An article by the Guardian presenting numbers on UK single track, album, and liveshow sales based on 2008 figures. "Evidence of the demise of purchased music is everywhere to be seen, except for one place: the statistics."

Doom-mongers who predicted the slow death of cinema, as viewers sat at home watching box sets and downloaded movies would appear to be off the mark. In the UK last year, cinema admissions hit 173.5m and the combined box office takings in the UK and Ireland exceeded £1bn for the first time.

More than a quarter of all recorded music industry revenues worldwide are now coming from digital channels, as music companies license music in partnership with ISPs and mobile operators, subscription services, streaming sites and hundreds of download stores.

According to analyst firm Forrester's latest report, 2009 was "a lousy end to an even lousier decade" for the music industry and we shouldn't expect much different until at least 2013. Last year, as a matter of fact, was one of the worst years yet, with a 13% decline from the year before.

There is a belief, that music sales are being harmed by the internet. MP3’s and peer-to-peer (p2p) networks have made swapping music easy, ever since Napster burst onto the scene in 1999. Is is true though? Well, according to figures from the UK music industry themselves, the answer is No.

A recent study performed by Felix Oberholzer-Gee from the Harvard Business School which found that file-sharing was responsible for no losses on the part of content producers, and was unlikely to result in weaker incentives for those creating new content. The paper concludes that file-sharing has had a net positive effect on consumer welfare, and has increased the overall income of artists/content producers.

A report by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, showing that only 10% of all illegal downloads cause a loss in sales, and that filesharing has helped the industry understand how to monetize music online and increase digital sales.

See also a summary by TorrentFreak.

An article by Julian Sanchez of the lack of empirical verification on some of the job loss and financial loss figures promoted by advocates for strong copyright law and enforcement.

A paper examining the relationship between VHS/DVD sales, CD sales, and filesharing in Denmark. It shows that between 2001-2005 the number of artists receiving royalties has grown, and all but the top paid artists in fact increased the royalties they received.