It's no surprise, but it is still bad news: the music market is not doing any better. At Midem, the music trade fair currently being held in Cannes, the Snep (the French national union of record publishers) presented a gloomy review of 2008. For the sixth year in a row, the music market has sunk: -15% in 2008, a loss of 107 million euros. Since 2003, that represents a fall of 53%.
A steady fall in turnover that digital sales do not make up for, despite strong growth (+49%). In France, they account for only 12% of total business (25% worldwide), a figure that could grow considerably with the end of DRM. For the first time in 2008, Libération points out, the majors signed fewer new artists than they let go.