The latest threat to the latter's survival comes from unlimited digital-music download services linked to certain models of Nokia and Sony Ericsson phones.

Phone makers have launched such services to sell more phones, and music labels get paid. Switching to digital formats is also an attempt by record labels to stem losses from illegal downloads.

The Recording Industry Association of Singapore (Rias) said the value of the music industry here in 2007 - US$24.6 mllion (S$36.7 million) - was a third of what it was in 1996.

'The recorded-music industry in Singapore is very tough, and honestly, not sustainable in the long term,' said Ms Barbara Wong, general manager at Rias.

The digital foray by the labels is a blow for CD shops, whose business still largely depends on selling the shiny 12cm-wide discs for about $20 a pop.

Faced with declining sales, retailers have closed shop, downsized operations or found other ways to remain at play.

Sales at Sembawang Music Centre have shrunk by about 20 per cent every year since 2003, due largely to illegal downloads.

At its peak in 2006, Sembawang Music had 24 outlets and enjoyed profit margins of 15 to 30 per cent. Today, there are only seven shops and margins are down to 10 to 15 per cent.

It is not the only retailer singing the blues.

Read the full report in The Sunday Times.