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A music download (commonly referred to as a digital download) is the
digital transfer of music via the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, p ...
into a device capable of decoding and playing it, such as a
personal computer
A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or te ...
,
portable media player
A portable media player (PMP) (also including the related digital audio player (DAP)) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored o ...
,
MP3 player
A portable media player (PMP) (also including the related digital audio player (DAP)) is a portable consumer electronics device capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images, and video files. The data is typically stored ...
or
smartphone
A smartphone is a portable computer device that combines mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. They are distinguished from feature phones by their stronger hardware capabilities and extensive mobile operating systems, whi ...
. This term encompasses both legal
downloads and downloads of
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...
ed material without permission or legal payment. According to a
Nielsen report, downloadable music accounted for 55.9 percent of all
music sales in the US in 2012.
["All music sales" refers to albums plus track equivalent
albums. A track equivalent album equates to 10 tracks.] By the beginning of 2011, Apple's
iTunes Store
The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...
alone made 1.1 billion of revenue in the first quarter of its fiscal year. Music downloads are typically encoded with
modified discrete cosine transform
The modified discrete cosine transform (MDCT) is a transform based on the type-IV discrete cosine transform (DCT-IV), with the additional property of being lapped: it is designed to be performed on consecutive blocks of a larger dataset, where ...
(MDCT)
audio data compression
In information theory, data compression, source coding, or bit-rate reduction is the process of encoding information using fewer bits than the original representation. Any particular compression is either lossy or lossless. Lossless compressi ...
, particularly the
Advanced Audio Coding
Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) is an audio coding standard for lossy digital audio compression. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves higher sound quality than MP3 encoders at the same bit rate.
AAC has been stan ...
(AAC) format used by iTunes as well as the
MP3 audio coding format.
Online music store
Paid downloads are sometimes encoded with
digital rights management
Digital rights management (DRM) is the management of legal access to digital content. Various tools or technological protection measures (TPM) such as access control technologies can restrict the use of proprietary hardware and copyrighted work ...
that restricts copying the music or playing purchased songs on certain digital audio players. They are almost always
compressed using a
lossy
In information technology, lossy compression or irreversible compression is the class of data compression methods that uses inexact approximations and partial data discarding to represent the content. These techniques are used to reduce data si ...
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 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
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...
. 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.
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.
RIAA against illegal downloading
The
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/ ...
(RIAA) 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.
The Recording Industry Association of America launched its first lawsuits on 8 September 2003, against individuals who illegally downloaded music files from the
Kazaa FastTrack network.
Two years after it began, the campaign survived at least one major legal challenge. The RIAA said it filed 750 suits in February 2006
against individuals downloading music files without paying for them in hopes of putting an end to Internet
music piracy. The RIAA hopes their campaign will force people to respect the copyrights of music labels and eventually minimize the number of illegal downloads.
The
Official Charts Company
The Official Charts (legal name: The Official UK Charts Company Limited) is a British inter-professional organization that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France.
In the United Kingdom, its charts inc ...
began to incorporate downloads in the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
on 17 April 2005, at which time Radio 1 stopped broadcasting the separate download chart, 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.
Sales records
United Kingdom
Music downloads have been measured by the
Official Charts Company
The Official Charts (legal name: The Official UK Charts Company Limited) is a British inter-professional organization that compiles various "official" record charts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and France.
In the United Kingdom, its charts inc ...
since 2004 and included in the main
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
from 2005. As of September 2014, the most downloaded song in the UK was "
Happy
Happiness, in the context of mental or emotional states, is positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy. Other forms include life satisfaction, well-being, subjective well-being, flourishing and eudaimonia.
Sin ...
" by
Pharrell Williams
Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom h ...
, with over 1.8 million downloads.
United States
In November 2005, the record for the best-selling downloaded single in the United States was held by
Gwen Stefani
Gwen Renée Stefani (; born October 3, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, fashion designer and actress. She is a co-founder, lead vocalist, and the primary songwriter of the band No Doubt, whose singles include " Just a Girl", " Spiderweb ...
's "
Hollaback Girl", which sold over one million downloads, making it the first song to achieve platinum download status.
, the record for the best-selling downloaded single in the United States on the iTunes Store is held by
The Black Eyed Peas
Black Eyed Peas (also known as The Black Eyed Peas) is an American musical group consisting of rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, Taboo (rapper), Taboo. The group's line-up during the height of their popularity in the 2000s featured Fergie (singer ...
