Yep, it finally happened. One label has come forward and admitted that, for the first time, digital sales of its music has surpassed CDs. While many
pundits asserted that loosing tunes via tiny
downloadable files would instantaneously cause the deep-pocketed record labels to crumble as piracy ran rampant, the
numbers tell a different story. In fact, music sales overall have declined from $14.6 billion in 1999 to $10.1 billion this year, and it's expected to shrink further. But for Atlantic, moving tracks on the information superhighway has proven quite successful; last quarter, digital sales accounted for 51% of its revenue, while CD sales still make up over two-thirds of all music sales industry-wide. There's no real indication as to why Atlantic seems to have that digital charm while everyone else is still clinging tight to
old world business models, but it's sure nice to see this side of the equation thriving. Now, about those
DRM-free downloads across the board...
[Image courtesy of
Dexondaz]
