The Wall Street Journal mentions the music industry is showing signs of strength. Total music-track sales rose 4% last year, the first gain in many years. Paid download buyers increased 14% in 2011, to 45 million customers. Digital buyers also spent more at iTunes Music Store, Amazon AMZN MP3, and other digital music stores in 2011.

It’s so obvious what has happened in the last year or two,” said Russ Crupnick, senior vice president of industry analysis at NPD, in an interview Tuesday. “Consumers have a lot more ways to discover new music than they have had traditionally. Services like Pandora, Spotify and Rhapsody have made it easier to get a song you like into your head, and consumers are then going to iTunes or a physical store like Target and putting that song or album on their shopping list. With more mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, people are just spending more time with music.

Piracy is on the decline as well, the UK just signed a bill (ACTA) that makes illegal downloading on par with “Class A drugs, people smuggling and human trafficking, major gun crime, fraud and money laundering.”

Artists like Adele and Katy Perry have smashed Billboard Records. Adele has sold over 5 million records of her smash record ‘21‘. Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Lady Antebellum, Bruno Mars, and One Republic also sold over 5 million copies of their respective singles.

Jason Davis who heads One One 7 Media says songwriters have very successful careers these days. “I’ve been in the music business for over 15 years and more and more artists are collaborating with songwriters, which means it’s a very lucrative time to be a songwriter” says Jason Davis.

For instance, Adele just entered the music business and her net worth is $10 million according to sources. Katy Perry‘s net worth is over $44 million, and Lady Gaga and Taylor Swift both have net worth of $100 million.

Although very competitive, it’s a good time to be in the music business.