Illegal music downloads still outweigh legal sevices | News | New Media Age
Illegal music downloads still outweigh legal sevices
Mon, 20 Dec 2010 | By Ronan Shields
Digital music downloads account for over a fifth of legal music sales in the UK, but over 76% of all music downloads are illegal, according to the BPI.
The trade body estimates that total digital music track sales will top 370m, this year with the number of singles sold reaching 160m and the number of albums amounting to 21m.
However, the BPI cited research by Harris Interactive claiming the total amount of tracks illegally downloaded will amount to 1.2bn in 2010.
The average retail price for a single digital track was 82p in 2010, according to research by the OCC in its Digital Music Nation 2010 report.
Geoff Taylor, chief executive of the BPI, said, “Despite the widespread availability of legal services, they’re having a negligible impact on overall levels of illegal downloading.”
The BPI further predicted that 7.7m internet users regularly download tracks from illegal filesharing sites.
These statistics amount to a loss of £984m in revenue for the music industry, concluded the trade body.
