Universal Music Group extended its lead over Sony Music Entertainment last year following an increase in its market share of recorded music sales, says new research from Music & Copyright. SMI, while it did lose some share, still remained quite a ways ahead of its nearest rival WMG.

In 2010, UMG increased its market share of physical music sales to 28.7% from 27.6% in 2009. In terms of publishing, however, things are much different. While EMI is the smallest of the four major labels, it increased its publishing share to 19.7% last year from 19.3% to in 2009. Lastly, adding all the revenues received by the major music groups, Music & Copyright has determined the total figure for 2010 stood at $19.8 billion, down by 7.4% from $21.4 billion in 2009.

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