iTunes sales 'collapsing'

[JBFRobisher]

From The Register:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/12/11/digital_downloads_flatline/

The leading DRM digital download service, Apple's iTunes, has experienced a collapse in sales revenues this year according to analyst company Forrester Research.

The message here is not that CD sales are coming back, the ability to obtain pirated music is now so widespread the DRM looks to consumers more like a problem than a benefit.

Some people are sloooooooooooooow to realise the obvious!!!

 

[JStrike]

Sounds unlikely. Last I heard, iTS sold over 500 million songs this year, which is pretty amazing growth

 

[The_Right_Honourable_Brit]

Yeah - looking at the timeline on Wikipedia: iTunes Music Store - Wikipedia

# On January 10, 2006 Apple announced that the iTunes Music Store had sold 850 million songs and 8 million videos.[23]
# On February 23, 2006 Apple announced that the iTunes Music Store had sold 1 billion songs and 15 million videos. The billionth song was “Speed of Sound” by Coldplay, purchased by Alex Ostrovsky of West Bloomfield, Michigan.[24]
# On September 12, 2006 Steve Jobs announced in his "It's Showtime" keynote that Apple had 88% of the legal U.S. music download market, 1.5 billion songs downloaded and 45 million videos sold.

 

[JStrike]

Seems it will be closer to 1 billion songs this year. Makes that "article" seem even more crazy

 

[diabolus]

I think it must be read in perspective to previous years.

While the iTunes service saw healthy
growth for much of the period, since January the monthly revenue has fallen by 65 per cent, with the average transaction size falling 17 per cent. The previous spring's rebound wasn't repeated this year.

I'd say it sounds more likely from that angle.

Forrester and Nielsen's figures merely confirm that what the industry is losing in falling CD sales, it isn't gaining in DRM downloads.

Probably the whole point of the article...

 

[nthdimension]

I think all the effort the industry has put into alienating their customers is paying off.

 

[bwana]

Conflicting information

RESTON, Va., Dec 14, 2006 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- comScore Networks, a leader measuring the digital age, today reported that revenue from Apple Computer's iTunes digital media download service rose by 84 percent during the first three quarters of 2006 versus the same period one year ago as a result of a 67 percent increase in the number of iTunes buying transactions and a 10 percent increase in the dollars spent per transaction.

As seen on digg.com

 

[LandyMan]

If you know how to make money, you make tons of it