From 2006 to 2010, global spending on recorded music will increase by $2.4 billion, according to the PWC forecast, recouping some of the revenue lost during the last "ve years.

In the period from 2000 to 2003, worldwide music sales slumped dramatically, dropping by $6Bn in that period, a compound annual decrease of 5.2 percent. But in the past two years, that decline has leveled off.

PWC argue that the change will be driven by three trends - the availability of broadband, the growing sophistication of sales via digital download and the crackdown by law enforcement agencies and courts on piracy in differernt jurisdictions.

One of the chief drivers of piracy - that legal downloads were less convenient than illegal piracy - has been reversed by the ease of use of legal download services such as iTunes.

Ireland's comparatively poor levels of broadband penetration will paradoxically mean that internet advertising and spend on internet access are forecast to grow by a phenomenal 17% compound annual rate over the next four years, according to head of PWC's media and entertainment practice in Ireland, Sinead Johnson.

The internet advertising market on its own could grow by 75%, according to Johnson.