Global Music Sales Decline for the Fifth Straight Year

Worldwide sales of recorded music declined 1.3% to $33.6 billion last year as the U.S. market grew for the first time since 1999 and consumers bought more concert and video DVDs.

The figures released Tuesday, which reveal the fifth straight year of falling sales for the record industry, do not include digital downloads or mobile phone ring tones, which music companies say would have made 2004 sales flat against 2003.

Global compact disc sales, still one of the most closely watched numbers to discern the health of the industry, were down 0.9% from a year ago compared with a 9.1% drop in 2003, according to the trade group International Federation for the Phonographic Industry.

Music sales around the world have been slammed by rampant CD piracy, illegal downloading, poor economic conditions and stiff competition from video games.

The global 1.3% fall was the slowest rate of decline in five years.

Recorded music sales in the United States, which accounts for about 36% of the world total, increased 2.3%. Europe struggled again, with France falling 14.8%, Spain 12.5%, Germany 4.2% and Britain 1.6%. Latin America benefited from an economic rebound to generate 12.6% growth in 2004.

The trade group said the number of tracks downloaded surged to more than 200 million in the four biggest markets – the United States, Britain, France and Germany – a tenfold increase from 2003.