Music Download Records Smashed
Posted on January 11, 2006
20 million music downloads were downloaded between Christmas and New Years. This smashes previous records. Neilson SoundScan is reporting the sales volume which includes iTunes and Napster sales. THe number is over twice the previous record. 9.5 million sounds were downloaded the previous week. This is also three times the figure for the same period a year ago.
It is thought that MP3 players and iPods given as presents as well as vouchers for music downloads were a big reason for the surge in downloads. This sounds like a reasonable theory. Walmart.com, which saw numerous sales of its mobiBLU Cube, a 1 inch MP3 playing cube device, also gave away several music downloads along with the purchase as part of its holiday offerings. If free giveaways are being included are part of download sales that could make the numbers a little misleading.
