Disagreement Over Digital Sales Data Causes IFPI To Delay Global Market Share Numbers

IFPI

The music industry has delayed publishing its global market share numbers because of disagreements over the methodology for counting digital sales, reports REUTERS. The INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE PHONOGRAPHIC INDUSTRY (IFPI) released its annual compendium of 2005 industry data yesterday (8/30) with the market share figures omitted. The four majors -- UNIVERSAL MUSIC, SONY BMG, EMI, and WARNER MUSIC -- account for about 75% of albums sold in the world. The IFPI said its members were still arguing over how to account for digital sales, and that the figures would be released later in the year.

They're basically recalculating the way they do it because of the rise of digital

The organization said there were no market share figures to disclose as yet because it had not yet collected them for 2005.

"They're basically recalculating the way they do it because of the rise of digital," commented IFPI spokesman ALEX JACOB.

One of the problems compiling digital sales info has been a lack of uniformity in gathering data from the mobile operators, which continue to increase in importance and volumn, industry executives told REUTERS.

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