In-Stat Reports Digital Sales Will Account for 40% of Music Purchases by 2012

Digital sales of music represented 10% of the total worldwide music
market in 2007, up from 6% in 2006, reports In-Stat (http://www.in-stat.com).
By 2012, digital music sales will represent an impressive 40% of all
music purchased worldwide, the high-tech market research firm says.
Factors contributing to this growth include the global expansion of
broadband, continued demand for single-track downloads, and expanding
music catalogues. Another key driver is the potential for market growth
in full-track downloads to mobile handsets in markets other than Japan,
which currently is the primary market for this type of digital music
format.

“Digital piracy continues to represent the
primary challenge to online music service providers,”
says Stephanie Ethier, In-Stat analyst. “Other
obstacles still include the lack of interoperability between services
and devices due to differing digital rights management (DRM)
technologies, and weak consumer demand for subscription-based services.
Another potential market inhibitor is the fact that content owners,
cellular service providers and handset manufacturers are increasing the
amount of marketing and promotion for mobile music.”

Recent research by In-Stat found the following:

• Sales for online digital music reached $3.05 billion in 2007, up 48%
  from 2006.
• Revenue for worldwide full track mobile downloads will reach
  approximately $4.2 billion by 2012.
• The majority of respondents who accessed online video (72.3%) in 2007
  did not pay for the video they saw from the Internet.

The research, “Revenue Opportunities
Abound In Online and Mobile Music Distribution”
(#IN0804027CM), covers the worldwide market for online and
mobile music distribution. It provides analysis of the current online
and mobile music marketplaces, emerging opportunities, and results from
an In-Stat consumer survey. It includes forecasts for digital
distribution sales by region, physical media bought online, and total
music sales through 2012.

For more information on this research or to purchase it online, please
visit:

http://www.instat.com/catalog/mmcatalogue.asp?id=212,
or contact a sales representative:

http://www.instat.com/sales.asp

The price is $3,495 (US).

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