CD Shipments Down in First Half of Year

Shipments of compact discs dropped 7% for the first half of 2002, the record industry’s trade association said, punctuating an already dismal year in music.

Record industry officials blamed the decline primarily on online piracy and CD-burning, citing a new industry-backed poll showing that consumers who downloaded more music purchased less.

The survey, conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates, found that among people who said their downloading of music had increased in the first half of the year, 41% said they bought less music now than they did six months ago.

The study did not include a control group to measure buying habits of consumers who don’t use the Internet.

Overall, according to the Recording Industry Assn. of America, the value of music shipments--product shipped from manufacturers, not necessarily sold through to customers--dropped to $5.53 billion for the six-month period, down from $5.93 billion a year earlier.