MUMBAI: Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) released a data on Thursday, 28th April, 2011, which reports that the mobile music sales has declined 28% in 2010 to $527 million Ring tones has experienced a steep decline of 41%, while ring backs fell 26% in value. Full track mobile downloads were down 23%.
In 2010, ring tones accounted for about half of the mobile digital music market, with 49% share of the category by value. Ring backs remained at 20% of the market, in-line with 2009, while full length tracks and music videos grew to 31% in 2010 versus 19% the prior year.
Digital music market grew to $3.2 billion in 2010, up 3% from the prior year. Digital downloads continued double digit annual growth reaching $2.2 billion, a 10% increase over the 2009 total of $2.0 billion. Although digital download unit growth was only 2%, stronger growth in albums and the first full year of variable pricing contributed to the larger growth in value. Digital albums and tracks grew by value at 9% and 12% rates, respectively. Overall, digital formats comprised a record 47% of total music shipments in the United States.
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The Record industry in the United States fell 11% to $6.9 billion. Growth in digital formats only partially offset a decline of 20% by value in physical formats. The decline in CD sales accounted for the vast majority of the decline on the physical side, though vinyl albums continued to be a positive note, growing in 2010 by 44% to $87 million – their highest level since 1990
For comparison, digital sales only accounted for 9% of the market back in 2005. Distributions for digital performance rights, which include payments to performers and copyright holders for web casting, satellite radio, and other non-interactive digital music services, increased 60% to $249 million in 2010. Performance revenues represent an increasingly important piece of the music industry landscape as fan interest grows in digital listening and access formats.
