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Digital music revenue growth falls to lowest level in 2010
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National And World News
National And World News
Digital music revenue growth falls to lowest level in 2010
The growth of the Digital Music market has fallen to its lowest level, with download revenues only rising by six per cent during 2010, despite in excess of 400 global online licensed services, according to a report.
The IFPI’s annual digital music report has revealed that digital music revenues only increased by six per cent during 2010, compared to a growth of nine per cent in 2009 and 30 per cent in 2008.
Thomas Hesse, president of Global Digital Business for Sony Music, said that the growth drop was a sign of the digital music market and its most popular services, such as iTunes, “maturing”, but was also a reflection of the negative effects of digital piracy continuing to pose huge challenges to the industry.
The report said that global digital music revenues, which came in at $4.6 billion, accounted for 29 per cent of the record labels’ total trade revenues during 2010, which were overall down by nine per cent on the year, due to the decline of physical CD sales and internet piracy.
The report warned that unless governments around the world took legal action to prevent people from persistently using illegal downloading services, such as Limewire, it would result in major job losses across the industry.
The Digital Economy Act’s anti-piracy measures, which will see repeat offenders’ internet connections temporarily suspended after a series of warning letters, has yet to come into action as it goes through its necessary review procedures.
Max Hole, Universal Music Group International’s chief operating officer, said: “The ISPs [Internet Service Providers] have been getting fat while the creative industries have been suffering at the hands of piracy services…There has to be a partnership between the Government, ISPs and all of the creative industries for us to make progress… but I am hopeful as the ball has finally started rolling in the right direction.”
Despite the record labels’ insistence that one of the best ways to crack down on digital music piracy is to offer compelling legal digital services, ISPs have struggled to sign licensing deals with the labels to offer such services. Sky Songs, a monthly streaming service, shut down at the end of last year, after only 12 months of existence, due to lack of customer uptake. While Universal, some three years on, is the only major label having signed up to Virgin Media’s Unlimited monthly subscription service, leading to Virgin having talks with Spotify about a joint partnership in the meantime.
Hesse said: “We have signed many partnerships around the world with ISPs and are hopeful we can do the same in the UK. But the service has to be right and that is difficult to achieve…it’s not just a matter of licensing, it’s also a matter of execution and getting great services out there.”
The IFPI report stressed that government anti piracy measures already in place in South Korea, France and Ireland, were having the desired effect on reducing piracy levels. In South Korea, the government has already suspended 11 repeat illegal donwloaders’ internet connections as deterrent measure.
The IFPI’s annual digital music report has revealed that digital music revenues only increased by six per cent during 2010, compared to a growth of nine per cent in 2009 and 30 per cent in 2008.
Thomas Hesse, president of Global Digital Business for Sony Music, said that the growth drop was a sign of the digital music market and its most popular services, such as iTunes, “maturing”, but was also a reflection of the negative effects of digital piracy continuing to pose huge challenges to the industry.
The report said that global digital music revenues, which came in at $4.6 billion, accounted for 29 per cent of the record labels’ total trade revenues during 2010, which were overall down by nine per cent on the year, due to the decline of physical CD sales and internet piracy.
The report warned that unless governments around the world took legal action to prevent people from persistently using illegal downloading services, such as Limewire, it would result in major job losses across the industry.
The Digital Economy Act’s anti-piracy measures, which will see repeat offenders’ internet connections temporarily suspended after a series of warning letters, has yet to come into action as it goes through its necessary review procedures.
Max Hole, Universal Music Group International’s chief operating officer, said: “The ISPs [Internet Service Providers] have been getting fat while the creative industries have been suffering at the hands of piracy services…There has to be a partnership between the Government, ISPs and all of the creative industries for us to make progress… but I am hopeful as the ball has finally started rolling in the right direction.”
Despite the record labels’ insistence that one of the best ways to crack down on digital music piracy is to offer compelling legal digital services, ISPs have struggled to sign licensing deals with the labels to offer such services. Sky Songs, a monthly streaming service, shut down at the end of last year, after only 12 months of existence, due to lack of customer uptake. While Universal, some three years on, is the only major label having signed up to Virgin Media’s Unlimited monthly subscription service, leading to Virgin having talks with Spotify about a joint partnership in the meantime.
Hesse said: “We have signed many partnerships around the world with ISPs and are hopeful we can do the same in the UK. But the service has to be right and that is difficult to achieve…it’s not just a matter of licensing, it’s also a matter of execution and getting great services out there.”
The IFPI report stressed that government anti piracy measures already in place in South Korea, France and Ireland, were having the desired effect on reducing piracy levels. In South Korea, the government has already suspended 11 repeat illegal donwloaders’ internet connections as deterrent measure.
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