Europe catching up with US on digital music sales

"While America is still leading the digital market with 18 percent of all music sales being online or mobile, digital is growing in popularity in Europe too - with digital sales accounting for eight percent of sales in the UK and five percent in Germany and France", said Keith Jopling, director market research and analysis at IFPI.
"It is clear that there is vast potential for the digital market in Europe and IFPI anticipates rapid growth in the next couple of years," he said.
Sales of digital music in the first half of 2006 rose 106% to ?

753 million worldwide compared with the first six months of last year.
In Europe, Italy is first with 9% of all music being sold through digital channels, followed by the UK 8%, Denmark 7%, Sweden 7% and Spain 6%.
In Italy and Spain mobile phones dominate the digital market, accounting for 76% and 78% of overall sales respectively.

Online downloading was prominent in markets such as the UK and Germany, where online sales account for 70% and 69% of digital sales respectively, according to the recording industry.
But still, European and American figures fall far behind Asia. More than half (51%) of all music is sold through digital channels in South Korea.

While digital sales go up, physical music sales declined in the first half of this year, down by ten per cent worldwide.
In total, music sales fell by four per cent in the period with piracy and competition for consumer spending contributing to the fall, the industry said.
Brussels is currently considering how to regulate the market for online music sales including an EU-wide licensing of music rights and a break-up of national based collecting societies.

Authors are concerned that a few multinational companies will dominate the market in the future at the expense of cultural diversity.