EDITORIAL: The non-traditional route will ensure label survival.(Editorial)

As newly-reported by the BPI, the earning potential away from simply shifting units is a real opportunity

From the way the industry is often presented, you could easily be fooled into thinking that most record labels' chances of survival over the next few years equate to that of the rhinoceros.

After all, physical music sales continue to fall sharply - album sales are 7% down in the UK and 11% in the US compared to last year - while for all the dazzling sales leaps in the digital market, these are yet to cancel out the decline in the CD business.

But that is to look at the situation from an old-world standpoint, when virtually all labels' income was about selling their recorded-music wares to the public through retailers.

That is increasingly far from the case now, so it is welcome news the BPI has deemed to publish a report highlighting for the first time the money UK labels are now generating from "non-traditional" sources.

According to the report, in 2007 income from the likes of licensing and multiple-rights deals rose by 13.8% to #121.6m to account for 11.4% of record companies' domestic income.

Recorded music sales continue to be the main source of income and will remain vitally important in the years ahead, but this study provides some useful statistical evidence to counter the oft-given argument that labels are merely managing decline.