BITKOM: 5.2 Million Songs Downloaded to Mobile Phones

Complete songs for mobile phones are increasingly popular: last year, Germans downloaded 5.2 million songs to their phones, an increase of 53 percent. The high-tech association BITKOM announced the figure today in Berlin.

The result is based on a survey conducted by GfK Panel Services for BITKOM. Providers increased their revenue by one third to €8 million. “Many mobile phones now have enough storage for dozens, if not hundreds, of songs,” explains BITKOM Vice President Achim Berg. With fast UMTS data transmission, downloading full-length songs now takes only a few seconds.

“The market for mobile-phone downloads of complete songs will continue to grow rapidly,” Berg expects. Technological advances in mobile phones are not the only factor making full-song downloads increasingly attractive. Tracks are also becoming less expensive: the average price fell by five percent last year to €1.42.

While full-length songs are becoming increasingly popular, the market for traditional ringtones is declining. At €52 million, it is still more than six times the size of the complete mobile-song market, but revenue fell by 26 percent in 2007.

“One reason is that full-length songs can now also be used as ringtones on most mobile phones,” says BITKOM Vice President Berg, commenting on the market shift. In total, Germans downloaded 23.2 million ringtones to their phones last year, including ringback tones and video ringtones. In 2006, 29.8 million ringtones were downloaded.