London - Global digital music sales nearly doubled in 2006, to $2 billion, and now account for 10% of the music market -- but have not yet become the "holy grail" that will compensate the industry for slumping CD sales, according to a report from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), a record label trade group.

"The record industry today has evolved into a digital thinking, digitally literate business. Revenues in 2006 doubled to about $2 billion and by 2010 we expect at least one quarter of all music sales worldwide to be digital," said IFPI chairman and CEO John Kennedy.

The number of songs available online doubled in 2006, to four million, as consumers downloaded 795 million legal tracks from nearly 500 services in 40 countries, an increase of 89% from the number purchased in 2005.

The IFPI said research suggests industry lawsuits against large-scale uploaders of songs to file-sharing services -- some 10,000 of which were filed in 18 countries last year -- have helped contain piracy, but added that it plans to step up its campaign for action from "gatekeeper" Internet service providers.

"With cooperation from ISPs we could make huge strides in tackling internet piracy globally," added Kennedy. "It is very unfortunate that it seems to need pressure from governments or even action in the courts to achieve this."

Related Links:
http://www.ifpi.org/content/section_resources/digital-music-report.html
http://tinyurl.com/2f2qkf (Reuters)