Digital music sales down for first time since iTunes launch

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."