Music Up, DVDs Down

Physical formats continue to take their hits. In 2010, according to SNL Kagan, DVD sales dropped 43.9%. The good news for TV and movie producers is that Blu-ray sales increased for the year. Still, the overall sales of physical formats of video are off. And with that comes the rush of companies looking to fill the void digitally. Video producers realize that the sale of DVDs is not going to bounce back and they’re experimenting with a variety of plans to make up the ground with digital. Recent

Meanwhile, the music industry is seeing a few rays of sunshine for a change. Music sales in the U.S. for the first 4 months of the year were up 1.6% over the same period in 2010. However, sales of CDs continue to drop. But this time the difference has been more than made up by growth in digital formats. Observers are still cautious about this; it’s too soon to tell if this is a momentary blip, or if something fundamental has changed.