As the music business enters the critical Christmas season, the inexorable slide in CD sales has slowed and new digital models are gaining ground but the industry is not out of the woods, writes Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson .
This month, Vivendi's Universal Music disclosed a 61 per cent drop in third-quarter earnings on a 12 per cent fall in revenues. Sony Music has been cushioned by the late Michael Jackson's catalogue, and EMI helped by a Beatles re-release. But tomorrow's results from Warner Music, whose artists include Muse, Madonna and Jay-Z (pictured), should show that it has done well in the market share wars.
