Digital Music Sales Reach Nearly $3 Billion In 2007

London (England) - Consumers spent a reported $2.9 billion on digital music purchases last year, a 40% increase over 2006, but illegal downloads are offsetting that by a rate of 20-to-1.

The outdatedly titled International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said that last year set a new record for the digital music industry. However, the steep decline in CD sales and growth in piracy are bigger players in the fate of the music industry overall.

In its report, the IFPI mentioned French president Nicholas Sarkozy's proposal to automatically disconnect French residents involved in piracy. It's "the most significant milestone yet in the task of curbing piracy on the Internet," said the head of the IFPI John Kennedy.

Mark Raby
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Mark Raby is a freelance writer for Tom's Hardware, covering a wide range of topics, from video game reviews to detailed analyses of computer processors.