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 |
| Magnatune | 0.01 | No | Web | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Full | ? |
| mora | 4.4 | Yes Japan | Web | 24-bit | No | No | No | 320 kbps | No | No | No | No | 30 | ? |
| NoiseTrade | ? | No | Web | No | No | No | No | No | 320 kbps | No | No | No | Full | ? |
| 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...
iTunes is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital multimedia, on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating systems, and can be used to rip songs from CDs, as well as play content with the use of dynamic, smart playlists. Options for sound optimizations exist, as well as ways to wirelessly share the iTunes library.
The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,000 TV shows, and 65,000 films. When it opened, it was the only legal digital catalog of music to offer songs from all five major record labels.
FairPlay is a digital rights management (DRM) technology developed by Apple Inc. It is built into the MP4 multimedia file format as an encrypted AAC audio layer, and was used until April 2009 by the company to protect copyrighted works sold through iTunes Store, allowing only authorized devices to play the content.
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.
Napster, commonly known as “Napster 2.0”, was a music streaming service and digital music store, launched by Roxio in 2003 under the purchased name and trademarks of former free peer-to-peer file sharing software Napster in the aftermath of the latter's 2002 bankruptcy and subsequent shut down after a series of legal actions taken by the RIAA. Roxio purchased Napster and a music streaming service called PressPlay in 2003, to create a new legal online music service that lets users access music through a subscription or on a fee-per-song basis. Napster was later acquired by Best Buy. The service was acquired by rival Rhapsody in 2011.
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 is a discontinued line of digital media products and services marketed by Microsoft from November 2006 until its discontinuation in June 2012. Zune consisted of a line of portable media players, digital media player software for Windows PCs, a music subscription service known as a "Zune Music Pass", music and video streaming services for the Xbox 360 game console via the Zune Software, music, TV and movie sales, and desktop sync software for Windows Phone. Zune was also the provider of music streaming for United Airlines in-flight, after a partnership in 2010.
Amazon Music is a music streaming platform and online 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.
Internet television in Australia is the digital distribution of movies and television content via the Internet. In Australia, internet television is provided by a number of generalist, subscription-based streaming service providers, in addition to several niche providers that focus on specific genres. Australia's five major free-to-air television networks also all offer catch up TV of previously broadcast content to watch via their webpages and apps, and a number of ISPs and other companies offer IPTV – the live streaming of television channels sourced from Australia and elsewhere.
A music streaming service is a type of 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. Some services may offer free tiers with limitations, such as advertising and limits on use. They typically incorporate a recommendation engine 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.
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.
Dolby Atmos is a surround-sound technology developed by Dolby Laboratories. It expands on existing surround sound systems by adding height channels, allowing sounds to be interpreted as three-dimensional objects with neither horizontal nor vertical limitations. Following the release of Atmos for the cinema market, a variety of consumer technologies have been released under the Atmos brand, using in-ceiling and up-firing speakers.
Groove Music is a discontinued audio player software application included with Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10 and Windows 11.
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 and offer non-free options in the style of a digital music store.
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.
Maksim "Max" Vangeli is a Moldovan DJ and record producer based in San Francisco, United States.
Line Music is a subscription-based music streaming service by Line Corporation that combines existing Line Messenger app with the entertainment system that users not only can stream the music on-demand, but users can share the music directly to Line messenger. The chairman for the Line Music division is Lim-Suk Jun. The Line Music app is an alternative version of Naver VIBE in South Korea. It is considered as the biggest listening app in the country
This is the discography for Dutch DJs Yellow Claw.
