Music Downloads Hit £1bn
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Figures released this week have revealed that music downloads have hit the £1bn mark nearly seven years since online downloads were launched.
Almost a third of this figure (£320m) was spent on sites such as iTunes, Amazon and Play in 2010 alone, with Adele’s album 21 smashing Lady GaGa’s record to become the biggest selling online album ever
The statistics also show that downloads make up around 25% of UK music sales, almost 10% more than physical CD albums. The price of albums has also dropped by almost 50% since downloads were introduced, in 2006 the average price for an album was between £10-15 in the age of the download however customers can expect to pay no more than around £7.32 according to the International Music Industry Body (IFPI).
In the UK 1 in 5 downloaded an album during 2010 with 1 in 3 teenager only buying downloaded music not physical releases. Interestingly British artists faired the best last year with 6 out of every 10 release downloaded coming from a British act.
However the market in the UK didn’t fair as well, falling to fourth in the world for sales. It now sits behind the US,Germany and Japan for total sales. Experts are still sticking to the argument that piracy is costing the industry around £900m every year.
Geoff Taylor, the BPI’s CEO, said: “The hard work done by UK record labels in pushing forward the digital music market is paying off for consumers, digital retailers and the music community.”
Industry insiders believe that the decision to drop DRM from a lot of content has played a big part in the surge or single sales, 98% of which are downloaded. Industry newsletter editor Andy Malt said: “Download sales still account for less than half of total music sales, and don’t bring in the revenues that physical does, but we’ve certainly reached a watershed in mainstream acceptance of digital music.”