Our lovely intern Emma did some research for the Fact Box today. She covered digital music downloads - statistics that basically drive home the death of the CD. Enjoy!

From Entertainment Media Research - Digital Music Report 2008 (October 2008)

• CD sales are decreasing as digital downloading is increasing.
• Over 80% of all consumers have found music they like on community social networking sites.
• Only one in ten people still purchase CDs.

From eMarketer - eMarketer's 10 Key Predictions for 2008   (December 2007)

• Sales of digitally downloaded music will surpass physical CD sales in 2012, according to a report by Forrester Research.
• Digital music sales will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 23% over the next five years, reaching $4.8 billion in revenue by 2012, but will fail to make up for the continuing steady decline in CD sales.
• In 2012, CD sales will be reduced to just $3.8 billion. (The Forrester report is based in part on a survey of more than 5,000 consumers in the US and Canada).
• Worldwide recorded music spending has declined year after year - from $32 billion in 2006 to $28 billion in 2008, hitting a low of $26 billion in 2011.
• Expect to see more ad-supported sites, monthly subscription services, full-track mobile download offerings and use of social networks as music discovery and sales tools.

From Wikipedia - Music Downloads (August 2008)

• Digital music sales now generate around $2 billion in revenue, with tracks available through 500 online services located in 40 countries, representing around 10% of the total global music market.
• Around the world in 2006, an estimated five billion songs, equating to 38,000 years in music were swapped on peer-to-peer websites, while 509 million were purchased online.

From eMarketer - Keeping Music Fans Engaged and Excited (July 2008)

• eMarketer estimates that online and mobile will grab about 40% of the total music spend in 2009.

From New York Times – U.S. Album Sales Fell 9.5% in 2007  (January 2008)

• Album sales in the United States plunged 9.5% last year from 2006, as the recording industry had another weak year despite a 45% surge in the sale of digital tracks, according to figures released Thursday.
• A total of 500.5 million albums in the form of CDs, cassettes, LPs and other formats were purchased last year, down 15% from the unit total for 2006, said Nielsen SoundScan, which tracks point-of-purchase sales.
• The decline in album sales drops to 9.5 percent when sales of digital singles are counted as 10-track equivalent albums.
• The number of digital tracks sold, meanwhile, jumped 45%, to 844.2 million, compared with 588.2 million in 2006, with digital album sales accounting for 10 percent of total album purchases.
• Overall music purchases, including albums, singles, digital tracks and music videos, rose to 1.35 billion units, up 14% from 2006.
• Music sales during the last week of 2007 totaled 58.4 million units, the biggest sales week ever recorded by Nielsen SoundScan.
• The recording industry continued to benefit from mobile music, with mobile phone owners buying 220 million ring tones, the firm said.