Digital music stores sell copies of digital audio, for example in MP3 and WAV file formats. Unlike music streaming services, which typically charge a monthly subscription fee to stream digital audio, digital music stores download songs to the customer's hard disk drive of their device. The customer will have the copy of the song permanently on their disk, provided the track is not deleted by the customer, the disk does not get physically damaged, or suffers from being corrupted. Major examples of digital music stores include iTunes Store, Amazon Music, Bandcamp and 7digital. [1]
Different platforms may offer a different selection of digital audio, for example, some may only sell music that is of a particular genre, or some may only feature independent content.
| Store | Tracks (million) | Geographic restrictions | Purchase platform | FLAC | ALAC | WAV | AIFF | AAC | MP3 | WMA | Vorbis | DRM | Preview (seconds) | Stream purchases |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7digital | 81 [2] | Yes [3] | Web, Android | 24-bit | No | No | No | 320 kbps | 320 kbps | No | No | No | 30 | Yes |
| Amazon Music | 90 [4] | Yes | Web, Android [5] | No | No | No | No | No | 256 kbps | No | No | No | 30 | Yes |
| Bandcamp | 18.1 | No | Web | 24-bit | 24-bit | 24-bit | 24-bit | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Full | Yes |
| Beatport | 9 [6] | Yes [7] | Web | No | No | 16-bit | 16-bit | No | 320 kbps | No | No | No | 120 | Paid service |
| Bleep | ? | No | Web | 16-bit | No | 24-bit | No | No | 320 kbps | No | No | No | Full | Yes |
| Classical Archives | 1.17 | Yes | Web | No | No | No | No | No | 320 kbps | No | No | No | 60 | No |
| eMusic | 17 [8] | Yes [9] | Web [10] | No | No | No | No | No | 320 kbps | No | No | No | 60 [10] | Yes |
| HDtracks | ? | Yes US [11] | Web | 24-bit | 24-bit | 24-bit | 24-bit | No | No | No | No | No | 30 | ? |
| iTunes Store | 100 [12] | Yes [13] | Windows, macOS iOS, tvOS | No | No | No | No | 256 kbps | No | No | No | No (previously FairPlay) | 30−90 [14] | iTunes in the Cloud |
| Jamendo | 0.21 | No | Web | No | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Full | ? |
| Juno Download | ? | Yes [15] | Web | 16-bit | 16-bit | 16-bit | 16-bit | No | 320 kbps | No | No | No | 60 | No |
| mora | 4.4 | Yes Japan | Web | 24-bit | No | No | No | 320 kbps | No | No | No | No | 30 | ? |
| ProStudioMasters | ? | Yes | Web | 24-bit | No | No | 24-bit | No | No | No | No | No | 90 | No |
| Qobuz | 100 [16] | Yes | Web, Android, iOS Kindle, Windows 8 [17] | 24-bit | 24-bit | 24-bit | 24-bit | 320 kbps | 320 kbps | 320 kbps | No | No | 30-60 | Yes |
| Supraphonline | 4.3 | No | Web | 24-bit | No | No | No | No | 320 kbps | No | No | No | 30+30 | ? |
| Traxsource | ? | ? | Web | No | No | 16-bit | 16-bit | No | 320 kbps | No | No | No | 120 | No |
...81 Million Tracks in Catalogue...
...access to 90 million songs...
...9 million tracks available on the Beatport store...
...over 100 million songs...
...Over 100 million tracks available...
A digital music store is a business that sells digital audio files of music recordings over the Internet. Customers gain ownership of a license to use the files, in contrast to a music streaming service, where they listen to recordings without gaining ownership. Customers pay either for each recording or on a subscription basis. Online music stores generally also offer partial streaming previews of songs, with some songs even available for full length listening. They typically show a picture of the album art or of the performer or band for each song. Some online music stores also sell recorded speech files, such as podcasts, and video files of movies.
Magnatune is an American independent record label based in Berkeley, California, founded in spring 2003. It only sold music for download through its website but added a print-CD-on-demand service in late 2004 and in October 2007 began selling complete albums and individual tracks through Amazon.com. In May 2008, Magnatune launched all-you-can-eat membership plans. From March 2010 Magnatune dropped the CD printing service and moved exclusively to all-you-can-eat membership plans. Magnatune was the first record label to license music online and as of May 2015 had sold over 7,000 licenses in its twelve years of existence.
Beatport is an American electronic music-oriented online music store owned by LiveStyle. The company is based in Denver, Los Angeles, and Berlin. Beatport is oriented primarily towards DJs, selling full songs as well as resources that can be used for remixes. It also operates a specialized music streaming service oriented towards DJs.
An Internet radio device, also called network music player is a hardware device that is capable of receiving and playing streamed media from either Internet radio stations or a home network.
