Good news everybody, CD sales are booming as are download and ringtone sales, all of which means the record industry is in its healthiest state ever. No, only joking, of course it isn't. Figures released by the Recording Industry Association Of America this week confirmed what I think we all already knew, that 2006 was not a good year in terms of record sales in the US. In fact, CD sales dropped by 13%, the biggest ever one year slump, and although digital and realtone ringtone sales doubled, that was no where near enough to compensate for the slide in CD revenues. Overall US music sales for the year were down by 6.2 percent to $11.51 billion.
Nevertheless, and despite recent reports that CD sales in the US have continued to fall this year, RIAA chief Mitch Bainwol remained optimistic in his outlook for the future of the record industry - which I suppose he has to, in a bid to keep investment types interested in the industry he represents, though to be fair, as I do believe we have said on many an occasion before, despite slumping CD sales and continued online piracy, there is actually quite a lot to be optimistic about in the wider music biz. Here's Bainwol's take on it all: "The appetite for music is as strong as ever... Beyond the existing marketplace, the record companies continue to develop additional new business models and revenue streams like mobile and online videos".