Today the record industry got a heaping helping of "joining the year 2001 and not suing music fans is good for business".

Nielson Soundscan (the folks who track record sales) reported that digital sales were up 27% in 2008 to over a billion songs. iTunes and Amazon MP3 lead the way for selling this years biggest musicians: Coldplay, Leona Lewis, Lil' Wayne, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Rhianna, and Chris brown. All of which I do not own.

However CD sales continued to plummet by 14% (sad trumpet sound).

Vinyl is also making a big comeback. The biggest seller of Vinyl was Radiohead who sold almost 60,000 pieces, half of them being In Rainbows. Overall, Vinyl (yes I capitalize this great sounding medium) 1.8 million units in 2008, up from 1.5 million in 2007. It seems releasing albums on Vinyl is trending up again but actually gaining traction. This was considered a bit of a novelty in the late 90's but is finally getting some acceptance thanks to bands like Radiohead and White Stripes releasing their goods on albums, but many classic soul and rock albums being reissues on Vinyl such as Sam Cook, Nina Simone, Blue Oyster Cult, Judas priest, and Charles Mingus.