UK posts record year for album sales

UK album sales have managed to buck the global downturn, according to worldwide figures released today.

While international sales plummeted by 10.7% in volume for the the first half of 2003, continuing last year’s downward trend, but the domestic market went up by 4%.

The International Federation of the Phonographic Industries blamed the poor performance on music piracy and internet music sharing.

Recent UK figures from the British Phonographic Industry showed that album sales in the UK were at an all time high, although music industry profits are down.

CD price wars and a massive slump in singles sales left record sales values down 4.1% in the year to June.

During that period the album market swelled to 228.3 million units, the largest ever recorded.

While sales increased from June 2002 to June 2003, profits for albums actually dipped by 2%.

The number of units shifted has been buoyed by retailers offering huge discounts and almost permanent sales to compete with mark-downs being offered by supermarkets. However that has hit profits.

IFPI figures show that in Germany, Japan, the US and Canada have seen the numbers of unauthorised downloads of tracks and copied CDs have reach or exceeded levels of legitimate sales.

Jay Berman, chairman of IFPI said: “Despite some healthy signs that a legitimate online music business is now taking hold, the music industry continues to suffer from the unauthorised file-sharing and commercial piracy.”