Archive notice: This article was originally published on February 28, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
The Internet music platform iTunes is on its way to becoming the largest music retailer in the USA. As current surveys by market research company NPD Group http://www.npd.com show, Apple’s music service overtook the retail chains Best Buy and Target last year to become the industry’s second-largest retailer. Retail giant Wal-Mart remains number one in the USA. But according to market observers’ forecasts, iTunes will knock Wal-Mart off its throne during 2008.
The online platform has now established itself in the music market not only in the United States but here as well, and is the clear market leader in the download segment. “In Germany, according to IFPI, iTunes most recently held a 42 percent share of the entire download market. We are also number one in Germany and Austria,” says Georg Albrecht, spokesperson for Apple Germany, in response to an enquiry from pressetext. When it comes to the battle for the overall music market, Albrecht is more modest. “The market determines how things develop; we are constantly expanding our offering. But we have no explicit ambitions to become the number one retailer in the general music market.”
The Internet now accounts for ten percent of music purchases in the USA. Nevertheless, according to NPD, online sales cannot yet offset the losses from the physical business. Last year, US citizens spent an average of 40 dollars on music, compared with 44 dollars in 2006. Illegal file-sharing networks remain very popular despite countless lawsuits. Young users in particular like to turn to P2P offerings.
According to the study, a total of 19 percent of US users used a file-sharing platform in 2007. Losses for the music industry are particularly noticeable in singles sales. While 38 percent of young people had already stopped buying individual tracks on CD in 2006, the figure reached 48 percent last year. According to NPD estimates, the number of citizens who no longer bought physical recordings increased by around one million in 2007.
