More pay for music downloads
2005-07-10 17:36
New York - The number of song downloads at authorised websites tripled among US internet users in the first six months of 2005, compared with the same period a year ago, new data shows.
US internet users downloaded 159 million individual songs over the period, compared with 55 million in the same period in 2004, according to figures compiled by Nielsen SoundScan.
The data confirmed that internet users are moving away from piracy on peer-to-peer networks and gravitating toward pay-per-download sites like Apple's iTunes.
"It's a tremendous burst, given the amount of piracy," said Rob Sisco, president of Nielsen Music.
However, the figures showed that overall industry music sales - including album sales and digital downloads - are down 2.5% this year. This is primarily due to a steep decline in album sales.
Single-song downloads now represent 6% of overall music sales, compared with less than 2% a year ago, according to the recent data.
Nielsen analysts said it may be too soon to declare the demise of the CD, noting that a clearer trend will be known after the 2005 holiday season.
"The industry is healthy; it's going to change," Sisco said.
"Evolution is critical. It's similar to the decline of vinyl (albums) 20 years ago," when consumers moved to the CD format.
A recent report by the Recording Industry Association of America showed 2005 sales of CDs and other disks rose 5% in unit volume and 2.7% in dollar value in 2004. It was the first increase after four years of declines.
A recent report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development found a 20% drop in disk sales in major developed countries between 1999 and 2003, with sharp drops in the United States, France, Germany, Japan and the Netherlands.
The recording industry has been waging a fierce battle against online piracy over peer-to-peer networks. It won a major victory recently when the Supreme Court ruled that such networks can be held liable for piracy if they encourage unauthorised copying of music or other content.