iTunes sells 2 Million Songs

[MacRumors]

Apple released numbers for the past 16 days:

Apple® today announced that over two million songs have been purchased and downloaded from its revolutionary iTunes® Music Store since its debut 16 days ago. Continuing the trend set during the first week, over half of the songs purchased to date were purchased as albums, further dispelling concerns that selling music on a per-track basis will destroy album sales.

Apple has previously announced that over 1 million songs had been sold during the first week of sales.

 

[Java]

sweeeet

Well, I have about 20 songs to that 2 million. Way to go Apple!

 

[Swinny]

Fantastic news...think it is just a shame that as yet the release of the service outside of the US seems to be totally up in the air.

Looks like a fantastic service, but I'm afraid as soon as M$ nick the idea and make it a worldwide concern, all Apple's hard work will be in vein quite frankly...in my opinion, an international release is far more important than a windows release.

 

[Trimix]

I hope this filters through to the NASDAQ
Go go go AAPL.

And Merrill, go and jump out of the window
)

 

[lmalave]

Sweet. I'm up to 30 songs. Just bought the newly offered Fischerspooner album last night. Perfect music to get me in the mood for the Matrix Reloaded preview I'm watching tonight. Tonight I might buy the new Album from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. See, most people were saying that he 1 million in the first week was just temporary enthusiasm for the new service. But I think the service will really hit its stride when people start buying from the iTunes store when they want a newly released album. Did you check out the pre-release tracks they're offering now? Schweeeeeet!!!

 

[maradong]

cool,
but imagine the number of songs if the service is aviable worldwide not just the us, and for every pc user apple/wintel/linux

 

[Wry Cooter]

They could sell more if they greatly expand the catalog.

My biggest fear is that some of the labels are using the apple music store as test waters; if it floats, they will try it themselves. What they miss totally is, people go to the store that has ALL the music, representing all the labels. Even then, you see AOL for example, pushing download exclusives. Competition is going to increase with labels mistaking details of the business models such as one click and tying into jukebox software being the magic (when it is the conglomeration of inventory that does it),

I get the feeling that more is being added (or pulled) than iTunes Music Store is letting us know about in the weekly emails. I would like those emails to be more complete and detailed if this is so.

 

[drastik]

Originally posted by Swinny
Fantastic news...think it is just a shame that as yet the release of the service outside of the US seems to be totally up in the air.

Looks like a fantastic service, but I'm afraid as soon as M$ nick the idea and make it a worldwide concern, all Apple's hard work will be in vein quite frankly...in my opinion, an international release is far more important than a windows release.

You'lls ee an international release by the end of the year. All of the labels are working on international licencing issues and Apple has already set up a liason for European labels who are interested. I imagine Asia will soon have an Apple Music Man too.

 

[bokdol]

just think by years end you can use itunes to download any music from any contry. it will change the way we listen to music. more international music well become popular in america. just think that one track from Bali that you cant get here in america, but itunes has it... ohhhh ahhhhh... i am wetting in my pants

 

[elo]

First, this is great, even astonishing news. The fact that there wasn't a huge second-week dropoff indicates that people already may be looking at iTMS beyond the novelty factor. As the catalog is increased (and this needs to happen quickly), the numbers could even *increase* as people start to habitually turn to iTMS to check for their favorite tunes.

As far as beating Microsoft (and others) to the punch, there is hope for optimism here as well. Aside from the server farms, which Apple will lease from Akami, the only barrier to international release is contracts. This is an enormous barrier, however, because of the amount of legal work involved and in the convincing of record company executives to bet their future on this idea. On the former point, Apple has a small head start but famously efficient attorneys. On the latter, Apple may have a big advantage. Even if Microsoft produced a software/server solution tomorrrow, it would face the same challenge as Apple in convincing record companies to license their IP. Here, Microsoft's reputation as a company that selfishly bullies its business partners could really come back to haunt it.

Given that the service is about 4X more popular than Apple predicted, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple has greatly accelerated the timetable for iTunes for Windows development. My guess is that this will be ready to ship before all of the necessary agreements have been forged. But that situation favors Apple, if narrowly.

elo

 

[e2chris]

Anyone know if CD sales have dropped at all? just curious...

 

[snahabed]

Here is my question, which no one may know...

With respect to the international licensing... Is this to set up a region-distinct iTMS, or just add them to the main mix?

If iTMS ends up being all separated like DVD regions, I will be PISSED. The hugest thing that could out of all this is that Americans could get songs that are not RELEASED in the US, for a much more affordable cost than is now available.

As it stands, I think I have maxed out my iTMS purchases (only at 20), as there is only so much of this kind of music I have need for. I have to turn to other P2P solutions for all of my other needs, such as getting, for instance, the top 30 songs on the UK dance charts each week, or the b-side to a European single for a band that hasn't released stuff here.

