Japanese Digital Music Sales
Thursday, 25th February 2010
According to the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), the digital music sales trend in Japan shows Internet downloads of music rising while mobile downloads are staying steady when comparing 2008 & 2009. Japan is known for their extremely high rates of mobile downloads. In fact, in 2008, 91% of music downloads were on mobile devices (including ring-tones, full-length tracks, ringback tones, etc) and only 9% were Internet downloads.
The market breakdown for 2009 was as follows:
- Total digital sales – US$993 Million – roughly equivalent to 2008
- Ringtones – $178 Million – down 19%
- Ringback Tones – $107 Million – up 15%
- Full-Length Tracks – $538.7 Million – up 4%
- Other – $168.5
The Japanese music industry is interesting to watch because they are music lovers and early adapters to new technology and of new ways to deliver technology.
