Mobile music has dominated the digital music scene in Japan for a while, and that continued in 2006 according to Billboard.biz. It quotes figures from the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) showing that mobile music downloads totalled 344.1 million in 2006, an increase of 33 percent over 2005. The wholesale value increased even more (49 percent) to 48.2 billion yen (US$398.2 million). This includes all forms of mobile music, whether download sales or subscription. It also includes ringtones, which had been excluded in the past so RIAJ could pretend the music market was falling.
By contrast, music sales over PCs totaled 23 million, and were worth 5 billion yen (US$41.3 million), which was an increase of 172 percent.
Related stories:
--Mobile Music Downloads Growth Slowing In Japan