Digital Music Sales Triple from 2004 to 2005

BBC: Digital music revenue 'triples'

The article says that 6% of music sales are now digital -- worth $790 million.

At the same time revenue from physical format music sales (CDs) fell 6.4%. Seems pretty much like an even change between 2004-2005 then, people are just buying MP3s instead of CDs. Of course that music sales have fallen over the years in general and are lower than they were in years prior to 2004, which is the point of comparison here.

There was a $.2 billion global drop in music sales overall from 2004 to 2005. Piracy, competition from other forms of entertainment (probably mostly video games), and lower retail prices for music are blamed for the drop. I think they also forgot to add that most pop music being released these days is drivel. I would also think that industry watchers should not be surprised that there is some drop in sales overall as people move to digital purchases because many people in-the-know will refuse to buy iTunes style low bit rate and DRM'ed music but will instead turn to possibly illicit sources where they can get non DRM'ed and higher quality stuff. I doubt this is something many people consider when they're shopping for digital music, but I know it is an issue for some.

Here's a snippet:

IFPI said the surge in digital music sales was being driven by the increased use of broadband, 3G mobile phones and portable music players.
...
The IFPI said the decrease in digital revenue was due partly to lower retail prices, a decline in DVD music video sales and music piracy.

Release schedules and competition from other entertainment sectors were also factors, it added.