Industry crisis as album sales drop by 10pc
Reflecting a global crisis within the music business, revenues also dropped by 13pc -- with illegal downloads being blamed for the plunge.
The Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) now claims that for every one album bought, 20 are downloaded illegally.
However, sales of singles are up, with people now buying a handful of different tracks off the internet from different albums as opposed to whole albums, said CEO Dick Doyle.
"In value terms, the market is down 10pc, which I think is the fourth year in a row that we are down double-digit figures," he said.
"In revenue we are down at least 13pc. Half of the record stores in the US have closed down over the last six or seven years.
"There are tens of thousands of jobs gone in the US and it is all to do with one thing only and that is illegal downloads."
Download
Last year, the Irish music industry was worth €110m, with legal downloads of music more than doubling over the 12 months.
Four out of every five singles are now bought as a download, rather than in the shops. While this has boosted the singles market, changes in the way fans buy albums have caused sales to fall.
One of the most hotly anticipated albums of 2007, Radiohead's 'In Rainbows', was initally available as an internet download only , with fans choosing how much they paid for it. "Albums have shown an 8.5pc decline and the singles have shown a 88pc increase," said Mr Doyle.
"There is no doubt that people are buying singles in a different way and it has reinvigorated the singles market. They are not buying albums in the same way. People are probably buying the singles they prefer and then mixing and matching, putting together their own album."
A total of 23 people were pursued by IRMA for downloading vast amounts of music through file-sharing networks. However, half of these are said to have disappeared after they were traced.
Mr Doyle said some of the others have come to agreements where they pay a fine, wipe the music from their computers and give a commitment not to illegally download any more.
"We are pursuing some of the other 10 or 11 at the moment and some have come to agreements," he said.
Falling sales of albums have hit the music industry worldwide. In the US, sales have been dropping substantially over the last seven years.
In 2000, an album by boyband 'N Sync sold almost 10 million copies, ranking as the highest in the charts that year. However, in 2007, 'Noel' by Josh Groban sold just 3.7m copies and also ranked as the biggest seller Stateside last year.
- Shane Hickey
