29 December 2005

Christmas Day saw a rise of 50 per cent in the number of people visiting music downloading websites, as thousands found an iPod in their stocking.

According to the Internet monitoring company, Hitwise, visits to various download sites between December 24th and 25th were 15 per cent higher than last Christmas.

The number of people getting online to download music had already met new highs during 2005, with weekly downloads exceeding 650,000 and download sales topping £23 million, according to figures from BPI, the record companies' trade association in the UK.

Forecasts for the music industry in 2006 are predicting that downloads and mobile phone ringtones will account for at least six per cent of all revenues in the new year.

© Adfero Ltd

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