LONDON-Legal digital music downloads via the Internet and mobile phones exploded in 2004 even as illegal downloads continued to plague the recording industry, according to a study released Thursday.
According to the report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), music fans in the United States and Europe legally downloaded more than 200 million tracks last year, up from 20 million in 2003. Legal downloads generated several hundred million dollars, the study said, bringing record companies substantial revenues from digital music for the first time.
Portable music players including the iPod and mobile phones contributed heavily to last year’s sales figures. Asian music lovers continued to lead the way for the industry-the Japanese ringtone market was worth $100 million in 2004-and mobile music sales worldwide are expected to increase substantially as more handsets and networks become music enabled.
Piracy remains a problem for the industry, however. A recent study from Forrester Research claimed that 90 percent of European music downloaders didn’t pay for digital music.
“The biggest challenge for the digital music business has always been to make music easier to buy than to steal,” said John Kennedy, IFPI’s chairman and chief executive officer. “At the start of 2005, as the legitimate digital music business moves into the mainstream of consumer life, that ambition is turning into reality.”
