For the first time, income from broadcasting and online out-performed that of recorded physical product. Online royalties, although still a small proportion of the overall whole (at £10m), grew significantly by 54% year-on-year, largely due to the growth in the legal online music market led by iTunes.

Public performance income - the licensing of premises playing music - was driven by an increase in live pop concerts (delivering revenue up 20%) and improved licensing activity amongst leisure and industrial premises (up 13% and 20% respectively).

Top overseas territories for UK music in 2007 were the USA, Germany and France.

The recognised downturn in worldwide CD sales (revenues from the CD market were down 13%) was mitigated in part in the UK by improvements in licensing other new formats, including pre-loaded USB sticks and musical novelties.

The cost of processing the money collected and of distributing it was pegged at just over 10% of total revenues - one of the lowest in the world - in spite of a 40% increase in the number of transactions processed (due in part to the millions of music tracks included on new licensed services such as YouTube).

Chief Executive of the Alliance, Steve Porter, said, ‘Much is written about the state of the music industry, but these results show a healthy story about the increased use of music in almost all areas of our business.

‘The downturn of 11.1% in physical product was more than compensated by innovation and growth in licensing in other areas of the business.

‘Further overall growth is expected for 2008 which is fantastic news for the creators of music everywhere and helps fuel the long-term future of great music for all.’

MusicDish will roll out a full online marketing campaign in support of the album and single “How Do I Keep Him,” while developing brand identity and creatives that reflects Lorraine’s new musical direction and growth. The mutli-pronged campaign will coordinate efforts on a variety of platforms, from MP3 blogs and webradio stations to social networking sites and genre-specific communities, combined with syndicated marketing and street teaming.

Lorraine Reid is perhaps best known as the former powerhouse vocalist of Temprance. Temperance fared extremely well in both the dance and mainstream markets, and can now boast more Juno nominations than any other dance group to date.

As the lead vocalist of Temperance, Lorraine earned 7 Juno Award nominations. Their first album, Virtues of Life, released in 1995, attained these incredible feats and much more. In 1996, the Canadian Euro dance group released a cover version of the song, “Forever Young,” which reached number 8 on the Canadian Dance Chart. The single, “Forever Young,” was also released in the United States in the summer of 1997, and immediately won the hearts of many new fans and critics south of the border. Their debut album featured 6 consecutive National Top Ten charting dance singles, and 4 MuchMusic Video Award nominations, which resulted in a 1994 MuchMusic Video Award. Along with a feature in Billboard Magazine in June 1998, their import follow-up single, “Lost In Love,” created immense anticipation for their second follow-up album release titled, If Yu Don’t Know.

Recording for the majority of 1999 yielded Temperance’s stronger sophomore album entitled, If You Don’t Know. This new album gained admiration from new fans, while maintaining a loyal pre-existing fan base who was excited to grow with Lorraine. Even before the release of the album title track, “If You Don’t Know,” Temperance had already garnered acclaim for their first single, “Hands of Time,” as it won a SOCAN Award for climbing to #1 on RPM’s Dance Chart. Its success continued and it cracked the Top 40 Radio Charts. The video for Hands of Time received nominations for both a Juno Award and a MuchMusic Video Award in 2001.

In the fall of 2005, Lorraine suffered a lengthy and extensive bout with hoarseness, including throat pain, which ultimately became complete laryngitis. She was diagnosed with vocal nodules and was advised to undergo the procedure to have them removed. The resulting nodule surgery meant learning to retrain her muscles for use, compensating for some loss in range, as well as the use of an amplification system when speaking publicly.

It is with great anticipation therefore that Lorraine’s new album, Lessons Learned is slated for release this spring. Listeners are sure to hear a more soulful and established Lorraine, as she provides a window into her heart by sharing her experiences that have made her the talented vocalist she is today.

Fans, on the other hand, can create their own blogging pages whereby they can recommend and discuss the latest Datz music. In addition Datz.com provides e-ticketing, a gig calendar, event reminders and recommended downloads of the week - creating an all-encompassing, interactive musical community which is set to become a vital resource for artists, fans and industry professionals alike.

Evolving into a credible voice in the field of new and exciting music, Datz works closely with music industry trade publication, Music Week, by sponsoring their renowned Music Week Playlist. Having originally launched in 2007, Datz entered the music market place via a voucher redemption system, which provided free downloads for users with the purchase of mobile phones. They ran highly successful and ground-breaking promotions with LG & Orange with Sainsbury’s, and Woolworth’s, one of the largest music and mobile retailers in the UK. In fact, Datz became one of the first digital stores to utilise a traditional marketing tool for a non-traditional product. Further promotions, to compliment the launch of their new music community, will be announced shortly.

The Datz’s philosophy is simple:
‘To become a one stop shop for music enthusiasts who demand a music community who are critical, passionate and discerning when it comes to good music, both signed and unsigned’. Managing Director Michael Richardson

Experience Datz, visit www.datz.com

# # #

For more information please contact:
Jem Bahaijoub or Ben Allen
Zest PR
020 7734 0206
Jem@zestpr.com/Ben@zestpr.com
www.zestpr.com

The specialised face-to-face research into attitudes and behaviour around digital music among 800 UK respondents also revealed:
* The percentage of music fans regularly buying music downloads has gone down from 16% in 2006 to 14% by the end of 2007
* More than half of music fans’ digital collections (51%) still come from their own CDs
* Music fans pay for an average of 3.32 single track music downloads each month
* As many music fans (28%) have paid to download music from a licensed service at least once as have tried downloading from a filesharing source BUT more will then continue to fileshare rather than pay for downloads on a regular basis (22% for file sharers compared with 14% for paying downloaders).

Paul Brindley, MD of Music Ally, added that the music industry needs to look at other ways of creating value and has to stop relying on traditional schedules and formats. “Business models need to change radically if the music business is to stand any chance of halting the current decline in sales. It doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom.”