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Music Slump
CD woes

Global compact disc sales -- the most often cited figure in discussing the health of the industry -- fell 9.1 percent in value in 2003, the IFPI said. Unit sales fell by 6.5 percent.

Total sales of singles, including cassettes and vinyl, which have dipped significantly since the Internet file-sharing and CD-burning craze began in the late 1990s, fell 18.7 percent in value terms between 2002 and 2003.

In the German market, sales fell for the sixth consecutive year, this time by 19 percent. The trade body recently conducted a study that found the number of CDs burned by German consumers jumped to 325 million in 2003 from 260 million in 2002.

To fight piracy, the industry has begun suing the most prolific online music swappers. The legal clampdown, which started in the United States and recently spread to Europe and Canada, will become a global initiative, the IFPI said last week.

Music labels have also been slashing costs, dumping B-list stars and cutting staff. Last week, EMI announced it would shed 1,500 jobs, or about 19 percent of its staff.

Sony Music and Bertelsmann's BMG plan to merge forces, hoping to save an estimated $300 million annually through creating the second largest music label behind Universal Music .


The IFPI noted it factored in foreign exchange fluctuations in assigning a global retail value.

The global retail figure dropped from $32.2 billion in 2002 to $32 billion in 2003 with the weak dollar cushioning some of the decline in absolute terms.

The IFPI represents hundreds of the world's independent and major music labels including Warner Music, Sony Music, Universal Music, EMI and BMG.