For all his swagger, Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” wasn’t enough to halt a global slide in music sales last year.
While the cocky crooner boasted the biggest single of 2013, global music revenue tumbled 4 percent to $15 billion in 2013, hurt by a sharp drop in Japan, according to the IFPI’s annual digital music report.
Thicke’s controversial “Blurred Lines” — which was slammed for allegedly promoting non-consensual sex — sold 14.8 million units. The smash song also sparked a lawsuit by Marvin Gaye’s family accusing the songwriters of plagiarizing Gaye’s 1977 song “Got to Give It Up.”
The top-selling album of 2013 globally was One Direction’s “Midnight Memories,” which sold 4 million copies, according to the IFPI.
The Japanese market, which accounts for a fifth of global music dollars, saw a 16.7 percent decline last year. Excluding Japan, worldwide revenue fell just 0.1 percent, the industry group said.
That’s still a setback compared to 2012, when the music industry eked out a 0.3 percent rise in global revenue — the first since 1999.
Elsewhere, though, things are looking up for the music industry, with overall growth in the US, Europe and Latin America.
Europe saw growth for the first time in 12 years, according to the IFPI. So did Latin America, up 1.4 percent.
Frances Moore, chief executive of the IFPI, said, “The global recording industry is in a positive phase of its development. Revenues in most major markets have returned to growth.”
Global streaming and subscription revenue from services such as Spotify and Pandora topped $1 billion for the first time, a 51.3 percent jump, according to the report.
An estimated 28 million are now paying for music subscriptions, up from 8 million in 2010.
Digital revenue now stands at $5.8 billion, up 4.3 percent. Downloads still account for 67 percent of digital music revenue, although global download revenue fell 2.1 percent, to $3.9 billion, a concern for Apple’s iTunes.
Physical formats, including CDs and vinyl, accounted for $7.73 billion, an 11.7 percent decline.
The music industry numbers are closely watched by other content business, since music was the first sector to fall foul of digital disruption.