July 18, 2007

By By Juliana Koranteng, London

Universal Music Group (UMG) was the global market leader last year in both digital and physical formats, according to a new report published by U.K.-based research firm Informa Telecoms and Media.

In the digital-only field, UMG commanded a 26.5% market share in terms of revenues. Sony BMG had 22.5%, followed by Warner Music Group with 16% and EMI with 10.5%. The combined might of the independent labels gave them a 24.5% market share, second only to UMG.

And in the combined physical-and-digital section, UMG again led with a 25.7% share of the global revenues. Sony BMG followed with 21.2%; Warner Music had a 13.8% share while EMI had 12.8%.

For revenues from combined physical-and-digital sales, the independents community ruled with 26.5%.

Informa's principal analyst Simon Dyson said: "EMI was the only major to suffer a fall in the combined physical/digital market share. The main reason for this was its poor performance in the U.S."

Subscribe to Billboard magazine today!