The Nielssen research group says the rapid rise of digital music sales has stalled in the United States, the world's biggest and most important market, with sales in the first half of 2010 flat compared with a year before. However, digital music sales were up 7% in Britain, up 13% in Germany and up 19% in France.

Nielsen says digital sales were flat in the U.S. market after a 13% increase from 2008 to 2009 and 28% growth from 2007 to 2008. Jean Littolff, managing director of Nielsen Music, told "Reuters" (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE68Q2FM20100927) the flat U.S. sales could be due to weak consumer confidence, the appeal of new music releases and confusion over the many different ways people can buy music online.

"I think this is a plateau, it doesn't mean that this digital consumption is going to drop significantly," he said. "It's a plateau, but it's not yet saturation."