More blues for the record industry: Sales to plummet

Filed under: Earnings reports, Forecasts, Bad newsA new report indicates that worldwide music sales will drop some $5 billion by 2011. The 18-page discussion of music sales also indicates that the drop from $31.8 billion last year to $26.2 billion four years from now will also play out in U.S. sales, with a $2 billion drop occurring. The loss is attributable to "plummeting CD sales" and "faster-than-expected declines in sales of physical recordings in key markets." In reality though, such a loss should not be unexpected. Digital sales are simply less expensive than physical sales and as a result of other high commodities more accessible. Digital growth has taken off this year, following EMI's drop in use of Digital Rights Management technology, which prohibits the pirac