Apple sells 25% of music in the US, none of which is AC/DC
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Aug 19th 2009 5:13PM
posted Aug 19th 2009 5:13PM
According to the number crunchers at NPD Group, the trend that came to a head last year when Apple beat out Wal-Mart for the title of largest Stateside music retailer is continuing apace. That's right -- one in four songs sold in America is sold on iTunes, while Wal-Mart (including CD sales through retail stores, sales through their website, and Wal-Mart Music Downloads) holds the number two position at 14 percent. And number three, if you're morbidly curious, is Best Buy. In addition, 69% of all digital music sold in the US comes from the iTunes store, with Amazon ranking second at 8 percent. When talking formats, the CD remains the most popular at 65 percent, but as some dude named Russ Crupnick (NPD's vice president of entertainment industry analysis) notes, "with digital music sales growing at 15 to 20 percent, and CDs falling by an equal proportion, digital music sales will nearly equal CD sales by the end of 2010." Which can only be a good thing, if it means that we'll never have to step into a Wal-Mart again. Sales of ringtones and sales to consumers under 13 were not tabulated, which means the data may incorrectly skew away from purchases of The Wiggles' Go Bananas! and that Crazy Frog song.
[Via TUAW]
[Via TUAW]
Anyone know a graph of music sales throughout all time?
Why aren't Engadget covering this?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/6049620/EU-launches-probe-into-exploding-iPhones-and-iPods.html
European Union safety commission to formally investigate the reports in several European countries about 'exploding' iPods and iPhones.
Does it really matter? iPod rules! LOL
^^^@Zunesucks a.k.a Pizzahut,
please, do u want to be in the same league as ouch? u both sucks, but u r suckerer as u gone to the extent of even changing your name.
Although I enjoy eating pizza very much, pizzahut isn't my fav! LOL
iPod rules forever!
No Beatles either... Lame...
I'd consider it a good thing if mainstream digital media stores started selling "true" CD (or even studio master) quality audio.
I never thought I heard a difference till I bought a radiohead album because i thought i lost the CD (ya..never digitized it). Later found it, and just for fun compared. On home theater speakers, you really can tell the difference
oh, and also...FIRST
Yeah I know what you mean. I rip most of my CDs to a pretty crappy compression (just switched to 256kbps AAC from 128 that I used back when I only had a 30GB HD when I ripped the bulk of my music collection). I don't really mind this when music is background, like when I'm working or jogging, but I really like sticking a CD into my HT setup every once in a while. There really isn't a comparison. I'm actually surprised that Amazon didn't beat Best Buy for sales of discs, but maybe I'm just strange.
Kudos on wanting high-resolution audio, there are several providers of high-res downloads out there.
I'm willing to forgive your listening to music on HT speakers...
I noticed the differences between compressed and uncompressed music since the late 90s. Compared CD quality to MP3... as long as the compression maintains the high bitrate, there shouldn't be too much differences. I know the bass and treble might be little scratchy for mp3s, but can't defeat the convenience factor of today's digital distribution. Don't forget that you can download lossless audio format too or simply backup the entire audio CD image and play it on your notebook PC output to nice speakers.
Really, I stopped buying CDs since 2005 because I noticed that I seldom play them on my stereo system anymore with all these music phones in my pocket.
@letstakeawalk
Are you a heaphone person then? Or is this a dedicated stereo system vs. hybrid HT/music system (or did you read HT as HTIB)?
walk and shin,
I get your points, and I know for some types of music you can buy lossless audio (such beatport.com). But there are some (not many but some) mainstream artists that i would like the convenience of a digital download, with the full fedelity of getting the CD.
The same holds true even more for movies...sure you can buy an HD movie from apples store...but the Blueray always looks a ton better (well not always, it depends on your playback device).
it seems that people will often sacrifice quality for convenience.
+1 for studio master quality
As much as you said you can tell the difference when listening to a CD on a home theater setup, listening to a DVD-A on a home theater setup is a mind blowing experience. However, that format is quite dead and undeveloped, so I only have one DVD-A disc that is actually worth listening to.
Though the real problem I suppose is/was the size of such quality music would be too large for practical storage or digital distribution. Additionally, the powers that be probably feel that there is no demand for high quality audio based on the failure of DVD-A and SACD.
I believe you mean fidelity... but I'll forgive you since you're a grammar delinquent.
@ tkdee
I was a headphone guy, back in high-school when I lived at home, but since I live alone I don't really have to worry about annoying anyone (except maybe the neighbors) when I crank my two-channel stereo. Yes, it was a thinly-veiled dig at HTiB meant in good humor; I'm not going going to complain about what someone else listens to music on, especially if they want to listen in the highest resolution/fidelity possible. I'm not a digital download guy, but I see the appeal for people who don't enjoy looking at shelves lined with physical titles.
I do prefer physical media, and would like to point out that DVD-A and SACD are certainly not dead - whatever Gamechild might think. High-end audio is still pushing the market forward and advancing with new technology. Plenty of artists release in those formats, and Blu-Ray audio formats promise to be even better. I agree they aren't mainstream, but they certainly aren't dead. Besides, if the manufacturers weren't continually trying to improve their DACs and compression algorithms (needed by CD, SACD, etc), imagine how horrible those digital downloads would sound!
Haha 1st Gen iPod touch anyone? I'm not a big Apple fan but as long as they don't fuck up music like MTV did they can sell all they want.
What did MTV do?
