On Media - 3rd Edition

Recorded Music - Who benefits from digital?

May 2008

Over the last decade, the music industry has seen the emergence and rapid growth of digital distribution at the expense of physical formats. Many record labels have suffered falling revenues and profits in recent years. Contrary to popular belief, people are not tuning out of recorded music - far from it. Digital technology has enabled recorded music to proliferate, and people are listening to it more often and in more places than ever before. Revenues, however, have not kept up with the pace of listening growth, as consumers are buying less “pre-packaged” music, especially in permanent, physical formats.

We gauge this changing landscape, particularly focusing on the economics of music, in order to assess who might benefit in the digitally driven industry.

Click the start arrow in the above player to listen to this podcast which tells you more about the effects of digital music.