Jari Ketola
29 Sep 2001 3:22
According to the interim report released by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) today, the global recorded music sales dropped by five percent during the first half of 2001 from what they were in 2000.
World CD sales fell 4.6 percent while the ever-declining casette sales went down 16.3 percent. Also singles were 14.4 percent lower than the previous year. The decline was steady all over the world except for the United Kingdom (10% growth) and France (8% growth).
The decline is, according to IFPI, the result of slowing economics, illegal CD-burning, and, of course, the availability of pirated music on-line. Consumers also have more and more entertainment products to spend their money on, such as DVDs, video games, mobile phones, and pay-TV, so obviously they have less money to spend on music.