In-Stat: Digital sales will account for 40% of all music purchases by 2012

Last year, digital sales accounted for 10% of all music purchases, up from 6% in 2006. According to In-Stat’s research titled “Revenue Opportunities Abound In Online and Mobile Music Distribution,” digital music purchases will keep growing and within 4 years, they will account for 40% of overall music sales.

In-Stat points out two key factors that will drive the growth: global expansion of broadband availability, and growth of full-track downloads to mobile handsets in markets other than Japan. As for the obstacles, the research company argues it’s the digital piracy, lack of interoperability between services and devices, and weak consumer demand for subscription-based services.

Other findings from In-Stat’s report:

• Sales for online digital music reached $3.05 billion in 2007, up 48% from 2006.
• Revenue for worldwide full track mobile downloads will reach approximately $4.2 billion by 2012.
• The majority of respondents who accessed online video (72.3%) in 2007 did not pay for the video they saw from the Internet.

More information is available on In-Stat’s website.