Music download

Six 'Music download' stories December 2013 - July 2015

Music downloads down 10%, streaming up 100%, prior to launch of Apple Music

Ben Lovejoy Jul 3 2015 - 3:53 am PT

The rationale behind Apple’s move into streaming music can be neatly summarised in two stats from the latest Nielsen data on American music sales: music downloads fell by 10% in the first half of the year to 531M, while streaming almost doubled to 135B. The streaming figure includes iTunes Radio but not, of course, Apple Music.

While I and others may have a number of complaints about Apple Music, one thing’s for sure: that streaming number is going to be very much bigger by the time Nielsen reports stats for the second half of the year.

Via Re/code. Image businesskorea.co.kr.

Decline of music downloads continues as on-demand streaming audio up 50 percent

Ben Lovejoy Jul 4 2014 - 4:18 am PT

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Apple’s presumed plans for an on-demand music service as part of its Beats acquisition is looking increasingly well-timed as Nielsen data shows that U.S. on-demand music consumption climbed 50.1 percent year-on-year, while music downloads fell by 12 percent in the same timeframe.

“With On-Demand streams surpassing 70 billion songs in the first six months of 2014, streaming continues to be an increasingly significant portion of the music industry,” says David Bakula, SVP Nielsen Entertainment …

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Declining iTunes sales underline need for Apple to launch a subscription music service

Ben Lovejoy May 28 2014 - 6:36 am PT

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Declining iTunes sales highlighted by Morgan Stanley’s Katy Huberty and reported by Fortune appear to underline the need for Apple to move beyond sales of music downloads and into the subscription music business. iTunes sales are down 24 percent year-on-year.

While the slack is being picked up by app sales – a trend previously noted by Asymco’s Horace Dediu – that falling blue line reflects the wider shift in consumer behaviour from purchasing downloads to subscribing to streaming services noted last year by Billboard magazine …
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Apps, rather than streaming music, may be responsible for ‘peak iTunes’ – analyst

Ben Lovejoy Jan 8 2014 - 5:51 am PT

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We noted at the end of last year that iTunes music downloads appeared to be on the decline for the first time, a shift that was confirmed this month. The operating assumption has so far been that music streaming services are taking over, and that a growing number of consumers are now content to simply have on-demand access to music, rather than to own it.

Asymco’s Horace Dediu, an analyst who often has interesting things to say, has suggested an alternative explanation: that we’re actually listening to less music …
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iTunes-exclusive Beyoncé album breaks a million sales in five days

Ben Lovejoy Dec 19 2013 - 4:03 am PT

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Beyoncé’s surprise move in releasing a previously-unannounced album exclusively on iTunes seems to have paid off big-time: after setting a new iTunes record as the fastest-selling album ever, the self-titled BEYONCÉ album has now sold more than a million copies in just five days.

It’s quite an achievement, especially at a time when music downloads may have passed their peak, but as music industry analyst Bob Lefsetz observed (via AtD), it doesn’t mean other artists can expect to pull off the same trick.

It’s a stunt. No different from Radiohead’s “In Rainbows.” Unrepeatable by mere mortals, never mind wannabes and also-rans […]

The bottom line is Beyonce is a superstar. And superstars get traction. And everybody else is close to ignored. And you become a superstar by having a bunch of money and power behind you.

Have music downloads hit their peak, with streaming taking over?

Ben Lovejoy Dec 16 2013 - 4:43 am PT

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What do 1980, 1989 and 2003 have in common? They were the peak sales years for LPs, cassettes and CDs respectively. After that, a very slight resurgence in vinyl aside, it was all downhill.

Billboard magazine has an interesting piece in which they suggest that perhaps 2012 might join that list – as the year that saw peak sales for music downloads, with streaming services like Spotify, Rdio and now, of course, iTunes Radio the heir apparent …

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