The digital music business saw solid global expansion in 2008, growing by an estimated 25 percent to $3.7 billion, according to a report from the industry trade group IFPI.Digital platforms now account for around 20 percent of recorded music sales, up from 15 percent in 2007. Despite this the music industry is still plagued by large amounts of unlicensed music distributed online. The IFPI estimates over 40 billion files were illegally shared in 2008, giving piracy a rate of about 95 percent.
Music sales dropped to their lowest level in a decade even though there was an increase in digital sales but it did not make up for falling CD sales according to a report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).Worldwide music sales fell 8 percent to $19.4 billion in 2007. Sales of CDs dropped 13 percent to $15.9 billion. Sales of downloaded songs and mobile ringtones increased 34 percent to $2.9 billion.
Digital music sales in 2006 doubled over the previous year. As did the number of songs made available online. Record labels have become somewhat more comfortable as they continue to try and find the right combination of distribution models along with digital music products.
Providing song files to other music fans through the use of the eDonkey file sharing application turned into a pain in the ass when a widespread record industry sweep took place in Germany.
People are getting more honest when comes to downloading music off the Internet, according an international recording industry group. The number of legally downloaded music tracks almost tripled in the first half of this year. Illegal file-sharing is up only three percent.