Record labels are redefining the “album” as a digital bundle that often includes ringtones and ring-back tones, videos and games. They hope such content will shift consumer demand away from single-track downloads — currently dominated by Apple’s iTunes Music Store — to sales through mobile carriers and subscription services.
Media
2006 was another record year for High-Speed Internet.
Leichtman Research Group, Inc. (LRG) found that the twenty largest cable and telephone providers in the US – representing about 94% of the market – achieved record net high-speed Internet additions in 2006. Combined net additions for the year totaled over 10.2 million subscribers – a total that exceeded the previous record set in 2005 by about 500,000 subscribers.
Worldwide Internet audience has grown 10% in last year.
comScore Networks announced that 747 million people, age 15 + , used the Internet worldwide in January 2007, a 10-percent increase versus January 2006. Among the top 15 countries (ranked by penetration), Internet audiences in India, the Russian Federation and China increased the most in 2006, growing 33, 21 and 20 percent, respectively. China now represents the second-largest Internet population in the world, with 86.8 million users, after the U.S., which rose 2 percent year-over-year to 153.4 million users age 15 or older in January 2007.
