iTunes Still No.1 in Digital Music Market

iTunes is the No. 1 fee-based digital music venue according to Ipsos’ fifth annual TEMPO Digital Music Brandscape study. Apple's music distribution service managed to hold on to its position despite Amazon’s success this year, and RealNetworks' Rhapsody’s gains, Retailer Daily reports.

The object of the study was tracking fee-based online music brands and consumer digital music behaviors. The survey revealed to Ipsos that awareness and use were steady among the most dominant brands this year. However, awareness mostly increased for the three top competitors, namely iTunes, Amazon Music and Rhapsody.

While iTunes grew in terms of awareness, usage, familiarity, and “best brand” mentions, Amazon's first year also proved strong. According to the study, initial awareness, usage, favorability and “best brand” ratings were comparable to any of the top brands following iTunes. In fact, the online music retailer managed to match iTunes' user satisfaction level. Rhapsody gained in both aided and unaided awareness, usage and favorability, but not as much as iTunes and Amazon did, of course. For the rest of the (secondary) brands, total awareness, familiarity, and favorability decreased – not by much, though, says the study.

“The reason iTunes’ brand strength has not weakened in light of increasing competitive pressure is that, during this same time frame, consumers became more demanding of the digital music services they use,” said Karl Joyce, lead author of the TEMPO study. “iTunes dominates this market,” Joyce added, “but that by no means suggests that there isn’t room for innovative competitors with differentiated offerings,” he explained. “This is precisely who, according to our research, consumers are paying attention to and rewarding with their patronage.”

According to the author of the study, Amazon's uniqueness comes from offering DRM-free downloads from catalogues offered by all four major music labels today. Thanks to this, Amazon could “easily establish a place for itself among the other top brands operating in iTunes’ shadow.” Speaking of Rhapsody, Joyce reckons it is the perfect example of “how to build a brand’s power through increased awareness.” Nevertheless, “iTunes’ dominance remains unchecked [...]  despite this strengthening among key competitors,” Joyce concluded.