 

[anthonymoody]

Apple® today announced that over two million songs have been purchased and downloaded from its revolutionary iTunes® Music Store since its debut 16 days ago. Continuing the trend set during the first week, over half of the songs purchased to date were purchased as albums, further dispelling concerns that selling music on a per-track basis will destroy album sales.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apple has previously announced that over 1 million songs had been sold during the first week of sales."


Actually, I read this as a pretty large dropoff. 1mm in 7 days, and the 2nd million took 9 days. That's a 29% week over week dropoff.

As for album sales vs/ per track, I think this has as much to do with the fact that many songs are available only as album sales as any other factor.

Don't get me wrong, I wish Apple the best in this endeavor, but basically the business is on a $50 million (top line) run rate, which is a small drop in the bucket for a company which does billions in revenues. Yes, the margins on this business are higher than hardware, but it''ll have to grow monumentally to make a material difference to Apples bottom line.

TM

 

[Wry Cooter]

Originally posted by e2chris
Anyone know if CD sales have dropped at all? just curious...

Not in my case, I've bought some this week. Not everything is online. Although I'm sure my online downloading behavior is slowed by not having broadband at the moment.

So far my iTMS purchases have been cherry picking greatest hits collections that I don't think are all that great, save the songs I want. And replacing a few CDs (or tracks from same) that have been stolen over the years. As well as that vinyl I haven't replaced with CDs yet.

 

[Snowy_River]

Hmmm...

First 1 million songs - seven days.

Second 1 million songs - nine days.

It looks to me like there might be a little bit of a slow down here. Perhaps this will gradually continue until we reach an equilibrium... Maybe we'll see the US Mac market eventually settle somewhere around half a million songs per week?

 

[entropy1980]

Anybody else think they should post a counter for how many songs have been sold? Amazon does something like that around the holidays... it would be kind of cool to see the numbers climb!

 

[yzedf]

just a reminder

2 million songs does not mean 2 million transactions.

1/2 were bought as album. what is there on average... 10-13 songs per album?

1,000,000 single songs bought = $990,000

83,333 albums bought (avg of 12 songs per album) = $832,499 (at $9.99 per album)

About $1.8 million...

So that is something like 1,083,333 transactions over 16 days. 67,708 per day. 2821 per hour. 47 pre minute. 0.78 per second.

Not bad at all. And just think, this is only available to about 1 in 20 people that own a computer today.

 

[Snowy_River]

Originally posted by Swinny
Looks like a fantastic service, but I'm afraid as soon as M$ nick the idea and make it a worldwide concern...

I wouldn't worry too much about that. From what we know, the main issue facing Apple for both international and Windows release is one of licensing. Clearly, anyone else wanting to get into this game is going to face that same issue. Apple has already demonstrated to the record companies that it can be successful, so they are going to be far happier giving the licensing to Apple first, rather than turning around and handing it to someone else with an unknown product.

 

[lmalave]

Originally posted by anthonymoody
Don't get me wrong, I wish Apple the best in this endeavor, but basically the business is on a $50 million (top line) run rate, which is a small drop in the bucket for a company which does billions in revenues. Yes, the margins on this business are higher than hardware, but it''ll have to grow monumentally to make a material difference to Apples bottom line.

TM

You lack vision. For what is essentially a trial run, the iTMS is a runaway success. There are lots of ways that Apple can grow the iTMS, and they will happen on different timetables. First, the original 200,000 song selection is paltry. Now that the store is built and launched, I'm sure Apple will be in a song-ripping frenzy for quite some time. I think eventually the iTMS will be the place to obtain just about any music under the sun. Second, the international stores will happen very soon - the only barrier is really just legal and licensing issues. Lastly, of course, is the launch of iTMS for Windows. This is a very big deal for the major labels and they will only allow this once they are very comfortable with the iTMS model. Fortunately, if the small OS X user base keep buying millions of songs, I think this will convince the major labels that iTMS for Windows will be a lucrative revenue stream for them...

 

[Snowy_River]

Re: just a reminder

Originally posted by yzedf
...

Not bad at all. And just think, this is only available to about 1 in 20 people that own a computer today.

Uh... 1 in 20 people in the US that own a computer today...

Let's not pretend that the US is the whole world. That can make people hate the US.

 

[ipiloot]

Originally posted by elo

As far as beating Microsoft (and others) to the punch, there is hope for optimism here as well. Aside from the server farms, which Apple will lease from Akami, the only barrier to international release is contracts.

There is one more barrier. Which isn't easy to overcome. I'ts Amazon's one-click buy. Apple is the only company in the world that is licenced it. And I bet that Amazon kicks Bill in the ass if that man want's the licence too.

Would You use the service if You had to authorize every time You buy a song?

 

[FlamDrag]

"toe in the water"

I agree with the user who posted about iTMS being a testing ground for the for the big labels. I read an article (on wired.com I think...) that said that only 3 of the 5 big labels have signed on for the windows version of iTMS. The other two stated exactly that - that this is a testing ground and they're not sure about the whole concept yet (not a quote).

