Australian Music Industry Experiences First Sales Growth Since 2003

Australia's record industry has reported its first growth since 2003, with an increase of 4.8 percent in wholesale revenue. After six years of decline, the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) believes the market has turned a corner, with soaring digital sales a major driving force.

Sales in Australia's digital music sector rose by 46 per cent last year, reaching $79.2 million AUD. This result leaves the Australian market in the rare position where the increase in digital sales offsets the decline experienced in physical formats.

While still only representing 7.5 percent of total sales, the digital album was the highlight of the results, recording 2.2 million in sales for 2009, an increase of 72 percent. For many artists, including the UK's La Roux and Mumford and Sons, the digital album represented more than 20 percent of their total sales.

The CD album remains the highest-selling music product in Australia, experiencing a drop of only 1 percent in sales. And while only representing a tiny corner of the market, music lovers will be pleased to hear sales of vinyl albums increased in Australia by 168 percent in 2009.

Ed St John, ARIA Chairman and President and CEO of Warner Music Australasia remains cautious despite the good results. In a statement released from ARIA, St John said, "We're pleased with the figures that we've seen today, but have a tremendous amount of work to do to stem the tide of illegal file sharing, which continues to erode profits and hamper investment into the local industry."

"We remain hopeful that the ISPs will work with us to address this pressing problem and help the growth of the legitimate market, something that will, of course, also be to their benefit. In the meantime, music fans can look forward to many exciting new releases this year from established artists and new names. As an industry, we have a lot to look forward to across the year.