Download revolution rolls on

By ALEXA BARACAIA
Updated: 06:03 EST, 24 January 2005

THE astronomical rise of the music download industry is revealed today. New international figures show fans downloaded more than 200m tracks last year, a tenfold leap on 2003 when the figure stood at 20m.

The digital music sales industry is now estimated to be worth £177m across Europe - and the figure is expected to double this year. The industry is so fast-moving that experts predict legal downloads, where consumers pay sites for music downloaded and a percentage goes to the record company, will account for 25% of music company revenue by 2008. The current total is 1.5%.

These are the findings of a major study led by the International Federation of Phonographic Industries (IFPI).

The US leads the charge, with digital sales of single tracks rising from 19m in 2003 to 143m last year. Britain is at the forefront of the revolution in Europe, with 5.7m downloaded tracks last year, compared with virtually none in 2003.

U2 helped drive sales in Britain: their latest single Vertigo was last year's most downloaded track, followed by Gwen Stefani's What You Waiting For? The traditional singles chart for last year is a radically different list, topped by Band Aid 20. This is partly because, despite the boom in download tracks available, there are still many that cannot be accessed through most online sites. Dario Betti of computer consultancy Ovum said: "The online chart would be very different from the traditional top 10 because [download] customers are older and richer than the traditional singles buyer.'

• A repertoire of a million songs is available for download worldwide.

• The number of legal music sites such as iTunes and Napster have quadrupled to more than 230.

• Up to 25m portable players were sold last year, of which 10m were Apple iPods.

There are also signs that the battle to banish internet piracy is being won, with illegal downloads dropping by 30m to 870m.

IFPI chairman John Kennedy said: 'The biggest challenge for the digital music business has always been to make music easier to buy than to steal. At the start of 2005, that ambition is turning into a reality.'