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| EUROPEAN AUDIO BOOK MARKETBy Nicholas Newman Monday, 09 April 2007
Increasingly, your fellow European commuter is likely to be listening to an audio book as reading the latest Harry Potter or Steven King paperback! Audio books have come a long way from being just the preserve of the visually impaired to a popular alternative way to enjoy a good book. The range of audio books available to the European public is growing by at a fast rate, from a passionate love story to science fiction. Listeners are finding new ways to use audio books from learning a language to as an aid to relaxation. THE EXPANDING MARKETThis is not surprising given that the European audio book market continues to grow ‘at 20% a year’ reports Penelope Liechti, BBC Audio Books. Currently, there is no recognised European best seller list; Nicolas Soames of Naxos Audio Books says the market is ‘too unpredictable’ due, in part, to the differences between countries of language, culture and tastes, but also because of the problems of data collection. Market research companies, like AC Nielsen are currently working to overcome these difficulties. Britain and Germany are Europe’s largest audio book markets. In the UK alone, the British Audio Book Publishing Association (APA) records sales for 2006 of £71.4m. In Germany, sales for 2005 were €100m reports Marc Sieper of Borsenverein des Duetschen Buchhandels (BDB). As the Europe’s leading audio books markets begin to mature, both German and British publishers are seeking new customers elsewhere in Europe. Currently, Eastern Europe is seeing high growth rates, especially in states without established domestic audio book industries of their own. Publishers have found it harder to penetrate the markets of Southern European countries, ‘who still regard audio books as largely the preserve of the visually impaired,’ observes, Barry Clark, APA.
Audio books are becoming increasingly popular, especially amongst computer literate adults, for whom listening to their favourite diet, NEW TECHNOLOGYNew technology has helped aid the growth of the audio book market in Europe. The Web has made life easier for both consumers and publishers. Now publishers like Naxos can deal directly with their customers, without having to establish a chain of expensive bookshops across Europe, nor maintain huge warehouses of stock. Your local book shop simply does not have the space to store what is now available to order over the web or download to the customer’s MP3Player. But bookstores are fighting back in Germany, and Marc Sieper BDB, reports publishers in Germany, are proposing to establish a network of download stations in bookstores, petrol stations and supermarkets, where customers can simply download their book onto a Memory Stick. Despite the rise of the MP3Player, CDs still continue to dominate the market, and it is now possible to buy MP3 formatted CDs that can store for example the unabridged version of Tolstoy’s War and Piece on one MP3 formatted CD rather than the 12 CD’s previously required. For those seeking to download their audio books, some down load suppliers like I-Tunes restrict the choice of MP3 the file can be played on. What is available to buy from ITunes, is a range largely catering for American rather than European tastes. NEW PROBLEMSPiracy and market rights are seen as a big problem by many publishers. Access to the internet from anywhere in Europe just complicates matters. Retailers like ITunes are using Digital Rights Software (DRM) to overcome these problems. For the European consumers this has led to new inconveniences. Use of DRM means publishers can restrict which version of their audio book is downloaded and discriminate between countries over prices. For example, a German customer can be prevented from buying the same audio book for a cheaper price in Belgium. This price discrimination has led to the Commission to launch an investigation into such practices. Though EMI have agreed to take off DRM and offer unprotected mp3 files. Many academics are concerned that the increasing popularity of the audio books could be promoting illiteracy? However, Penelope Liechti argues that, ‘audio books are a growing market, and we get new customers without cannibalising the market share in conventional books.’ The main complaint about audio book users is that some selfish users tend to play the volume of their MP3 Players, too loud! Vivienne Micheal, of Deafness Research UK said, ‘a generation ago we would see people going deaf in their sixties or seventies, but we’re now seeing more people going deaf in their forties, which is very worrying.’ THE FUTURENicolas Soames of Naxos predicts future growth will be in, ‘unabridged downloads in all category areas.’ ENDS Links· AC Nielsen http://www2.acnielsen.com/site/index.shtml · Amazon · Apple ITunes http://www.apple.com/itunes/store/
FACT BOXJargon Buster
NAXOS EUROPEAN TOP FIVE BEST AUDIO BOOK SALES as of April 2007
see also Oxford Books |
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