Forget Prince -- it was the music industry that was partying like it's 1999, although it's mostly been a downhill slide ever since. Thanks to digital music and Adele, the bleeding may have stopped for now.
AllThingsD is reporting that the music industry has something to celebrate this week, with news of a 0.3 percent increase in worldwide sales last year. That kind of growth might not be worth crowing about, but for an industry in decline, it's great news.
According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the $16.5 billion the music biz raked in during 2012 marks the first growth since 1999, when Napster became the arch-nemesis of an entire industry.
While some of the growth can be placed squarely at the feet of rising subscription services like Spotify, the numbers seem to indicate that digital sales may finally be making up for the decline in physical media. Digital grew nine percent in 2012, making up a full 34 percent of the entire industry.
Not surprisingly, iTunes still dominates where music is concerned, nabbing 70 percent of digital sales despite flat numbers in the U.S. Apple's rapid international expansion appears to be making up for any shortfalls on their home turf, however.
If there's one person who seems to buoy the entire music business, it would have to be Adele, who moved 8.3 million units all on her own last year; Taylor Swift comes in second with 5.2 million units for her latest effort, "Red."
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