Silence is deafening

Worldwide spending on recorded music shall decline to $26.2 billion in 2011 — from $31.8 billion in 2006 — as digital gains on traditional physical music formats, according to an eMarketer report (via MarketingCharts).

Online and mobile music have been catching up with physical audio formats (LPs, cassettes, CDs, audio DVDs, SACDs and MiniDiscs) and are projected to have more than half the share of worldwide music share by 2011, eMarketer said.

Online and mobile will account for 56.5 percent of recorded music spending in 2011, up from 9.1 percent in 2006, according to Paul Verna, eMarketer senior analyst who authored the report, "Recorded Music: Digital Falls Short."

Digital formats such as online downloads, ringtones, mastertones and full tracks delivered to mobile handsets and multimedia devices, and internet and mobile subscription services, are providing new and growing revenue streams, according to the report.

The UK is helping to define that trend as it leads Western Europe in digital music growth. As the largest Western European market, the UK is expected to push growth in the digital music category, with expected revenues of £286 million in 2011, up more than six-fold from £45 million in 2006, eMarketer said.

One study found that 53 percent of internet users in Britain say downloading music is their top entertainment and leisure activity online.

Western Europe includes the third, fourth and fifth-largest music markets in the world: the United Kingdom, Germany and France, respectively, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).