over the last week it has emerged that online music sales have slumped by 25% in the third quarter of 2002 compared with a year earlier. We already know that total US retail music sales have dropped by 7%: Forrester Research told us this week that one in seven Europeans downloads music and that more than 40% of frequent downloaders confess to buying less music as a result.
Also Microsoft announced that it had developed software to enable recording companies to restrict unauthorised copying of songs from compact discs.
Faced with an industry in freefall, what should one do? One option would be to have a look at the facts about how it affects Britain.
By how much do you think record sales fell in Britain last year - by 20%, 10% or 5%?
The answer is none of these. Sales of albums (accounting for 90% of total sales) actually went up last year. Figures to be released shortly by BPI, the trade monitoring body, are expected to show a rise of almost 3%.


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