James Delahunty
19 Jan 2005 6:02
More than 200 million songs in total were downloaded worldwide in 2004, a 900% increase on 2003's total sales the IFPI has said. The IFPI beleieve digital music is proliferating but more must be done to raise awareness about legit online music download stores and to stamp out unauthorized ones. At the end of 2003 there were about 50 music download stores operating in 30 countries but by the end of 2004, that number of stores increased to about 230. The recording companies saw their first significant revenues from the digital market, running into several hundred million dollars which is still only a small percentage of the multi-billion dollars the music industry makes annually.
IFPI cited market watcher Jupiter's estimation of the value of the digital music market in 2004: $330m. When the recording industry takes its cut from that money, it doesn't really leave much left over for the 230 download stores we are hearing about. Jupiter estimates 2005's total will be more than double 2004's, as more punters choose to buy downloads rather than CDs or pinch stuff from the likes of Kazaa and Grokster. The IFPI admit the hardest thing to do is make digital music easier to purchase than it is to steal.
Source:
The Register