According to the German Association of Information Technology, Telecommunications and New Media (BITKOM), in 2007 Germans will download as much music from the internet as never before: turnover in music downloads onto computers is expected to rise to 60 million Euros. Thus, compared to last year the market will grow by 25% which creates a lot of optimism for the Popkomm music industry trade fair which is going to take place in Berlin from September 19th to 21st.
In the first six months of 2007 Germans downloaded music to the value of 27 million Euros onto their computers. In the same period last year downloads amounted to just 21 million Euros.
The number of downloads is expected to increase significantly too. It is forecast to rise to 34 million songs and albums by the end of this year which is 30% more than in 2006 (26 million pieces). This forecast is based on the figures reflecting the development from January to June 2007 in which 16 million songs and albums were downloaded. In the same period last year this figure had been about 12 million songs and albums.
The success of the digital music market is mainly due to the demand by men. In the first half of 2007 just one third (33%) of the total turnover in this market was generated in the business with femal customers. With regard to the age of the people downloading music it is in particular young people generating growth in this business. Thus, people aged below 30 generated almost half (44%) of the total turnover. 