Online music listening is so popular that music downloads hit an 8-year low

After records were abandoned by the entire music industry, music downloads were also abandoned. Digital music downloads represented by iTunes were once sought after by the music industry as the "savior", but now the halo no longer exists.
According to Nielsen's weekly monitoring of digital music downloads, the number of digital music single downloads in the United States last week (the week ending August 27) was 15.66 million, a new low in nearly eight years.
There are many reasons for this, such as the lack of new albums released by first-tier musicians recently, and Americans are not in the mood to listen to music as summer vacation is coming to an end. However, from the overall trend, the number of digital music downloads in the United States is indeed on the decline.
Digital music downloads are down 10% so far in 2015 compared to the same period last year. If nothing changes by the end of the year, 2015 will be the third consecutive year of decline in digital music downloads.
Replacing digital music downloads is streaming, which has doubled so far in 2015 compared to the same period last year.


This is a trend. After all, streaming is much more convenient than digital music downloading. Streaming provides a huge library of music, and you can listen to whatever you want, but digital downloading cannot do this. Streaming is also cheaper than digital music downloading. A monthly subscription fee of $10 for streaming can only buy one album on iTunes. Therefore, it is only a matter of time before streaming replaces digital music downloading.
As a result, major record companies have tried every possible way to advertise on streaming media, one of which is to create their own playlists. Universal Music's playlist is called Digster, Warner Music's is called Topsify, and Sony's is Filtr.
Independent musicians are also preparing to create their own playlists on streaming media like the three major record companies. On September 4, the Association of Independent Music (AIM) officially appealed to many independent record companies and musicians, hoping to get their help in this matter.
Alison Wenham, CEO of the Association of Independent Music, said: “Independent music has always performed well in streaming, but we need to do something to ensure more sustainable growth.”
As major record companies and independent musicians pay more and more attention to streaming, they will in turn further accelerate the process of streaming replacing digital music downloads. In the future, digital music downloads may not disappear completely, but they will become less and less.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.