Digital music sales down for first time since iTunes launch

[dutchman]

Sales in digital music have fallen for the first time since Apple opened the iTunes store in 2003.



According to Nielsen SoundScan, digital track sales in the US dropped 5.7% in 2013 from 1.34 billion to 1.26 billion, despite big releases including the new Beyoncé album which was exclusive to iTunes.

Digital albums suffered a slightly smaller decline of 0.1%, from 117.7 million to 117.6 million.

The growth in streaming services such as Spotify - which boasts over six million paying subscribers and over 24 million active users - are thought to have contributed to the fall in digital downloads.

A full breakdown of streaming data last year is yet to be released, although a report from earlier in 2013 suggested that audio and video streams increased 24% to 50 million.

Music Business Association president Jim Donio told the Financial Times that streams should be considered a sale because consumers still pay for a subscription.

"When you talk about sales and revenues and the consumption of music, you have got to get your head around the fact that somebody pays a subscription to a music service and that is a sale," he said.

"That data is extremely important to the overall picture of the relative health of the industry. We're just looking at a snapshot today with year-end sales."