Brussels, 26/10/2012 (Agence Europe) - Spending on the acquisition of media products in digital format tripled between 2006 and 2010, with the recording music sector now achieving 30% of its global sales in the digital market, according to a report by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission on the media and content industries. The digital success of the music sector contrasts with the somewhat stagnant distribution of other digital media and content, with hardly 6% of film/video, newspapers, magazines and book sales being in digital form, the report states. Maire Geoghegan-Quinn, Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, asserts: “media and content industries are innovative and of great social and economic importance for Europe. Managing and reacting to the challenges of globalisation and the digital shift will be key and that means new business models that turn these challenges into opportunities. This report provides valuable insight both for the industries and police makers and will help us shape the rights answers together”.
The report is a major contribution to the recent Commission initiative aimed at boosting growth and employment in the culture and creative sectors. It sets out a general panorama of digital spending. Conclusions reached were examined at a conference held in Brussels on 25 October, and was established on the basis of sector-specific studies on production, distribution, prices and consumption in the fields of cinema, music, newspapers, video games, book publishing and radio broadcasting. The JRC explains how the new techniques allow successful distribution, open up new markets and allow the consumers to benefit from more advantageous prices. (IL/transl.jl)