Online music sales grow 40 percent in 2007: IFPI

0 Comments | AFP, January, 2008

LONDON (AFP) — Global sales of music online rose by 40 percent in 2007, confirming the soaring popularity of legal Internet-based music stores, said an industry report published Thursday.

Online sales of music totalled an estimated 2.9 billion dollars (1.9 billion euros) last year, said the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) in its annual report.

That compared with compared to 2.1 billion dollars in 2006, and 380 million dollars in 2004.

"A revolution is sweeping the music industry as record companies adapt to a new digital marketplace," John Kennedy, IFPI's chairman and CEO wrote in the report.

Between 2003 and 2007, the number of legal online music stores has increased more than tenfold, from around 30 to more than 500....