's "
I Gotta Feeling", which has sold over 8 million downloads.
Soon after his death in 2009,
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the " King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over ...
became the first artist to sell over one million songs downloaded via the Internet in one week. However,
Adele
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins (, ; born 5 May 1988), professionally known by the mononym Adele, is an English singer and songwriter. After graduating in arts from the BRIT School in 2006, Adele signed a rec ...
marks the most downloads sold by a single song in a week, with "
Hello" selling 1.12 million copies in November 2015.
Eminem
Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem (; often stylized as EMINƎM), is an American rapper and record producer. He is credited with popularizing Hip hop music, hip hop in Middle America (United Sta ...
's seventh studio album, ''
Recovery'' (2010), became the first album to sell one million digital copies.
Beyoncé
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...
'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
The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969.
The RIAJ's activities include pr ...
began issuing certifications for digitally released music in Japan, compiling data from the early 2000s onwards.
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,
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.
Greeeen's song "Ai Uta" (2007) ranks as the third highest certified song, with 2.5 million downloads tracked between 2007 and 2009.
Two more songs have sold more than two million paid downloads:
Ayaka's "
Mikazuki" (2006) and
Kobukuro's "
Tsubomi" (2007).
The most successful ringtone in Japan is Moldovan-Romanian band
O-Zone
O-Zone was a Moldovan Eurodance group that was active from 1999 to 2019. Originating in 1998 as a duo consisting of Dan Bălan and Petru Jelihovschi before the latter's departure, their official trio lineup in 1999 consisted of Dan Bălan, R ...
's "
Dragostea din tei
"Dragostea Din Tei" (; official English title: "Words of Love", also informally known as "Maya Hi" and "Numa Numa") is a song by Moldovan pop group O-Zone, released as the second single from their third studio album, ''DiscO-Zone'' (2004). The s ...
" (2003), known locally as , which was certified as having four million units sold.
In Japan, only two albums have received digital certifications by the RIAJ. The first was ''
Songs for Japan
''Songs for Japan'' is a charity compilation album created to benefit relief efforts for the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. A collaborative project between the music industry's "big four" record labels ( EMI, Sony, Universal, and Warner), ...
'' (2011), a charity compilation album raising profits for the
2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami
The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six mi ...
, which was certified gold for 100,000 downloads in June 2011.
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.
South Korea
In South Korea,
Gaon Digital Chart has been tracking digital sales since 2009. The most successful song according to their published data is
Busker Busker
Busker Busker () is a South Korean indie band who rose to fame through their runner-up performance in the South Korean music audition television program ''Superstar K3'' on Mnet. The band consists of guitarist and vocalist Jang Beom-june, ba ...
's "
Cherry Blossom Ending
"Cherry Blossom Ending" () is a song by South Korean indie band Busker Busker, from their debut studio album '' Busker Busker 1st Album''. The song was written by band member and was released on March 29, 2012 by CJ E&M Music. The song is well ...
" (2012), which was downloaded over 7 million times between 2012 and 2017.
In 2011, "
Roly-Poly" by
T-ara
T-ara (; ko, 티아라) are a South Korean girl group formed by MBK Entertainment in 2009, consists of four members: Qri, Eunjung, Hyomin and Jiyeon. T-ara's career is marked by hook-heavy dance-pop music, a result of their close partners ...
was the most successful song of the year, selling 4.1 million digital copies.
"Roly Poly" also became the fastest-selling song in Korea's history and the first to reach 4M Downloads in a calendar year (Roly Poly achieved +4M Downloads in 5 months).
In 2012, this accolade went to
Psy
Park Jae-sang (, ; born December 31, 1977), known professionally as Psy (stylized in all caps as PSY) (; ; ), is a South Korean singer, rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Psy is known domestically for his humorous videos and stage per ...
's "
Gangnam Style", after selling 3.8 million units.
See also
*
Comparison of on-demand music streaming services
The following is a list of on-demand music streaming services. These services offer streaming of full-length content via the Internet as a part of their service, without the listener necessarily having to purchase a file for download. This type o ...
*
On air on sale
*
Open music model
*''
United States v. ASCAP''
Notes
References
{{Music digital distribution platforms
Online content distribution
File sharing
Recorded music