Eliot Van Buskirk of Wired.com wrote an interesting article recently about Apple’s iTunes music store. In the article Buskirk explains since its debut five years ago Monday, Apple’s iTunes Store has sold more than 4 billion songs and accounts for approximately 70 percent of digital music sold worldwide. In the next five years it may well account for a staggering 28 percent of all music sold worldwide. This is a staggering prediction any which way you look at it. This is a revealing trend that puts into perspective how important online commerce has become in recent years.
This is funny to me because if you would have mentioned iTunes a few years ago I would have said “What is that?”
But now everyone seems to know what iTunes is. And I have to confess that (much like the rest of the world) I have become an iTunes junkie. It all started innocently enough with a few iTunes gift cards: I would receive them, go to the iTunes Store and begin to download some of my favorite songs. After a while of doing this I began to fret when I saw my iTunes credit balance drop down below a certain amount which only prompted me to purchase more cards. After a while I did not realize how many iTunes cards I was going through in a given month just so I can add music to my iPod Nano which I carry with me daily. At this point I have even started downloading music videos and movies.
I think iTunes is fantastic and as long as the artists get their cut of the cash what is wrong with using iTunes instead of buying the CDs in stores? A lot of stores buy used CDs and sell them for as much as you can get a new download from an artist on iTunes.
It is convenient for people that do not have much time to go to the music stores. With iTunes you can pick up a card even at the grocery stores now and use it at your office or library where you have a wi-fi connection.
In an age where comfort and time management are essential iTunes has the right idea on how to please its customers. Most of the music is sold for $9.99 unless it is a double CD or Live concert CD.
Using iTunes is a guilty pleasure for people of all ages. It is a service which I believe will stay vital and offer more to its customers over the next few years even when their competitors will try to come with a strategy to undermine or take away some of its marketshare.
Buskirk also mentions some other interesting points:
By 2012, digital music is projected to account for 40 percent of music sold, according to InStat. If Apple holds onto its current market share, it will account for more than one-quarter of all music sales by its ninth birthday. Not bad for freeware.
Digital Music News recently found that iTunes is installed on nearly 30 percent of all computers worldwide, making it the most widely installed music store application in the world.
The key to iTunes’ continued success has clearly been the iPod, but as iPod sales plateau, Apple may need to rethink its iTunes strategy, especially because its partners in the music business are looking for ways to give its competition an unnatural advantage.
Only Steve Jobs knows which of these paths Apple will take, but in general, iTunes’ prospects for the next five years looks about as bright as they have been for the last five.”
What will happen in the future? Will these projections prove to be accurate? There is only one way to find out. But in the meantime I will continue to make my purchases as an iTunes junkie and enjoy the cult of Apple.
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