Music sales were up last year

Music sales were up in 2008. More than 1.5 billion units were sold according to Neilsen SoundScan's year-end report.

Combined sales of albums, singles, music videos and digital tracks increased 10.5% over 2007. It was the best year for digital sales, posting a 27% gain to more than a billion units sold.

New for '09 -- Prince is planning to release three new albums without the assistance of a record label. A "major retailer" is in talks to sell the music in their stores and Prince will also sell the music digitally on his new website.