There was more doom and gloom for the French record business yesterday following the news that the wholesale value of the country's recorded music industry for the first nine months of the year was down 20.5% on the same period last year, down to 443.9 millon euros.
Digital music sales were up 8.1%, aided by a massive increase in mobile downloads, and digital now accounts for 8% of the overall music market. But that did not compensate for a 10.6% drop in retail sales. And the overall wholesale value of recorded music fell even more because retailers have been reducing their overall CD stocks.
Hervé Rony, the Director General of the county's industry association, SNEP, told a press conference that he remained hopeful quarter four would see a boost because of new releases from big selling artists like Florent Pagny, Johnny Hallyday, Céline Dion or Michel Polnareff. He also said he hoped a government review being led by the CEO of retailer Fnac into music sales would help boost the country's digital market, but said that both the industry and government needed to act quickly, remarking: "Time for half measures is over. There won't be any regulation of the internet without the full involvement of the public authorities".
There is better news from Canada where, despite a fall in record sales, profits in the record industry are up, albeit only very slightly, mainly because of a reduction in the running costs of record companies, aided by the savings possible in digital delivery. Or at least that is what a report by Statistics Canada tell us - they have compared current sales and profitability in the country's music industry with analysis they did of the sector in 2003. It should be noted that a number of people in the Canadian record industry have questioned Statistics Canada's relatively upbeat appraisal, pointing out that the nominal profit increase was only possible because of large staff cut backs, and adding that the new report ignores parts of the indie sector where things are more gloomy.