Another set of sales figures - and more doom and gloom. The latest stats come from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industries who reveal that not only are global music sales down, but the decline is speeding up - sales were down 10.9% in the first half of 2003, up from a decline of 7.1% in the same period in 2002. Needless to say commercial piracy and illegal downloading is blamed. The IFPI reckons that in Germany, Japan and the US illegal downloads are now matching or exceeding commercial sales.
On the up side (because, believe it or not, there is an upside), the sale of DVD music videos show substantial growth (up 46%) and album sales in the UK were slightly up on the same period last year.