Internet, cell phones boost sales of music

Ring tones make up about 40 percent of digital revenues, one official said.
LONDON (AP) -- Worldwide sales of music via the Internet and mobile phones hit $1.1 billion last year, almost triple 2004 sales and accounting for 6 percent of global record companies' revenues, an industry group said Thursday.
The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, or IFPI, said the legitimate music business was gradually gaining ground on digital piracy. It said research showed that in Europe's two biggest digital markets -- Britain and Germany -- more music fans are legally downloading music than illegally file-swapping.
"2005 was the year that the digital music market took shape," said IFPI Chairman John Kennedy.
Another big success story was sales of mobile-phone ring tones, which now account for around 40 percent of record companies' digital revenues, Kennedy said.
"In the cellular or mobile world, there is a culture of payment" that didn't exist in the early days of the Internet, said Adam Klein, EMI Group PLC's executive vice president for strategy.
In the case of Internet downloads, Kennedy said a series of court judgments against unauthorized file-sharers in 2005, including Kazaa and Grokster, had helped transform the digital music market.
Put on notice
Kennedy also put Internet Service Providers, or ISPs, on notice that the IFPI would consider litigation against them if they did not join the fight against piracy. Kennedy said he approached prominent ISPs a year ago about a coordinated response and has received "effectively a zero response."
A series of lawsuits against piracy by the IFPI have so far largely targeted individual song swappers for breach of copyright rather than ISPs, which can claim they have no knowledge of piracy occurring on their networks.
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