February 26, 2008: Lower than 5 years after launching, the iTunes Music Retailer turns into the No. 2 music retailer in the US, second solely to Walmart.
In that comparatively brief interval, iTunes sells greater than 4 billion songs to greater than 50 million clients. The speedy rise to prominence stands as an enormous achievement for Apple — and for the revolutionary digital distribution mannequin Cupertino helped pioneer.
iTunes rises to the highest
“We’d wish to thank the over 50 million music lovers who’ve helped the iTunes Retailer attain this unimaginable milestone,” stated Eddy Cue, Apple’s vp of iTunes, in a press launch. “We proceed so as to add nice new options like iTunes Film Leases to offer our clients much more cause to like iTunes.”
The iTunes Music Retailer debuted on April 28, 2003. On the service’s launch, digital music downloads have been synonymous with theft. Pirate providers like Napster drove an enormous commerce in unlawful downloads, threatening the music trade’s future.
Whereas iTunes remained an outsider in some senses, its speedy success reassured music enterprise execs. Coupled with the revolutionary iPod music participant, Apple’s more and more standard on-line storefront proved there was a brand new approach to promote music that was suited to the digital age.
Rising giant sufficient to problem Walmart, the most important U.S. music retailer, was an enormous achievement for iTunes.
iTunes heads towards greatest music vendor
The info placing Apple in second place behind Walmart got here from the MusicWatch survey by market analysis agency The NPD Group. As a result of many iTunes gross sales have been single tracks quite than albums, the agency calculated the figures by counting a CD as 12 particular person tracks.
In different phrases, the iTunes mannequin even affected the best way the trade tallied music gross sales, shifting the emphasis to songs quite than albums.
Apple’s rise to the highest as a music retailer didn’t come as a complete shock. It was clear nearly from day one which iTunes can be huge. By December 15, 2003, Apple celebrated its 25 millionth obtain. By the next July, Apple offered its 100 millionth track. (At present, Apple has offered many billions of songs, whilst streaming providers like Apple Music and Spotify rose to dominate the trade.)
By the third quarter of 2005, Apple cracked the highest 10 music retailers in the US. It nonetheless lagged behind Walmart, Finest Purchase, Circuit Metropolis and fellow tech firm Amazon. Nonetheless, iTunes ultimately turned the one largest worldwide music vendor.
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