Last week, global independent trade group AIM stumbled upon a stunningly lopsided stat. Namely, that iTunes, Amazon, and Spotify collectively accounted for 94.4 percent of indie digital revenues, worldwide. The rest - specifically, 51 stores - were simply squeezed into the periphery.
But it gets even crazier. Because after digging a bit deeper, it turns out that iTunes is easily the biggest of those three. Perhaps that was totally obvious, though Apple makes up nearly 85 percent of digital indie revenue, worldwide, and that includes aggregated downloads, subscription, and streaming sources. And, it also leaves both Amazon and Spotify with paltry shares of roughly 5-6 percent each.
The following is a breakdown of the top 14 digital providers, as counted by AIM and submitted to the British government as part of the Hargreaves Review. The providers themselves aren't labeled, though we confirmed that iTunes is the biggest chunk - and it makes sense.
And so what? In some senses, this makes it a whole lot easier for independents - and everyone else, for that matter - to plan their digital distribution strategies. But it also makes them beholden to Apple's percentage demands and rules, including those related to consumer data-sharing.
/pr. Written while listening to Zoo Brazil.
Comments Closed
@dannykudos Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Im not sure who Aim surveyed. These figs dont accurately reflect our experience.
I think you also have to weight some of these, as Itunes is one of the few, truly international players. If we were to split this by territory there would be some very significant differences.
Shinjuku Zulu Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Those figures exactly match ours.
Our music (pop electronic with various singers from soul to reggae to folk) has done very well on iTunes, selling sometimes upwards of 1000 tracks a month.
We don't mind the % that iTunes takes at all. As an indie, how else would we be able to sell in the UK, Germany, Australia, Greece, etc.
85% Tuesday, March 29, 2011
85% seems about normal to me. 80% to 85% of digital has been iTunes for us for the past 6 years. Very happy with it. They pay and report rather quickly, too.
Sheer Zed Tuesday, March 29, 2011
I used to be an AIM member. To be an AIM member you have to pay a subscription fee. I'm not knocking AIM. Their digital day was critical in my label securing a digital distribution deal, so I'm very grateful for their work and also respect them as an organisation. However, many small labels now simply cannot afford to pay the yearly fee to be a member. So, with this mind, it's wise to consider who they asked. Did the survey include non-members, Bandcamp users etc?
@MrMusicezee Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Paul Callanan
Going crazy out there!
@LostStarMUSIC Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Lost Star of David
thats ridiculous and a MONOPOLY it should be illegal!! smhh
@ModelStrangerSF Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Stephen Francis
Bands only get 66% too...
Yves Villeneuve Tuesday, March 29, 2011
|
iTunes U.S. Store |
US$7.00 (no exchange required) |
|
iTunes Australia Store |
Australian Dollars AU$9.99 (EXCEPTION BELOW!) |
|
iTunes New Zealand Store |
New Zealand Dollars NZ$11.75 (EXCEPTION BELOW!) |
|
iTunes Canada Store |
Canadian Dollars CAD$7.00 |
|
iTunes Japan Store |
Japanese Yen ¥890 (EXCEPTION BELOW!) |
|
iTunes UK Store |
British Pounds £4.60 |
|
iTunes Europe Store |
Euros €5.40 (after September, 2007) |
|
iTunes Mexico |
Mexican Peso MXN$8.40 |
The above are the album rates TuneCore members receive. Tunecore does not receive a cut of your royalties. You can verify this information here: http://www.tunecore.com/faq
Yves Villeneuve Tuesday, March 29, 2011
There are some legitimate questions regarding the information provided by the AIM study.
However, supporters of Spotify need to consider that their streaming rates vary with other content providers. Your rates were not negotiated but dictated to you by Spotify, for strategic reasons, at the expense of other artists who could deserve an equal rate as you. Keep in mind that Spotify is an accounting mess. Some premium streams should be freemium streams and vice versa.
