and new video game consoles.”
If the drop in the music sales is undeniable, the industry’s unwavering attribution of it to the effects of Internet piracy remains controversial. Competing studies from the record industry and independent analysts have shown differing results, with many file-swapping aficionados saying they are less willing to buy music on the one hand, and others saying they use downloading to make better-informed purchases on the other hand.
As Berman noted, some consumers may have shifted their discretionary, entertainment-oriented spending toward buying DVDs rather than CDs. In 2002, retail DVD sales rose by 61 percent to $8.7 billion, or about $3.3 billion more than in 2001, according to the DVD Entertainment Group. By contrast, the value of United States music shipments in 2002 dropped by about $1.02 billion to $12.6 billion, according to the Recording Industry Association of America trade group.
Those figures too can be interpreted in different ways. Critics of the music industry’s attack on Internet services such as Napster and Kazaa contend that record labels are simply not releasing enough good music, and consumers see DVDs as a better value than CDs.
source Cnet.com Article
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