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Report: IFPI Predicts Legit Music Services Will Flourish Worldwide in 2004
Geneva -- Legitimate online music services are poised to take a larger share of the market from peer-to-peer services like Kazaa during 2004, according to an annual online music report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry. The trade group points to the impending launch of iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody and other services in Europe, as well as the 30 existing legal sites operating there now. Industry data shows that Americans bought 30 million downloads in 2003, while Europeans purchased 3 million. The number of available songs on European services has risen 30% in the last three months to 300,000, and is expected to increase further this year. The group also credits increased awareness worldwide that most forms of file-sharing are illegal, due to the legal campaign against file-swappers, and the fact that the number of music files available on the Internet has fallen by 20% to 800 million over the last year, after peaking at one billion at the start of 2003. "For everyone working to create a successful legitimate online music business, this report reflects a new sense of optimism and evidence of real change," said IFPI chairman and CEO Jay Berman, IFPI. "We believe the music industry's Internet strategy is now turning the corner, and that in 2004 there will be, for the first time, a substantial migration of consumers from unauthorized free services to the legitimate alternatives that our industry is providing internationally." Record industry groups in both Canada and the U.K. have said they soon plan to start suing individual file-swappers in their respective countries.
http://www.ifpi.org/site-content/press/20040122.html