Global music sales rose by 0.3 percent to $16.5 billion in 2012. While decimal growth is not typically a respectable cause for jubilee, this marks the first good year for the industry since 1999. Music's 21st-century renaissance boils down to four factors: Better mobile technology, a growing global middle class, more music-listening options, and an effective crackdown on piracy that is making paid music a more attractive option.

Perhaps this was a dead-cat bounce for an industry flayed by Napster, BitTorrent, and other file-sharing programs. But here's the case that music's comeback is for real -- with help from the IFPI Digital Music Report.

MUSIC GROWING EVERYWHERE (EXCEPT IN AMERICA)



Digital music (which accounts for about 1/3 of global music sales, and more than 1/2 of U.S. sales) aren't just rising. They're accelerating. Downloads, subscriptions and ad-supported music sales all growing. Online sales are following on the heels of smartphone penetration growth around the world. All good news there, but at least half of the top 20 markets aren't growing. Chief among them: the United States, where music sales are still falling.



SUBSCRIPTIONS vs. DOWNLOADS AROUND THE WORLD



When Napster debuted, there was no iTunes, no YouTube, and no Spotify. But in the last 13 years, the market for paid downloads, ad-supported music, and subscription services has blossomed. Subscription services alone have grown 44 percent since 2011.