Although the number of digitized music downloads from the internet is on the increase, data carriers in polymer materials are still far from being obsolete - quite on the contrary, in fact. While Germany’s music industry association, Bundesverband Musikindustrie e.V. (BVMI), reports that download sales increased by 29 % last year, giving the digital market a share of some 17 % in Germany on the basis of the latest BVMI estimates, the CD still remains the backbone of the domestic music industry, accounting for threequarters of all sales.

Gerhard Gotzmann