China's online music industry reports increased harvest
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Online music content and service providers in China earned about 2.3 billion yuan (349.8 million U.S. dollars) last year, up 14.4 percent from 2009, said a report released by China's Culture Ministry on Wednesday.
According to the report, 2.02 billion yuan, or 90 percent of the total revenue, came from wireless music services via mobile phones, including polyphonic ringtones and download music. The figures saw a year-on-year rise of 9.8 percent.
The revenue from online music services on personal computers remained a small portion at 280 million yuan, but increased year on year with a hike of 64 percent, said the report.
In addition, telecom companies gained revenues of 27.9 billion yuan through network charges for online music services.
More than 600 million people, or 70 percent of mobile phone subscribers, used music services in China, the report said.
However, the report noted that the country's online music market was plagued by rampant piracy and lack of originality.
Last year, the ministry shut down more than 300 websites without legal certificates to operate online music services.
The ministry will step up efforts to regulate the market, battle illegal music websites and encourage the creation and distribution of original music, the report said.
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