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Fed up with falling sales, the industry - which claims Australians download more than one billion songs illegally each year - has been discussing tough new guidelines with internet service providers (ISPs) since late last year. The value of CDs sold in Australia between January and March this year fell by more than 20 per cent - from $100 million to $80 million - compared with the first three months of 2006. This is despite big-selling albums from Australian Idol winner Damien Leith, Justin Timberlake, The Killers and Snow Patrol. The remarkable plunge mirrors the US experience. Last week, however, recording industry body ARIA put out a press release attempting to put a positive spin on the state of the industry. Overall, CD sales revenue in 2006 fell by more than five per cent, yet ARIA focused on the growth in legitimate digital downloads, and the strong showing last year by home-grown acts. The industry is now targeting those who repeatedly download music without paying. Sabiene Heindl, general manager of the music industry's piracy unit MIPI, said record labels could trace people who illegally downloaded music via so-called peer-to-peer websites such as LimeWire.The music industry is lobbying for a "three strikes and you're out" policy to enforce their copyright. "Under this system, people who illegally download songs would be given three written warnings by their Internet service provider. If they continued to illegally download songs, their internet account would be suspended or terminated
Figures released by the Australian Recording Industry Association yesterday show an increase of almost 8 per cent in the volume of wholesale physical music products, such as CDs, in 2006 compared with 2005, despite a decrease of more than 5 per cent in overall revenue.The association's 2006 wholesale recorded music statistics also show that Australians bought three times as much digital music in 2006 compared with the previous year.The chief executive of the association, Stephen Peach, said the drop in wholesale CD revenue was attributable to tougher competition between retailers and pressure from consumers attracted to the cheaper digital music."People continue to be interested in music, although the average value of CD sales is continuing to decline," Mr Peach said. "At a time when the CD seems to be dying, we are selling more units than ever before, although [the retailers] are needing to sell more and more CDs to earn less money."
