Digital Music Sales Dominate Industry's 2011 Growth

The music industry is starting to see the positive side of the digital revolution.

Musicians rightly feared the impact digitally transferred music would have on their bottom lines. But the figures for 2011 show digital music is starting to positively impact record sales.

Industrywide, music sales edged up 0.2 percent in 2011 to just above $7 billion, according to the Recording Industry Association of America. The increase was fueled, in part, by the album downloads and subscription services such as Spotify, Rhapsody, Rdio and MOG. 

Digital music now represents 50 percent of US shipments, the RIAA said.