The open music model is an economic and technological framework for the recording industry based on research conducted at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It predicts that the playback of prerecorded music will be regarded as a service rather than as individually sold products, and that the only system for the digital distribution of music that will be viable against piracy is a subscription-based system supporting file sharing and free of digital rights management. The research also indicated that US$9 per month for unlimited use would be the market clearing price at that time, but recommended $5 per month as the long-term optimal price.
Zune was a brand of digital media products and services that was marketed by Microsoft from November 2006 until it was discontinued in June 2012. Zune consisted of a line of portable media players, a music subscription service known as Zune Music Pass plus Zune Marketplace for music, TV and movies, streaming services for the Xbox 360 game console, and the Zune software media player for Windows PCs which also acted as desktop sync software for Windows Phone.
Amazon Music is a music streaming platform and digital music store operated by Amazon. As of January 2020, the service had 55 million subscribers.
7digital Group PLC is a British publicly listed company that offers access to music, tracking and reporting for clients. London-based, 7digital provides end-to-end music services for the fitness, social media, DSPs, and gaming industries with brands such as Barry's and Triller. Advertising Age described 7digital in 2008 as a British download store, while the New York Times referred to them as a digital music company. 7digital's Smooth Operations, Unique Production and Above the Title companies are now branded 7digital Creative, and produce content for BBC Radio 1, Radio 1Xtra, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 3. In 2009 HMV bought 50% of 7digital. In 2019, the company replaced their second CEO, Simon Cole, who had replaced founder/CEO Ben Drury. In February 2023, it was announced 7digital had been acquired by the Santa Monica-headquartered B2B music licensing company, Songtradr.
Ubuntu One is an OpenID-based single sign-on service operated by Canonical Ltd. to allow users to log onto many Canonical-owned Web sites. Until April 2014, Ubuntu One was also a file hosting service and music store that allowed users to store data "in the cloud".
A music streaming service is a type of online streaming media service that focuses primarily on music, and sometimes other forms of digital audio content such as podcasts. These services are usually subscription-based services allowing users to stream digital copyright restricted songs on-demand from a centralized library provided by the service over the internet. Some services may offer free tiers with limitations, such as advertising and limits on use. They typically incorporate a recommender system to help users discover other songs they may enjoy based on their listening history and other factors, as well as the ability to create and share public playlists with other users. It may also include customized radio or social media platforms.
"Ride" is a song by American recording artist Ciara. The song features American rapper Ludacris. It was co-written by Ciara, Ludacris, Tricky Stewart, and The-Dream, and produced by the latter two. The song served as the lead single from her fourth studio album, Basic Instinct. The song was first released for digital download on April 23, 2010. "Ride" is a down-tempo R&B song, featuring a heavy bass line and seductive tone.
Euphoria is the ninth studio album by Spanish singer-songwriter Enrique Iglesias. The album is a joint-release by Universal Republic and Universal Music Latino and was released on 5 July 2010 internationally and in the US on 6 July 2010. The album features guest appearances by Akon, Usher, Juan Luis Guerra, Pitbull, Nicole Scherzinger, Puerto Rican reggaeton duo Wisin & Yandel and Ludacris. The album consists of songs in English, and Spanish.
"Speechless" is a song by American singer-songwriter Ciara. The song was written by Ciara, The-Dream, and Tricky Stewart, with the latter two producing the song as well. Taken from her fourth studio album Basic Instinct, the song serves as the second single from the album. It was released in the United States as a digital download on September 7, 2010.
An app store, also called an app marketplace or app catalog, is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the computer itself. Complex software designed for use on a personal computer, for example, may have a related app designed for use on a mobile device. Today apps are normally designed to run on a specific operating system—such as the contemporary iOS, macOS, Windows, Linux or Android—but in the past mobile carriers had their own portals for apps and related media content.
"Pass at Me" is a single from American hip-hop producer Timbaland. The song features vocals from American rapper Pitbull, also features production by French DJ David Guetta. It was released via digital download on September 13, 2011 in the United States, and received a full release across Europe on the weekend of October 7, 2011.
Digital Distribution Netherlands (DDN) is a Dutch digital music distributor, based in the Netherlands and founded in 2011.
This is a comparison of online music storage services, Internet services that allow uploads of personally owned or licensed music to the cloud for listening on multiple devices.
Pono was a portable digital media player and music download service for high-resolution audio. It was developed by musician Neil Young and his company PonoMusic, which raised money for development and initial production through a crowd-funding campaign on Kickstarter. Production and shipments to backers started in October 2014, and shipments to the general public began in the first quarter of 2015.
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 of service is somewhat similar to Internet radio. Many of these sites have advertising that supports free-to-listen options as well as paid subscription-based premium options.
Qobuz is a French digital music store and streaming service, launched in 2007 by Alexandre Leforestier and Yves Riesel. Qobuz is now owned by Xandrie SA. In June 2023, Qobuz offered over 100 million tracks on its service.
