Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Music
  3. News

Digital music sales dip 12 percent as listeners switch to streaming

David Nield
By

digital music sales dip 12 percent users turn streaming katy
Image used with permission by copyright holder
Nielsen’s latest report on U.S. digital music consumption shows users abandoning traditional download platforms in favor of unlimited streaming services. The statistics show a dip of roughly 12 percent across both album and individual track sales in digital, while on-demand streaming has risen 42 percent when compared with the first half of last year.

The study covers the first six months of 2014 and excludes international and developing markets — the lack of stable, fast Internet connections in many parts of the world may swing the balance back in the download’s favor. Nielsen’s findings seem to justify Apple’s decision to acquire the Beats music platform and develop a Spotify rival of its own as consumers turn away from the established iTunes-style method of buying music.

Recommended Videos

Also enjoying strong growth alongside music streaming rates are sales of physical vinyl records, up 40.4 percent on the first six months of 2013 to reach 4 million so far this year. When physical and digital sales are combined, total album sales slumped 14.9 percent across the same period, with significant drops in both CD and digital sales that the uptake in vinyl LP purchases couldn’t make up for.

Related

So far in 2014, the most streamed song of the year is Dark Horse from Katy Perry and Juicy J, with over 65 million streams. It has only reached second spot in the list of top-selling digital downloads though, with top place taken by Pharrell Williams’ Happy. The report also covers video streaming, which is still slightly ahead of audio streaming in terms of raw numbers (36.64 billion streams versus 33.65 billion streams so far this year).

With a shift in user behavior comes a fresh opportunity for the entertainment and tech companies to gain power and influence. Google already has its own music streaming service in the form of Play Music All Access and it appears Apple is planning a slow and smooth transition from its old iTunes model to a new Beats-powered approach. Spotify, Rdio, Deezer and now Amazon Prime are also vying for user dollars in this brave new world of on-demand music… and to think we’re only 15 years on from when Napster first appeared.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
David Nield
David Nield
Contributor
Dave is a freelance journalist from Manchester in the north-west of England. He's been writing about technology since the…
What is hi-res audio, and how can you experience it right now?
Dlyan Wireless Headphones

High-resolution audio, hi-res audio, or even HD audio -- whatever you decide to call it (for the record, the industry prefers "hi-res audio"), it's a catch-all term that describes digital audio that goes above and beyond the level of sound quality you can expect from a garden-variety MP3 file and even CDs. It was once strictly the domain of audiophiles, but now that major streaming music services like Apple Music, Amazon Music, Tidal, Deezer, and Qobuz have embraced it, almost everyone can take advantage of what hi-res has to offer.

But what exactly is hi-res audio? What equipment do you need to listen to it? Where can you download or stream it? And does it actually sound better? We've got the answers.
What does the term 'hi-res audio' mean?

Read more
How to download music from Spotify for offline listening
How to download music and podcasts from Spotify: The downloads folder.

If you're a Spotify Premium user paying that premium Spotify fee, chances are you've taken at least some time curating playlists, liking songs, and using the platform's easy-to-use (and recently revamped) user interface to discover new and old music.

But sometimes all that music or your favorite podcasts aren't available if you find yourself without an internet connection to stream them from — like on a long plane ride or weekend camping trip in the sticks. That's where Spotify's offline listening feature comes in handy, allowing you to download playlists, albums, and podcasts through its desktop and mobile apps so you can still rock out while you're off the grid.

Read more
How to switch from Spotify to Apple Music
Spotify and Apple Music transfer on a smartphone.

Spotify is the world's most popular music streaming service for a reason. It has a massive catalog of music and podcasts, is full of cool music discovery and sharing features, and is really easy to use.
However, with its recent price increase and the fact that it still hasn't joined most of its peers in offering a hi-res audio quality option, you may be considering jumping ship for its closest competitor, Apple Music, which counts lossless hi-res tracks, mind-bending spatial audio, Dolby Atmos Music tracks, and a catalog that rivals Spotify's among the many attractive reasons to switch.

But there's one problem: you’ve spent a lot of time creating playlists and marking songs and albums as your favorites in Spotify. Is it worth the switch? Will all that hard work be lost in translation?

Read more