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People in the UK are driving the growth of mobile digital music downloads, according to figures released by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).
The figures, collated from a range of different sources including music consultancy MusicAlly and M:Metrics, found that nearly half of UK Britons own a music-enabled mobile phones with digital mobile music downloads in the UK higher than any other country.
With one in eight (12 per cent) people now using a mobile to play music, UK consumers are now estimated to be downloading up to 1.3 million tracks per month to their mobile phones.
The BPI has suggested this is because consumer confusion over differing services and low 3G penetration, which have been barriers to market growth in the past, is no longer a problem.
"Costs [have] come down [as] mobile companies market their music services more effectively and consumers become more mobile-savvy,” the BPI said.
BPI chief executive Geoff Taylor also said while demand for older monophonic and polyphonic ringtones is in decline, the demand for popular songs as ringtones could lead to more music labels releasing songs from their catalogues to be used as downloads for ringtones.
"Just five years ago, CD sales were the recording industry's only significant source of income but digital distribution, mobile and online, has created a myriad of new business models that labels are now driving forward,” he said.
Digital music has transformed the record business with legal downloads now accounting for around 80 per cent of all single track sales and 50 per cent of chart singles, according to the Official UK Charts Company. Many of those sales are now made through mobile platforms.
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All Mobile TechnologyTags: Mobile Music Downloads, BPI
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