95% Of All Music Downloads Are Illegal
While new business models helped the legal online music sector balloon for a sixth straight year in 2008, growing by 25% to 3.7 billion dollars (2.8 billion euros) in trade value, about 40 billion music files (amounting to 95% of all music downloads), were still illicitly shared last year according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) in its annual report on the state of digital music.
Even as worldwide music market revenues shrank by 7% last year, digital platforms now account for around 20 per cent of recorded music sales, up from 15% in 2007. Recorded music is at the forefront of the online and mobile revolution, generating more revenue in percentage terms through digital platforms than the newspaper (4%), magazine (1%) and film industries (4%) combined.
Single track downloads, up 24 per cent in 2008 to 1.4 billion units globally, continue to drive the online market, but digital albums are also growing healthily (up 36%). The top-selling digital single of 2008 was Lil Wayne’s Lollipop with sales of 9.1 million units – 1.8 million more than the 2007 best selling digital single.
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Filed under: Business
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