Songwriters and music publishers now earn more money from downloads and broadcasts than they do from CD sales, according to the latest copyright figures. They show that the music business grew last year by almost three per cent. This report from Torin Douglas:

Listen to the story

Broadcasting still dominates, but downloads are growing fast, helped by online systems, such as Apple's itunes. Now commercial radio companies are hoping to take a share by enabling listeners to download music as they hear it on the air. Simon Cole, of UBC media group, which has developed the 'clic' system, claims most music fans are happy to pay, if it is made easy:

COLE: It's absolutely nothing new that some people will try to rip off music and they'll do that however you do it, whether you produce it on CDs or digital files. But if you offer the vast majority of people the chance to get music at a fair price in a way that's easy and efficient, they'll do it that way.

If that faith in human nature is confirmed, the income from downloads is set to grow even faster.

Torin Douglas, BBC

Listen to the words

downloads
files (in this case audio) that you can copy from the Internet to save on your computer

bringing no earnings
not allowing to make any money from their work

income
the money you receive from doing work or from investments

revenue
income from business

to overtake
to be more/higher than

to take a share
to enter the market and earn money

on the air
as it is broadcast

to rip off
to steal

the vast majority of
most

is set to
will certainly

Read more about this story

To take away:
Download or print (21 K pdf)