Music download
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A music download is the digital transfer of music via the Internet into a device capable of decoding and playing it, such as a personal computer, portable media player, MP3 player or smartphone. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyrighted material without permission or legal payment. Music downloads are typically encoded with the MP3 audio coding format.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> or using the modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT) audio data compression, particularly the Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) format used by iTunes.
Since the advent of streaming, downloads as a mode of music distribution has seen a steady decline from its peak in the early 2010s. According to a Nielsen report, downloadable music accounted for 55.9 percent of all music sales in the US in 2012.<ref group="nb">"All music sales" refers to albums plus track equivalent albums. A track equivalent album equates to 10 tracks.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> By the beginning of 2011, Apple's iTunes Store alone made Template:USD1.1 billion of revenue in the first quarter of its fiscal year.<ref>Template:Usurped, FierceMobileContent 19 January 2011</ref> According to the RIAA, music downloads peaked at 43% of industry revenue in the US in 2012, and has since fallen to 3% in 2022.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Online music store
Template:Main Paid downloads are sometimes encoded with digital rights management that restricts copying the music or playing purchased songs on certain digital audio players. They are almost always compressed using a lossy codec (usually MPEG-1 Layer 3, Windows Media, or AAC), which reduces file size and bandwidth requirements. These music resources have been created as a response to expanding technology and needs of customers who wanted and/or needed easy, quick access to music. Their business models respond to the "download revolution" by making legal services attractive for users.
Even legal music downloads have faced a number of challenges from artists, record labels and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). In July 2007, the Universal Music Group decided not to renew their long-term contracts with iTunes. This decision was primarily based on the issue of pricing of songs, as Universal wanted to be able to charge more or less depending on the artist, a shift away from iTunes' standard—at the time—99 cents per song pricing. Many industry leaders feel that this is only the first of many show-downs between Apple Inc. and the various record labels.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
According to research by the website TorrentFreak, 38 percent of Swedish artists support file share downloading and claim that it helps artists in early career stages. Artists, including Swedish rock group Lamont, have profited from file sharing.<ref>"Swedish artists want to legalize filesharing" 17 October 2011</ref>
RIAA against illegal downloading
In the early 2000s, the peer-to-peer file sharing company Napster was sued due to mass infringement of music ownership copyrights by a collection of recording companies (A&M Records, Inc. v. Napster, Inc.) — a lawsuit which issued a preliminary injunction for the service and was concluded by the closure of the Napster free music sharing between its users.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The Recording Industry Association of America oversees about 85 percent of published music production, distribution and manufacturing in the United States. Their stated goal is to support artists' creativity and help them not be cheated out of money by illegal downloading.<ref name="RIAA">Template:Cite web</ref> The Recording Industry Association of America launched its first lawsuits of individuals (P2P file swappers) on the 8th of September 2003, against users who illegally downloaded music files from the Kazaa FastTrack network.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
RIAA claimed it filed 750 suits in February 2006<ref name="Riaa Announces New Round of Music Theft Lawsuits">Template:Cite web</ref> against individuals downloading music files without paying for them in hopes of putting an end to Internet music piracy. With this campaign the RIAA hoped to force people to respect the copyrights of music labels and minimize the number of illegal downloads.<ref>Jason Krause. "Breaking up downloading". ABA Journal 92 (2006): 16, 18. Research Library. ProQuest. Georgia State University Library, Atlanta, Georgia. 12 November 2008</ref>
Sales records
Template:Update The Official Charts Company began to incorporate downloads in the UK Singles Chart on 17 April 2005, at which time Radio 1 stopped broadcasting the separate download chart,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> although the chart is still compiled. Initially this was on condition that the song must have a physical media release at the same time; this rule was fully lifted on 1 January 2007, meaning all download sales are now eligible in the chart.Template:Citation needed
United Kingdom
Music downloads have been measured by the Official Charts Company since 2004 and included in the main UK Singles Chart from 2005. Up to November 2022, the most-streamed song in the UK is "Someone You Loved" by Lewis Capaldi, with over 562 million streams.<ref name="most streamed songs 2022">Template:Cite web</ref>
United States
In November 2005, the record for the best-selling downloaded single in the United States was held by Gwen Stefani's "Hollaback Girl", which sold over one million downloads, making it the first song to achieve platinum download status.<ref name="RSMillion">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Template:As of, the record for the best-selling downloaded single in the United States on the iTunes Store is held by The Black Eyed Peas's "I Gotta Feeling", which has sold over 8 million downloads.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Soon after his death in 2009, Michael Jackson became the first artist to sell over one million songs downloaded via the Internet in one week.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> However, Adele marks the most downloads sold by a single song in a week, with "Hello" selling 1.12 million copies in November 2015.
