As the second anniversary approaches on April 28, Apple’s iTunes Music Store could today theoretically command as much as 35 per cent of the UK singles market following the combination of the digital and physical singles charts.
This is based on British Phonographic Institute (BPI) statements claiming singles sales doubled once the digital and physical singles charts were combined. However, the BPI has been at pains to stress that the 35 per cent market figure is no more than surmise. “Apple doesn’t command anywhere near 35 per cent”, a BPI representative countered.
There were 383,000 single track downloads sold in the week ending April 17 (the first week of the combined chart) compared with 393,000 physical singles. With Apple accounting for 70-80 percent of download sales, its likely the company has a major slice of that market. [more @ www.macworld.co.uk]