Digital music worth USD22bn by 2017

VALUE ADDED SERVICES

Research firm Ovum predicts that the global digital music market will grow at 15% annually, reaching nearly USD22.5 billion by 2017.

Ovum says revenue is being boosted by subscription services, predicted to show a strong compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 46%, much of it on the back of bundling partnerships with service providers.

New forecasts from the global analyst firm reveal growth across most regions, except North America and Europe, where mobile music is expected to decline by 5 – 7% (excluding unlicensed, non-music, and mobile subscriptions) as ring back tones fail to make up for the decline in ringtones.

While mobile music is having a rough ride (particularly in the west), consumers are recognising the benefits of the subscription model, being able to access tens of millions of streamed songs for the price of a CD every month rather than owning individual downloads. Telcos are helping to drive subscription growth with mobile music bundles.

Mark Little, Ovum’s consumer telecoms analyst, says: “We expect the main driver of digital music in the forecast period to be subscriptions, because it is a format that can be easily bundled by service providers, as well as offered directly, resulting in increased penetration of subscriptions around the world”.