Musicdownloadshave increased dramatically¹ in the UK

Do you like music? Of course you do. Are you still going to the record shop to buy your records? If you are, you may not be for much longer.

According to the British Phonographic Industry – the BPI, the organisation² responsible for music sales in the UK, more than ten million songs have been downloaded legally from the Internet in the UK in 2005.

That figure is more thantwiceas much as were downloaded in 2004, and experts think it will continue to grow over the coming years.

However, the traditional single has not disappeared. In fact, there was an 87% increase in sales of7-inch vinyl singlesthis year. "You cannotwrite offtraditionalformatsjust yet", said Mr Jamieson,spokesmanfor the BPI.

Since music download services began a year ago, the British music industry has been quick to take advantage and is now beginning to feel the benefits. While the fight againstillegaldownloading continues, it seems the public have been happy to join the new legal services. You access the web page, choose the songs you want, type in your credit³ card details and you can download immediately.

The British public still enjoys buying records, however, and sales have been the best since 1998, according to the BPI. New rock groups such as Babyshambles, Kaiser Chiefs and Franz Ferdinand have been extremely popular and helped make sales so high.

British music is also incredibly popular in the USA at the moment. Last year 75 UK albums sold over 100 000 units in the US, compared to just 66 in 2003. Coldplay also had number onealbumsin the UK at the same time as the US, the first time this has happened since 2000.

With music you can buy in the shops and music you can download from the Internet, from Coldplay to Oasis⁴, Gorillaz to Franz Ferdinand, British music is going fromstrengthto strength!