EMI sees digital future
- Added:
- Nov 22, 2004
The company said the efforts it was making together with the wider industry to combat music piracy were "making a real difference".
The group reported growth in sales of digital music and growing confidence that the industry was starting to recover after years in decline.
CDs, however, still account for most of EMI's turnover, and overall sales fell at EMI by 11.4% during the half year.
Download music revenue was £12.2m, up from £2.1m a year earlier, while the group's music publishing division saw its online sales increase to £6.1m from £2.8m.
EMI unveiled profits of the half-year of £36.9m ($68.2m), down from £39.8m.
Overall sales in the period were £851m compared with £960m in 2003.
The group attributed the profitability to a cull of artists, the merger of several record labels and the outsourcing of manufacturing operations in the US and Europe.
Chairman Eric Nicoli said: "We have already seen a significant year-on-year pick-up in our sales since the end of September. This, along with the strong growth of music DVDs and the explosive growth in our digital market activity, leaves us well placed to maintain our market share for the full year."
