For Music Lovers Who Download Rather Than Stream, iTunes Still Reigns Supreme

Apple Inc.AAPL's iTunes still tops the chart when it comes to music downloads, despite more consumers shifting toward streaming services.

A recent Paypal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ; PYPL) survey said 63 percent of U.S. consumers aged 18–34 use paid streaming services at a similar rate to paid music downloads (60 percent). However, 51 percent of consumers aged 35 and older use streaming services, while 70 percent use paid download services, indicating a preference to own their music as opposed to just streaming it.

The survey said iTunes is the preferred music platform in the U.S., followed by Pandora Media Inc P and Spotify.

Downloads

Music downloads is one of the key revenue generator for Apple’s services segment, which is considered as the next leg of growth for the iPhone maker in a saturated smartphone market.

For context, Apple reported 18 percent growth in its first-quarter services business to $7.2 billion, beating Street expectations of 17 percent growth. CEO Tim Cook said he expects this business to double in the next four years that would make the segment account for about 25 percent of revenue.

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A report by Statista says downloads are still worth hundreds of millions in annual revenue to Apple, the dominant market leader in that category.

Even as the streaming services gain traction among listeners, downloads are not going anywhere, especially given allegations of artists and record labels that streaming services are not adequately compensating their works.

“Listeners aren’t the only ones who apparently have an interest in keeping the iTunes Store around for as long as possible. Record companies and artists will happily chime in given their repeated criticism of streaming services for not remunerating artists adequately,” Statista’s data journalist Felix Richter wrote in a post.