iTunes now 28% of all US music
updated 11:25 am EDT, Wed May 26, 2010
iTunes keeps ahead of Amazon, Walmart in 2010
iTunes now represents an even larger 28 percent of all US music, new NPD data showed today. It grew from 24 percent a year ago to an even larger percentage today and kept its spot as the single largest source of music in the country. Apple's share of digital music was flat, at 70 percent in early 2010, but meant more as customers increasingly moved to digital: downloads have jumped from 35 percent to 40 percent of all US sales.
Amazon MP3 grew rapidly year-over-year, moving from 8 percent to 12 percent of US digital music, but largely took share from other, smaller online stores. Legacy CD sales helped it keep 12 percent of all American music business but left it tied with Walmart, whose CD-heavy focus was also locked at 12 percent.
Industry analysis VP Russ Crupnick treated the shift to digital as a vicious circle where declines in CD sales only made the situation worse for those left buying the physical copies. As retailers are forced to scale back their business, they end up stocking less variety in CDs and frequently leave customers either ordering the CDs online or to downloads through stores like iTunes.
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i agree but
here in omaha nebraska, we have the traditional stores, but musicland moved out over 12 years ago. the only real music store we still have is homers, a local store that had 5 stores in the 90's and 2 left today. i think the music industry is in more danger of the new artist never being seen vs online sales or pirating. i remember walkig into musicland to buy a specific artist to hearing something being played in the store and buying it....most people stick to what they know, they do not tend to to hit a button "just to hear something new" hmmmm maybe with all these red box and blockbuster movie rental units popping up, maybe that might be a good way for the music industry to go.. burn while you wait. oh well. i do miss the stores of years ago. wish they would come back.