The Australian Music Industry was still hammered by piracy in 2011 but the good news is that sales are starting to stabilize.
ARIA
The value of wholesale music sales in Australia for 2011 was $382.7 million, down less than $2 million on the previous year.
Digital sales increased in 2011 with downloads now accounting for 36.7% of the industry value (compared to 27.2% in the previous year.
As Australia enters the streaming market, new services such as Spotify, Deezer and Rdio are expected to enter the market during 2012 adding to the existing services from JB HiFi and Samsung.
“2011 was an extremely positive year for our industry and we enter 2012 with a great deal of momentum on all fronts,” Dan Rosem, CEO for ARIA said. “There were a whole range of fantastic releases by artists both here and abroad and the array of options by which music fans could listen to, consume and purchase music grew exponentially.”
“While as an industry we are doing all we can to embrace the digital media landscape by offering music fans more options than ever before to get their music legally online, we require urgent assistance in the fight against the negative impact of illegal online piracy. We will continue our fight to protect the rights of artists and labels, ensuring money flows back for their creative work and to the grassroots of the music industry. We will work in good faith with the Government and ISPs for practical progress in the coming year.”
ARIA Chairman Denis Handlin says passionate Australian music fans are the lifeblood of the industry. “Australian music fans continue to be some of the most passionate and knowledgeable in the world and demand for music has never been greater, which is reflected in today’s figures,” he said. “Overall 2011 was a very positive year for our industry, with growth in a number of areas, a host of exciting new releases and a wonderful anniversary celebration at our 25th ARIA Awards.”
Australians are still supportive of the record store with $242 million of sales of physical product sold during 2011.
Major acts will release new music this year. Soon you can expect new music from Bruce Springsteen, Madonna, Usher, Muse, Linkin Park, Norah Jones and a brand new album from The Beach Boys with Brian Wilson.
