The world’s third largest record company, Warner Music Group Corp, announced a significant second-quarter income loss, which was closely related to the increasing taxes and decreasing disc sales.

The New York-based company lost close to $34 million or 23 cents a share, while a year earlier the reported loss was of about $27 million or 19 cents a share.

Revenue rose according to Warner officials by just 2 % from last year’s $800 million.

The record companies have been struggling for quite a few years now with the record piracy through the internet and also with consumers who choose to buy a single track online than purchase the whole album. By comparison to last year, the music industry’s sales dropped 17 percent in the United States and it only seems to get worse.

“Our board and our management believe it is sensible to maximize capital flexibility, given the vagaries of both the economy and recorded music market, by suspending our dividend to build cash reserves and reduce net debt,” said finance chief Michael Fleisher, according to CNN Money. “This action will give us the freedom to maintain our level of [artists and repertoire] investment, while enhancing shareholder returns over time.”

The record companies have made numerous attempts to counterbalance the massive losses generated over the years by online music shares but so far there have been no significant breakthroughs. The companies are less than pleased, the artists are frustrated and the consumers, whether they buy the music or not, expect the same quality from their favorite artists every time.