I'm sorry, but I don't have a TV nor would I watch MTV, so I'm just being curious as to what did the Music TeleVision do to... music?
yeah me too wonder of what MTV has done, as i'm not part of the MTV culture.
thanks for reading.
I was not trying to say they messed up music in general while they probably have had a negative effect on it I was referring more to what the original concept of MTV which was showing as much music to the world as they could.
"Video Killed the Radio Star" - All you need to know about MTV's influence on the music industry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Killed_the_Radio_Star
They filled their programming with crappy reality tv shows. I don't think there are any music related programs on MTV anymore; it's mostly a bunch of crazy 16 year olds running around getting a over priced birthday or giving birth. if you want to see music videos I think Vh1 has some playing at 3 am.
Yeah MTV needs to change their name to RTY (Reality Television) because that all they show now. I think ive seen some music videos on super late/early morning but its nothing like it was when i watched back then. They had shows about music between hours of music videos. If your up late and can stand listening to Carson Daly his shows not too bad, he just features a new band or artist every night and its a good way to hear new music.
Digital distribution of music has always been the way to go. We've been downloading and now streaming music and videos over the Internet since the late 90s.
CD, DVDs, and possibly Blu-Ray? They all sound dated.
Crazy Frog FTW!
Crazy Frog FTL
I really, really wonder how Apple fans are going to maintain their underdog/unique, beautiful snowflakes pose with more and more stuff like this. How can you pose as an outsider when you buy the same products and from the same company that everyone else does?
>> "How can you pose as an outsider when you buy the same products and from the same company that everyone else does?"
Outsiders? Who suggested that?
With the iPod capturing 75% of the MP3 player market and 25% of all music purchased on iTunes... they are clearly NOT outsiders.
while your augment holds some minor water in apples computer relm (maybe
Not everyone buys a Mac just to be different.
What an insightful comment. Please, tell me more.
For those of you interested, I happen to know one of those "dudes"from NPD and they have an incredible system in place that tracks actual sales. They have agreements with most major retailers in which their sales receipts are automatically uploaded to the NPD servers. These are actual sales numbers as opposed to that of other firms that sell projections based on the "numbers" submitted by the marketing wizards at the various vendors.
People pay for ringtones?
only iTards who don't know how to change file extensions.
Changing extensions is for iTards who don't know how to use GarageBand.
Poor record stores :( First victim of the RIAA
Wouah !!
75% of music sold in the US is AC/DC !
AC/DC ftw
I love how apple consumers love paying for stuff thats avaible for free (or that should be). They're a great bunch.
CUT & PASTE? I better buy a new iPhone!!
Are you joking? Recording artists deserve to be compensated for creating music, and iPhone software 3.0 is available for every iPhone model, so you don't need to get a new model for cut and paste.
Get a clue.
What are you talking about? Are you saying music should be available for free?
And no one bought a new iPhone for cut & paste. It was available for all iPhones.
I think what you meant to say is that you steal music. Here's a hint: Music isn't free. Just because you're not paying for it doesn't mean it's being given away.
@pstar,
FAIL
(comment continued...wtf).......15% of the mac user base buys a mac to be "cool") people don't buy iPods to be cool or the norm, they were well advertised, easy to use, and have a great music store backing them.
I bought an iPod and stuck with windows because it works well for me. I love windows, but the ipod was better to all other MP3 players available at the time, if the ZUNEHD is better, and i need a new mp3 player will i switch? sure! but its because i want a quality product not an image.
stop trying to start a flame war dude, your doing it wrong.
Its a shame, but im guessing thats not the case. The iPod is the thing to have for most teenagers.
"15% of the mac user base buys a mac to be "cool""
Citation, please. Research has shown that 73% of all statistics are made-up.
I am proud to have never shopped iTunes :)
Why are you proud of that?
Pride is a sin, apparently, and deadly at that.
MP3's ARE NOT the same as full CD's. And full CD's were of course not the same as analog vinyl recordings. Once you start sampling and compressing you're stripping out subtleties.
The real problem however isn't the bits being lost between the two. As someone pointed out...many of the two (lossless from a CD & sampled MP3's) now unfortunately do sound quite the same. This is because as recording studios recognized that most people are only ever hearing it in MP3 lossy format the original recording quality was ignored. Instead they're turning to 'ear catching' tricks like amping up the master volume and flattening the sound stage as a result because your ipod, mp3, and cheap earbuds will never be able to distinguish.
That's the real tragedy and what depresses me most about mp3's. I'm sure it wasn't an intended consequence, but it's become one nonetheless. I get the purpose, love my iphone with tons of albums on it (I travel a ton), love the reason behind compression (historically storage was a pricey, limiting factor), but I'm afraid that even as storage in bulk gets desperately cheap, the art is being lost.
I still buy CD's in bulk and I agree with someone else's post that Amazon is my clear choice. With a prime membership and free 2 day shipping it's a no brainer. I also appreciate that smaller labels and more and more 'indie' music is releasing on vinyl as a sign that their original mastering probably was more carefully done.
I also rip everything to flac format (which offers about 50% compression over CD with no loss of quality) and I stream it all over my house. I love it because I listen to a ton more stuff than I ever would if I had to go back and forth to the CD rack. You can enjoy technology without making the compromise.
It should be loud because you cranked it up, not because someone turned up the master volume and bled everything together. Educate people! Music is a beautiful thing.
-Nick
This confirms iTunes and its ecosystem is the best platform on the planet. End of story!