Record year for music downloads in the UK
Music downloads are all the rage these days. No matter how many copies of In Rainbows Radiohead go on to sell this week, the increase in singles downloads shows a distinct shift in how consumers get their music. CD sales aren’t dead, but music downloads are very much alive.
In the UK in 2007, almost 78 million singles were purchased for music downloads, equating to a 50% rise in downloads from 2006. While this is great news for the online music industry, music fans are still reluctant to purchase entire albums. When it comes to album sales, 95% of people chose to buy a physical CD, rather than download their music in 2007.
Also, CD sales slumped a further 10% in 2007. The week after Christmas was particularly good for music downloads in the UK, however, with nearly three million tracks downloaded and paid for as music fans tried to fill up their MP3 players received as Christmas gifts.
With any luck, 2008 will be even better for music downloads and record labels will have less to complain about. Hopefully, there will also be less dodgy music-download sites stealing money from punters. Happy New Year everyone.
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lesly r. carcamo 03Jan08
This a great sitie.
mp3 music 07Jan08
oh yeah, music - it’s our life, and mp3 is a CD killer
Radiohead with “In Rainbows” album great Christmas gift 
Conversational Hypnosis 08Jan08
I have hardly been buying any Cds since last year so I guess you hit the bulleye that music downloads is just going to get bigger. Music companies, time for change and innovation.
Hottest Ringtones 16Jan08
It would be interesting to see statistics for peer to peer (illegal) downloads as well. Are these increasing at the same rate?