Global Music Sales fell 7% in 2008

Music sales worldwide fell by about 7 percent last year as another sizable jump in digital sales failed to make up for a deepening decline in the compact disc market, according to John Kennedy, chief executive of the industry’s main international trade group.

Revenue from music sold over the Internet, via mobile phones and in other digital forms, rose by 25 percent last year, to $3.7 billion, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said in a report set for publication Friday. Digital sales accounted for 20 percent of the industry’s revenue, up from 15 percent a year earlier.

But a nosedive in sales of CDs in the United States, aggravated by the economic downturn and widespread piracy, took its toll in the fourth quarter of the year, when the industry typically posts its strongest sales. Meanwhile, growth in downloads from online music stores like Apple’s iTunes has slowed.