Improved CD Sales, Legal & Illegal Downloads

While I have absolutely no plans to sort through all the conflicting claims about how well the music industry is doing, I find it interesting that combining various accounts makes it look like the industry's doing just fine.

According to Nielsen SoundScan figures, this year sales of cds are up over the same period as last year:
"At 11 million units [sold last week], CD sales were down 34% from the previous week but up 7% compared to the same week a year ago. In the first complete chart week of 2006, sales trumped 2005 by 7%."

Nielsen SoundScan also reported that last year's sales of digital downloads increased radically in the final week of 2005 fueled by newly owned mp3 players and download gift cards.

Yet, according to figures compiled by Big Champagne, presumably illegal P2P filesharing was also at an all-time high in December of 2005.

Of course, some of what the music industry is concerned by is that, as society's consumption of music products shifts, there are related shifts in who makes what and how much off that consumption. Given that pricing on cds was artificially and illegally inflated when cds were first introduced, it remains difficult to arouse sympathy for major labels, though artists have legitimate concerns, particularly those dependent on the major label system.