Chris Cooke, co-founder of music business network CMU, made the comments during his key note address at this year’s Great Escape music festival in Brighton.
Chris opened the convention side of the event with a top ten list of the big news to impact the sector since last year’s event. He pointed to the collapse, then revival, of retail giant HMV as one of the main stories for the industry.
He highlighted the rescue of the UK arm of the business restructuring Canadian firm Hilco, which also owns HMV in Canada, as evidence that the ‘physical era is not yet dead’.
‘The demise of the music retailer was seen by many as the final nail in the coffin of physical product. However, 140 stores were saved by the buy-out and now Game and Blockbuster are putting music back into their stores. You’ll probably be able to buy more CDs in shops by the end of 2013 than you could at the start,’ he said.
He also stated that major labels are now at their most optimistic for more than five years, as evidenced by recent statistics from the IFPI. Their Recording Industry in Numbers report showed that overall global record sales increased by 0.2 percent in 2012 when compared with the previous year.
The same report revealed that physical sales now represent 57 percent of record companies' income while growth in emerging markets such as India, Brazil and Mexico - which saw respective market growth of 42, 24 and 17 percent - offer much in the way of optimism for the sector.
His opening key note also highlighted a series of other issues as crucial for the industry over the last 12 months.
The list included attempts to tackle the challenges caused by streaming and downloads,their impact on artist contracts, piracy, crowd-sourcing and the increasing dominance of the music business by major labels Universal and Sony.
M is at The Great Escape over the next couple of days reporting from the industry convention and festival in Brighton. Keep checking the site for more updates from the festival.
Chris opened the convention side of the event with a top ten list of the big news to impact the sector since last year’s event. He pointed to the collapse, then revival, of retail giant HMV as one of the main stories for the industry.
He highlighted the rescue of the UK arm of the business restructuring Canadian firm Hilco, which also owns HMV in Canada, as evidence that the ‘physical era is not yet dead’.
‘The demise of the music retailer was seen by many as the final nail in the coffin of physical product. However, 140 stores were saved by the buy-out and now Game and Blockbuster are putting music back into their stores. You’ll probably be able to buy more CDs in shops by the end of 2013 than you could at the start,’ he said.
He also stated that major labels are now at their most optimistic for more than five years, as evidenced by recent statistics from the IFPI. Their Recording Industry in Numbers report showed that overall global record sales increased by 0.2 percent in 2012 when compared with the previous year.
The same report revealed that physical sales now represent 57 percent of record companies' income while growth in emerging markets such as India, Brazil and Mexico - which saw respective market growth of 42, 24 and 17 percent - offer much in the way of optimism for the sector.
His opening key note also highlighted a series of other issues as crucial for the industry over the last 12 months.
The list included attempts to tackle the challenges caused by streaming and downloads,their impact on artist contracts, piracy, crowd-sourcing and the increasing dominance of the music business by major labels Universal and Sony.
M is at The Great Escape over the next couple of days reporting from the industry convention and festival in Brighton. Keep checking the site for more updates from the festival.
