140M digital music sales

Sales of recorded music in the United States for the first time in four years--fueled in part by sales online digital music, according to The New York Times. "The recording industry registered sales of about 667 million albums, an increase of about 1.6 percent, according to year-end data expected to be released today by the market research firm Nielsen SoundScan. Album sales at one point surged by as much as 8 percent over last year's pace, but fell victim to a lackluster holiday season. The data, covering a 52-week period, also show that the industry is beginning to tap the power of the Internet to generate sales, though free music still flows through online file-sharing networks. Sales of digital tracks through services like iTunes from Apple exceeded 140 million..."

by MacNN Staff