Digital music sales rise 259% in first half to $790 million

Worldwide digital music sales rose to $790 million in the first half of this year, up 259% from $220 million in the same period last year, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, a trade group, reports.

The $790 million in first-half digital music sales accounted for 6% of overall industry music sales, up from 1.6% a year ago, the federation said.

By comparison, sales of physical music formats fell 6.3% year-over-year in the first half to $12.4 billion, the group said.

The group said the boom in digital music sales was driven mostly by sales in the U.S., Britain, Japan, Germany and France.