Downloads doubled by 2007

Australians will spend nearly $60 million on digital music downloads in 2007, new research has predicted.

Business information analysts IBISWorld say digital music distribution is the key to the future success of the music industry.

“This year we’ll spend about $30 million on digital downloads,” said IBISWorld’s Australian general manager Jason Baker. “Next year this figure will almost double and by 2010, it is forecast we will be spending an incredible $200 million on our favourite downloadable tracks.”

Mr Baker said this growth was primarily driven by the introduction of iTunes and mobile ringtones, with consumers increasingly turning away from traditional forms of music such as CDs.

He also mentioned that much of the growth in the digital download market was focused on the independent music market, adding that the take-up of technologies such as myspace.com provided an avenue for unsigned and amateur artists.

A growth area yet to take off in Australia was that of satellite CDs, where consumers compile their own CDs by downloading songs from a central database beamed into a music store via satellite. IBISWorld expects that technology to arrive in Australia by 2010.

Source: AustralianIT

Related Links: Apple iTunes, IBISWorld