UK music industry lifted by Christmas downloads

The struggling music industry could be seeing the first signs of recovery with figures showing online downloads more than doubled in the UK in the last week of 2007 compared with 2006, analysts said.

The industry, which has been hit by piracy, is looking to online sales to offset falling CD sales. Last week's figures were likely boosted by consumers going online after receiving music vouchers and digital music players such as Apple's iPod for Christmas.

Online music sales reached 2.9 million tracks in the last week of 2007, more than double that of the corresponding week in 2006 and the largest one-week sales tally recorded to date in the UK, according to the Official UK Charts Co, which tracks music and video sales.

The British Phonographic Industry, which represents the British recorded-music business, said total music download sales for the year topped 77 million, a 50 per cent increase over 2006. CD sales, by contrast, dropped during that period.

"In the United States for the week ending December 23, 2007, recorded music album sales -- including the counting of 10 downloaded singles as an album -- fell 10 per cent year to date, with physical album sales down over 14 per cent," analysts at UBS said in a note.

"Other markets such as the UK and in continental Europe have also seen tough conditions."

"While online album downloads have failed to pick up, the news should help induce optimism that the recorded-music industry may be seeing the roots of recovery."

In other good news for the industry, eMusic, a retailer of online music from independent labels, said downloads of digital music and audiobooks had smashed its expectations, reaching an all-time peak on Christmas Day with nearly half a million downloads.

It also pushed past the 400,000 paid subscriber mark, less than two months after the company announced it had reached 350,000 subscribers.

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