CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS? (AGAIN)

We're looking at the figures for music sales worldwide and trying to see where the problem that requires clumsy, greedy legal action actually lies, and do you know what? We can't see a problem. Despite legal - legal downloads becoming more and more popular, there was a 4.5% growth in UK CD album sales in 2004. You can understand why the BPI really feels it has no choice but to bring legal action against individuals offering a few albums online, as they really are suffering, aren't they? 174.6 million CD sales worth of pain.

Worldwide, the overall size of music sales dipped by just 1.3% to USD33.6bn - not including, of course, the millions of dollars spent on downloads and telephone ringtones; set against a growing range of movie DVD sales, electronics goods aimed at the music fan, and increased scrutiny of over-pricing by the record industry leading to falling prices, that seems to be evidence of an industry in pretty rude health to us.

On the other hand, the top five albums sold round the world last year were:

1. Usher - Confessions
2. Norah Jones - Feels Like Home
3. Eminem - Encore
4. U2 - How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
5. Avril Lavigne - Under My Skin

... so it's not maintaining its sales by quality assurance, then.

music industry sales business