Every week I post the following at myspace:
"Spotify is neither an authorized retailer of Yves Villeneuve music nor are they authorized to use related album artwork and tracking list to promote Spotify. Avoiding legal action at this time but may come at a some point in the future."
If you are a major seller at iTunes, you have the ability to negotiate a better percentage cut but still difficult to do when iTunes is the only truly international player at this time. What is your percentage cut at Spotify? Have you ever thought to ask your aggregator or Spotify themselves?
Spotify is a very ambitious company who wants to be bigger than iTunes. A person would need to justify their $10 per month subscription if they normally buy 8-12 albums per year at $10-$15 per album. Not many possess these music consumption habits even if piracy did not exist. If you don't believe me, ask around. In order to grab a similar market share as iTunes, Spotify would need to only charge $1-$2 per month thus reducing the revenue pie for everyone.
Logically and justly, the amount a person spends on music should depend on how much they consume. An unlimited streaming model is simply not fair to most music consumers who do not stream any where as near as the hardcore music enthusiast.
David Sherbow/MusicBizGuy Tuesday, March 29, 2011
As long as iTunes maintains their take at 30% and doesn;'t screw around with how they distribute the product, it's hard for any artist who collects the entire 70% for themselves to complain as its exponentially more than they would have ever received from any label other than one they owned themselves. From what I can see artists in this position don't seem to be complaining at all. Furthermore, anytime an artist builds a large base of fans they can always sell directly from their own web site and get an even bigger percentage. What's not to like about this!!
Those who worry about iTune's large market share and everyone else for that matter (labels, artists, bloggers, infulencers, managers, agents and music fans) should focus their time and energy on finding the one place on the Internet where they can all come and listen, discover music, compete, engage and influence fans, find gigs and generate sales of all kinds. It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to see that this is the true path to salavtion for everyone or entity participating in the music business process. It used to work in the old world. Why should it work in the new digital one?
Yves Villeneuve Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Agreed.
Nothing is as effective as a one-stop shopping place when attempting to increase unit sales.
If iTunes abused their monopolistic position, government regulators would come down hard on them. It is in iTunes best interest to play fair with artists and consumers.
Yves Villeneuve Tuesday, March 29, 2011
It should be noted as it was reported here at Digital Music New, Sean Parker, 'illegal Napster' founder and Spotify investor/advisor, wants to eventually squeeze Spotify customers. He can only do this from a monopolistic position.
Whether or not this is his true intent, since he obviously has a reputation of squeezing labels and artists and is proud of this, the fact remains he openly said he wants to squeeze Spotify customers. This is only one reason why I ditched Spotify but they refuse to remove my content from their service.
@musicregistry Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Stephen Trumbull
The old pie chart looks pretty skewed!
Maxwellian Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Uh, why do we need AIM again? Or A2IM, IMPALA, or MERLIN? Sorry I don't need someone to break Rdio's balls for me for .01% of the pie. MW
@dgcattaneo Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Dino Cattaneo
We see it for Susan Cattaneo sales
Reality Check Tuesday, March 29, 2011
How is this news to so many people posting comments? Did you all just realize that iTunes has been, is and will continue to be the bulk of MOST labels digital business?
Really, outside of iTunes (in the US) the only other services we really care about (when it comes to making $$$) is AmazonMP3, eMusic and Rhapsody on the sub side.
@Stonewing Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Matt Erion
Imagine how much it'd be if they actually paid anything
@Navigatepartner Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Peggy Dold
Wow, is this true?
bw Wednesday, March 30, 2011
A company that is successful because they make a great product that millions love using. Kudos to them.
Your Soundscan Is Nasty Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Available revenue data suggests some of you DIY artists posting comments here disparaging the likes of ITunes and Spotify have absolutely NOTHING to worry about when it comes to your total digital revenue......
@omnisound Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Omni Sound Studios
Crazy stuff!
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