Eminem's seventh studio album, Recovery (2010), became the first album to sell one million digital copies.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Beyoncé's self-titled fifth studio album became the fastest-selling album within 24 hours in iTunes history after its release in December 2013. Within 24 hours of availability, the album sold 430,000 digital copies. Adele's third studio album 25 became the fastest-selling album in a week in iTunes history after it was released on 20 November 2015. It sold 1.64 million digital copies in its first week (included preorders on the iTunes store since the release of the album's lead single "Hello" in October 2015).
Japan
In 2006, the Recording Industry Association of Japan began issuing certifications for digitally released music in Japan, compiling data from the early 2000s onwards.<ref name="RIAJ-aug2006digi">Template:Cite web</ref> The best-selling song is Fukushima-based vocal group Greeeen's song "Kiseki" (2008), which was certified for being legally downloaded four million times between 2008 and 2015,<ref name="RIAJ-july2015digi">Template:Cite web</ref> followed by R&B singer Thelma Aoyama's "Soba ni Iru ne" (2008) featuring rapper SoulJa, which was certified for three million downloads between 2008 and 2014.<ref name="RIAJ-mar2014digi">Template:Cite web</ref> Greeeen's song "Ai Uta" (2007) ranks as the third highest certified song, with 2.5 million downloads tracked between 2007 and 2009.<ref name="RIAJ-aug2008digi">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="RIAJ-jul2009digi">Template:Cite web</ref> Two more songs have sold more than two million paid downloads: Ayaka's "Mikazuki" (2006) and Kobukuro's "Tsubomi" (2007).<ref name="RIAJ-jan2014digi">Template:Cite web</ref> The most successful ringtone in Japan is Moldovan-Romanian band O-Zone's "Dragostea din tei" (2003), known locally as Template:Nihongo, which was certified as having four million units sold.<ref name="RIAJ-aug2006digi"/>
In Japan, only two albums have received digital certifications by the RIAJ. The first was Songs for Japan (2011), a charity compilation album raising profits for the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, which was certified gold for 100,000 downloads in June 2011.<ref name="RIAJ-may2011digi">Template:Cite web</ref> The second album was the Japanese language cast recording of the Frozen soundtrack, which sold 100,000 copies between its release in March 2014 and January 2015.<ref name="RIAJ-jan2015digi">Template:Cite web</ref>
South Korea
In South Korea, Circle Digital Chart has been tracking digital sales since 2009. The most successful song according to their published data is Busker Busker's "Cherry Blossom Ending" (2012), which was downloaded over 7 million times between 2012 and 2017.<ref name="Gaon2012">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Gaon2013">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Gaon2014">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Gaon2015">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2011, "Roly-Poly" by T-ara was the most successful song of the year, selling 4.1 million digital copies.<ref name="Gaon2011">Template:Cite web</ref> "Roly Poly" also became the fastest-selling song in Korea's history and the first to reach more than 4 million downloads in a calendar year (within 5 months). In 2012, this accolade went to Psy's "Gangnam Style", after selling 3.8 million units.<ref name="Gaon2012"/>
See also
- Comparison of on-demand music streaming services
- List of most-streamed songs in the United Kingdom
- On air on sale
- Open music model
- Top 50 certified music artists (USA digital singles)
- United States v. ASCAP
Notes
References
Template:Music industry Template:Music digital distribution platforms