Japanese Download Slowdown

The Recording Industry Association of Japan reported May 25 that legal music downloads decreased by 3 percent from March 2009 to March 2010.

About 461 million “transactions” took place during that period, comprising total revenues of 90.6 billion yen ($995 million), which is about the same as the previous year.

In more specific terms, downloads to cell phones, which account for 90 percent of the market, fell 4 percent but revenues slid only about 1 percent, to 78.7 billion yen ($864 million), reflecting a price increase.

However, downloads to PCs increased by 9 percent, with sales rising 11 percent to 10.4 billion yen ($114 million).

It is the first time since 2005 that digital sales of music did not record double-digit growth. According to Japanese financial paper Nikkei, the recession is the main culprit, but given that downloads of free video games has increased markedly, the change may simply be a shift to other forms of entertainment.

In addition, cell phone sales have dropped by 12.3 percent.

In related news, royalties from copyrighted music in Japan also dropped in fiscal 2009 by 3.1 percent to 109.5 billion yen ($1.2 billion).