iTMS Downloads Top 150 Million Songs

[soulseek]

http://www.macrumors.com/pages/2004/10/20041014134649.shtml

In a press release, Apple contends that it has surpassed the 150 Million download mark from the iTunes Music Store.

The 150 millionth song was Ex-Factor by Lauryn Hill and was purchased by Beth Santisteven from Ignacio, Colorado. iTunes users are now downloading more than 4 million songs per week, a rate of over 200 million songs per year. Apple also announced the immediate availability of iTunes gift cards at all Best Buy stores.

Crossing 150 million downloads marks another major milestone for the online music business, said Eddy Cue, Apples vice president of Applications. Were looking forward to bringing iTunes to even more music lovers when we launch our (previously rumored) pan-EU music store soon.

http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2004/oct/14itunes.html

 

[Reality]

Wow, I wonder just how much money Apple is able to rack in on 4 million songs a week.

 

[ElDiabloConCaca]

Hehe... not much! Apple makes about $0.06 per song. 250,000,000 downloads only generates about $15,000,000. While that's a large sum of money for any mere person, for Apple, that's not what you would call a "profit-generating venture." It's all about the iPods, man, as evident with Apple's recent stock jump.

$4,000,000 om iTMS sales per week is $240,000 profit. I wish I made that in a week...

 

[Ripcord]

Does anyone know of any sites that track the sales of other stores? I'm curious how Napster and Rhapsody's share compares, though probably harder to track with the subscription-based options (perhaps just in revenue?)

 

[soulseek]

im not aware of any such site... and i think its really quite hard to measure...

u probably can get real values from some type of research done montly or yearly on online music stores!!!


btw Ripcord. i Love you avatar great work!!!

 

[Viro]

Still, $240K per week = $12.48M in a year. And that's profit not revenue. That's a lot better than what these consoles makers are doing, i.e. selling consoles at a loss and hoping that sales of games will recover what they lost.

At least with the iPods, Apple is making money on the iPods *and* the music they're selling.

 

[ElDiabloConCaca]

Actually, the $240,000/week is part of the revenue. Subtract the cost of running the iTMS from that, and you'll be left with the profit, which is VERY little.

iPods are what the iTMS is all about -- that's where the profit comes in!