I'm no so sure about each label striking out on their own though. A one-stop shopping service makes much more sense to me. As an average music listener, I have no idea what label each artist is on, so I'd never find the music I want. Plus the iTMS way encourages me (not enough however...) to browse for music and find more stuff I like to listen to and consequentially purchase.

I don't think it's out of the question for iTMS to break the ground and others to take the biggest portion of the overall pie.

iTMS is a relatively low-risk proposition for the labels.

My biggest complaint is the library of music is still pretty limited. Like I said, I'm not a hard-core music listener (I know little about indie bands etc) and even *I* can't find stuff that I want to buy.

Second complaint is that unless I really know what I want, it's hard to just find additional good stuff. The section about "others who have bought this, also bought..." is interesting, but usually completely irrelevant. I do expect it to pick up as use increases and more data is available. I browse almost nightly ready to buy SOMETHING and just can't find anything that I'd like. (yes I use the suggestion button)

I'd give iTMS a 40% chance to be THE weapon of choice for downloading legal music in 2 years. Just a guess.

I love the service, and for what it is right now (two weeks into it's life) it's great. But improvements need to come quickly and en masse for it to be #1...or even 2 or 3...

 

[IJ Reilly]

Originally posted by Snowy_River
Hmmm...

First 1 million songs - seven days.

Second 1 million songs - nine days.

It looks to me like there might be a little bit of a slow down here. Perhaps this will gradually continue until we reach an equilibrium... Maybe we'll see the US Mac market eventually settle somewhere around half a million songs per week?

Don't try to make too much of the forest by looking at two trees. Most new products follow an S-curve in sales growth. If the ITMS doesn't fizzle early on, this suggests that the real, rapid growth is yet to come.

 

[Flowbee]

Originally posted by lmalave
You lack vision. For what is essentially a trial run, the iTMS is a runaway success. There are lots of ways that Apple can grow the iTMS, and they will happen on different timetables. First, the original 200,000 song selection is paltry. Now that the store is built and launched, I'm sure Apple will be in a song-ripping frenzy for quite some time. I think eventually the iTMS will be the place to obtain just about any music under the sun. Second, the international stores will happen very soon - the only barrier is really just legal and licensing issues. Lastly, of course, is the launch of iTMS for Windows. This is a very big deal for the major labels and they will only allow this once they are very comfortable with the iTMS model. Fortunately, if the small OS X user base keep buying millions of songs, I think this will convince the major labels that iTMS for Windows will be a lucrative revenue stream for them...

All good points that I was just about to make.

In addition, as more people get broadband connections in the home, the Music Store will see more traffic. I have several friends who are still on dial-up, and haven't downloaded more than 1 or 2 songs because of the time it takes. (I've suggested that they use the 'shopping cart' and do their downloading overnight.)

Also, with dial up, the 30-second previews are difficult to listen to (rebuffering).

 

[anthonymoody]

"You lack vision. For what is essentially a trial run, the iTMS is a runaway success. There are lots of ways that Apple can grow the iTMS, and they will happen on different timetables. First, the original 200,000 song selection is paltry. Now that the store is built and launched, I'm sure Apple will be in a song-ripping frenzy for quite some time. I think eventually the iTMS will be the place to obtain just about any music under the sun. Second, the international stores will happen very soon - the only barrier is really just legal and licensing issues. Lastly, of course, is the launch of iTMS for Windows. This is a very big deal for the major labels and they will only allow this once they are very comfortable with the iTMS model. Fortunately, if the small OS X user base keep buying millions of songs, I think this will convince the major labels that iTMS for Windows will be a lucrative revenue stream for them..."


And you've been drinking your own Cool Aid.

1) the 200,000 songs represents the 80/20 rule...it may not be all the songs in the world but it's much of what the mainstream buying public wants...so they could triple songs available but that will almost certainly NOT come anywhere close to tripling sales

2) you think it'll be "the place to obtain just about any music under the sun" yet you have no understanding of Apple's marketing of the service, how much money they'll spend on it, or how much money it costs to effectively launch a worldwide brand/product or service. As an example, Microsoft spent *over $1 billion* in marketing on the XBox in its first year on the market. Apple spends less than 1/10 of that TOTAL on ALL its products and services...and look what kind of market share they have

3) you're dismissing the hurdles to launch internationally as "really just legal and licensing issues" - that is so completely naive that it's embarrassing. Have you ever worked with the IP lawyers at the labels? I didn't think so. I have. There's a reason that they consider working with Apple an experiment that they are extremely concerned about rolling out to a wide (i.e. PC using) audience.

4) you cite rolling it out to windows users as a very big deal for the majors. I agree, though not for the reason you cite. The labels' concern has nothing to do with comfort with the business model per se. It's the usage/rights associated with the downloads that concerns them. There's a reason that the services launched by the majors themselves - pressplay and musicmatch, have such restrive usage (i.e. copying, burning, etc) provisions...

As I said, dont get me wrong, but to herald what we've seen so far, and the likely prospects, as the 2nd coming, is simply naive.

TM