Recorded music sales worldwide fell to $33.7 billion. Sales of
CD albums fell globally by 5%, and there were declines in sales of
singles (down 16%) and cassettes (down 10%).
Commenting on the figures, Jay Berman, Chairman and CEO of IFPI,
said:
"In 2001 the international recording
industry was caught in a perfect storm, buffeted by the combined
effects of mass copying and piracy, competition from other products
and economic downturn. The industry's problems reflect no fall in
the popularity of recorded music: rather, they reflect the fact
that the commercial value of music is being widely devalued by mass
copying and piracy."
Berman added that the industry is fighting back with new
business models, payment systems and anti-copying measures on
CDs.
Sales in France rose by 10% and in the UK by 5%, significantly
bucking the downward trend, largely through strong sales of their
respective domestic artists. US sales fell by 4.5%. Sales in
Denmark fell by 14.8%.
Three of the world's top five markets - the US, Japan and
Germany - attribute a significant part of their sharp drop in
recorded music sales in 2001 to the proliferation of free music and
piracy.
The IFPI acknowledged that part of the decline in sales could be
attributed to the global economic downturn, particular in the last
quarter of the year.
However, it also said that in Germany, 18% of 10,000 consumers
surveyed said that burning CDs resulted in them buying less music.
In the US, nearly 70% of people who downloaded music burned the
songs on to a CD-R disc, while 35% of people downloading more than
20 songs per month said they now buy less music as a result.
