Digital sales not enough as users increasingly get music fix online

Digital music sales in Hong Kong have doubled over the past two years as recording companies cash in on tunes delivered through music portals or mobile phone downloads.

But the boost in digital revenue is still a long way off recovering losses from traditional record sales, with pirated music still dominating the virtual world. Internet users can easily download music files from discussion forums without paying copyright owners.

Digital music accounted for 10.4 per cent of Hong Kong music sales last year, up from 7 per cent in 2006. Digital sales have grown 99.7 per cent over the past two years, according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (Hong Kong Group).

Despite growth in legitimate digital sales, the industry is still struggling with illegal downloads. Industry data shows that global record sales in 2006 dropped 38 per cent. In Hong Kong, sales fell to about HK$600 million last year, down from more than HK$2.1 billion in 1996.

Harnessing the increasing popularity of subscription-based services is seen as one way for publishers to gather new revenue streams.

In Hong Kong, users pay a fixed monthly tariff to have unlimited access to music libraries provided by service operators such as PCCW and SmarTone-Vodafone.