Even though music download sales accounts for only a few percent of overall music sales, so far the sales of singles as downloads has taken over the CD singles for quite a while now. For example, in Britain singles sold as downloads account for about 3/4 of their overall sales of singles. Now, the Australian Recording Industry Association has launched their first official charts for download sales, much like with the charts for CD singles and albums.
Last year, music download sales accounted for 1.5% of the Australian music market. However, this still falls well short of the 6% of music sold as downloads for international music markets. In an aim to boost music download sales, the record companies have been making older music available for purchase much like they did when CDs were introduced originally.
Since the music industry began monitoring the sales of downloads from April 1st, they have found nothing new when it comes to comparing these sales against the sales of music in retail stores as the download charts turn out very similar to the CD single charts. The ARIA aims to merge the CD singles and download charts together by the end of the year, much like how Britain's singles charts takes both music download and CD single sales into account.
The digital downloading of music has been talked about for some years as the scourge of the music industry, and its saviour. Illegal downloads have been blamed for the five-year-long decline in CD sales worldwide. This sparked fears a new generation had learned to acquire their music through online file sharing or free downloading, which meant they avoided paying the record companies and in the long run the artists.
However, in the past two years the big record companies have sought to control the distribution of online music through legal channels, through their own online sites and online retailers, expecting that online sales of current and older - or catalogue - material will revive the industry, much as the introduction of the CD did in the 1980s.
So, has the download chart revealed a hitherto untapped market? On the basis of the first chart, monitoring sales from April 1 until close of business on Friday, April 7, it's safe to say downloaders are buying much the same music as those still walking into music stores.
As the cost of a single as a download is only a fraction of that of a CD single, it is really not that surprising to see consumers preferring to buy their singles1 as downloads. However, when it comes to albums it seems that consumers prefer to buy just the songs they are interested in from the album and would rather pay the full price on a full physical album, particularly since there is not as significant difference between the price of an album as a download than the physical CD. Unfortunately, it will be quite tricky to take album download sales into the charts, since it is not clear if buying a few songs from an album accounts as an album sale or three single sales, unlike buying an album in the stores where one must buy complete albums.
Chart courtesy of ARIA.com.au:
TW Title Artist Company
1 - NEW 1 FOREVER YOUNG Youth Group WARNER
2 - NEW 2 FLAUNT IT (RADIO EDIT) TV Rock SBME
3 - NEW 3 LOVE GENERATION (RADIO EDIT) Bob Sinclar (Featuring Gary Pine) EMI
4 - NEW 4 PUMP IT (ALBUM VERSION) Black Eyed Peas UMA
5 - NEW 5 TOUCH THE SKY (EXPLICIT) Lupe Fiasco / Kanye West UMA
6 - NEW 6 BEEP The Pussycat Dolls featuring Will.I.Am UMA
7 - NEW 7 WHEN IT ALL FALLS APART (ALBUM VERSION) The Veronicas WARNER
8 - NEW 8 STUPID GIRLS (MAIN VERSION) P!nk SBME
9 - NEW 9 WATCHING YOU Rogue Traders SBME
10 - NEW 10 SORRY (ALBUM VERSION) Madonna WARNER
11 - NEW 11 FAR AWAY Nickelback UMA
12 - NEW 12 GOLD DIGGER (EXPLICIT) Kanye West Feat. Jamie Foxx UMA
13 - NEW 13 L.O.V.E. Ashlee Simpson UMA
14 - NEW 14 BIG CITY LIFE Mattafix EMI
15 - NEW 15 CHECK ON IT Beyonce feat Slim Thug SBME
16 - NEW 16 GOODBYE MY LOVER (ALBUM VERSION) James Blunt WARNER
17 - NEW 17 WISEMEN (ALBUM VERSION) James Blunt WARNER
18 - NEW 18 UGLY Sugababes UMA
19 - NEW 19 YOU RAISE ME UP Westlife SBME
20 - NEW 20 LIFT Shannon Noll SBME
21 - NEW 21 WISH YOU WELL Bernard Fanning UMA
22 - NEW 22 ONE Mary J. Blige (featuring U2) UMA
23 - NEW 23 FADED Kate DeAraugo SBME
24 - NEW 24 I LIKE THE WAY RADIO EDIT Bodyrockers UMA
25 - NEW 25 PUSH THE BUTTON Sugababes UMA
26 - NEW 26 NEVER SAY NEVER (ORIGINAL RADIO EDIT) Vandalism EMI
27 - NEW 27 JUST FEEL BETTER Santana (Featuring Steven Tyler) SBME
28 - NEW 28 GASOLINA Daddy Yankee UMA
29 - NEW 29 VOODOO CHILD (ALBUM VERSION) Rogue Traders SBME
30 - NEW 30 SONGBIRD Bernard Fanning UMA
31 - NEW 31 OPPORTUNITY Pete Murray SBME
32 - NEW 32 EVERYTHING I'M NOT (ALBUM VERSION) The Veronicas WARNER
33 - NEW 33 RUN IT! (MAIN VERSION) Chris Brown Feat. Juelz Santana SBME
34 - NEW 34 BETTER DAYS Pete Murray SBME
35 - NEW 35 SHAKE THAT (EXPLICIT) Eminem UMA
36 - NEW 36 HUNG UP (ALBUM VERSION) Madonna WARNER
37 - NEW 37 ANYTHING FOR YOU Lee Harding SBME
38 - NEW 38 GRILLZ (DIRTY) Nelly Feat. Paul Wall Ali & Big Gipp UMA
39 - NEW 39 YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL (ALBUM VERSION) James Blunt WARNER
40 - NEW 40 IF IT'S LOVIN' THAT YOU WANT (ALBUM VERSION)
Music related links and info:
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Additional Blue Pie singers and bands with songs available for download:
Canadian producer / songwriter / guitarist Michael St. Clair has released his first solo album, Blues Beach World. Amazing smooth jazz / world music tracks available from Yahoo and other leading online music retailers.
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Jazz reggae singer Bob E. Ruglass is now distributed globally by Blue Pie Productions of Sydney, Australia, and his CDs are available by download via Yahoo, emusic, msn and all top online music stores.
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MP3 Players, iPods, RingTones, digital music for sale online; New Rock and Reggae Music available for download:
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Buy Yuya songs at Yahoo Music
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