Global legal music downloads have tripled in 2005 as file sharers take heed of changes in downloading laws, with figures from industry body, IFPI, showing that the number of tracks obtained legally from the internet reached 180 million in the first half of this year.
According to the IFPI, legal downloads in the first six months of 2005 in the UK, US and Germany outstripped the total for 2004, with single track downloads for the period rising to 180 million compared to 157 million for 2004 as a whole. An increase of more than three times the 57 million downloads in the first half of 2004.
In connection with the new figures, research suggests that there has been has been a shift of consumer attitudes in response to the well-publicised legal actions against file-sharers in 11 countries. More than one in three file-shares in the US and UK claim that “fear of legal action” is the main reason for stopping illegal file-sharing.
John Kennedy, IFPI chairman and chief executive officer explained, saying: “We are now seeing real evidence that people are increasingly put off by illegal file-sharing and turning to legal ways of enjoying music online. Attitudes are changing and that is good news for the whole music industry.”
Research company Jupiter found that 37% of currently active file-sharers in the UK are cutting down on music downloading through fear of legal action.
Breaking down the data, the US has seen single track downloads up ten fold on the same period in 2004, reaching just over 10 million in the first half of 2005. French and German legal downloads have also increased sharply, to an estimated 4 million and 8 million respectively in the first half of 2005.
In the US, legal music downloads are estimated to have tripled to 159 million tracks in the first half of 2005, up from 55 million compared to the same period in 2004.
Subscriptions to digital services are also shown to be up sharply in 2005, with a total of 2.2 million people now using music services globally, up from 1.5 million in January.
According to research published earlier this year by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, almost 40 million Americans, or 27% of internet users, claim to have downloaded either music or video files from peer to peer networks (see Asia-Pacific Sees Growth In Mobile Roaming).
Widespread broadband adoption is revealed as the primary factor for online music downloading popularity, with this and the emergence of portable digital music players fundamentally changing the music sector.
eMarketer’s latest report, Online Music: Downloads, Streaming, Radio, Mobile, shows that listeners are changing the way they buy, store, share and listen to music, with an increasing amount of music sales being conducted online (see Digital World Transforming Music Industry).
Estimates of online digital music sales from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Jupiter Research both show impressive growth in the sector, with PwC forecasting a bullish annual growth of 89.1% between 2004 and 2008, compared to Jupiter’s less optimistic prediction of 52.2%.
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