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Report: Online Music Sales to Offset Physical Sales Decline in Europe

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 29, 2006 - 10:00am.
Amsterdam - Sales of physical music formats (CD, DVD) in Europe are projected to fall 30% over the next five years, but online music sales will grow to represent a third of the overall market and make up for this loss, according to a report from market research firm Forrester. While total European music sales are forecasted to grow from $11.41 billion in 2006 to just $13.21 billion in 2011, online sales in the region will skyrocket from $335.2 million this year to $4.7 billion during the same period, Forrester said.
tags: Europe | Report | Sale | Decline | Online Music | Offset | Physical Sale |

Digital Music Distributor Declines in Nasdaq Debut

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on February 2, 2006 - 7:16am.
Sacramento, Calif. - Digital Music Group, Inc., a company that acquires digital rights to recordings, encodes them digitally and distributes them to online music stores, on Thursday made its initial public offering of shares on the Nasdaq. The company priced 3.9 million shares at $9.75 per share, an offer worth about $38 million. Shares were down as much as 14% on Thursday, before regaining some ground to close at $9.25. Founded in 2005, Sacramento, Calif.-based Digital Music Group has acquired rights to tracks from artists such as Fats Domino and Herman's Hermits, and digitized them for sale on iTunes, Napster and other similar services. The company will use the proceeds to fund expansion and for general corporate purposes.
tags: Music | Nasdaq | Debut | Distributor | Decline |

Report: Number of Legal Music Download Service Users on Decline

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on October 12, 2004 - 3:40am.
Port Washington, N.Y. -- The number of consumers purchasing legal digital music downloads declined from a high of 1.3 million in April 2004 to around one million during the months of May, June and July, according to a report from New York-based market research firm NPD Group. The firm cited the end of free offers, discounts and other promotions offered by the various services selling digital music. NPD did not note a corresponding decline in the number of households using peer-to-peer file-sharing service to download free music, which totaled 5.1 million in August 2003 and 6.4 million in July 2004. Of the legitimate services, Apple's iTunes accounted for 70 of sales for the period of Dec. 2003 to July 2004, while Napster's share was 11% and Musicmatch, RealNetworks and Wal-Mart each sold 6% of total downloads.
tags: Reports | Decline | Users | Legal Music Download |

Report: Decline in Average Price for CDs is Accelerating

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on June 3, 2004 - 3:20pm.
Port Washington, N.Y. -- A recent decline in the average price consumers pay for CD albums appears to be accelerating, reaching a new low of $13.29 in the first quarter of 2004, according to data from New York-based market research firm NPD Group. The price point dropped nearly 4% from the average CD price in the first quarter of 2003, while in the previous year the average price dropped only 2.5%. In 2002, the average price was $13.90. The report noted that titles 18-months old or older now cost on average $12.99, and also that prices at mass merchandisers like Wal-Mart and Target fell by 5% over the past year. "The recording industry has had to deal with a changing market over the past few years, which was fueled in part by file-sharing," said NPD Music president Russ Crupnick. "Everyone also recognizes the increasing competition for entertainment dollars, as DVDs and video games are growing at double digit rates. Record labels are diligently trying to respond to consumer feedback about high CD prices, and to the relative value of music."
tags: Reports | CDs | Decline | Price | Accelerating |