Digital Music Revenues Slowing
Posted: January 16, 2009
LONDON (AP) -- Record companies' revenue from digital music sales rose 25 percent in 2008 to $3.7 billion, but the industry still failed to make much progress in dissuading people from illegally downloading music for free from the Internet, the music industry's global trade body said Friday.The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry's annual report showed that legitimate music sales did not come close to offsetting the billions of dollars being lost to music piracy. An estimated 95 percent of music downloads are unauthorized, a situation largely unchanged from a year ago.
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"That 95 percent is a very depressing figure," IFPI Chief Executive John Kennedy told reporters. "It's even more depressing when you go to China, but it also represents a wonderful opportunity." The London-based IFPI said that despite the overall increase in sales, the rate of increase is slowing. From $380 million in 2004, digital revenue roughly tripled in 2005 and nearly doubled in 2006. But that slowed to a 40 percent increase in 2007 before last year's 25 percent increase. |
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