iPod Effect on Music Industry

Aleksandra Mednikova June 30, 2013 in iPod - 2 Minutes

The iPod has undoubtedly had a drastic and long-lasting effect on the music industry. Prior to the invention of the iPod, and the digital music delivery service iTunes, also from Apple, music was primarily sold in CD format in physical store locations and enjoyed through the use of CD players and other devices. The iPod changed all this as now music was primarily delivered through digital means, allowing people to purchase and download songs directly to their personal computer.

Immediate Changes to Music Industry

Immediately upon the release of the iPod most record producers and industry experts immediately began shifting their efforts away from producing music sold in physical format, such as CDs, towards producing music that was produced using digital formats. Digital music has numerous advantages, including being much easier to distribute, having a lower cost, and being compatible with numerous devices including the iPod and other MP3 players.

iTunes, which was released in conjunction with the original iPod also greatly influenced the ways in which music was produced, distributed and listened to. iTunes is a program that was created by Apple in an attempt to create a program that made it much easier to distribute music and other digital files. iTunes has had a very large impact on the music industry as a whole considering there have been numerous changes to the music industry since its release in the early 2000s.

Increase in Music Sales

The biggest effect both the iPod and iTunes have had on music is the increase in overall music sales and revenues towards the producers. This trend began shortly after iTunes and the iPod were released, as music producers saw the iPod as a revolutionary device when it comes to the playing of music files. Never before had a device been released which could hold as many songs, play songs in such a wide variety of formats, and had such as long battery life as the iPod. These three factors are what experts agree distinguishes the iPod from the other MP3 player competition on the market.

Music sales are now very strong thanks to iTunes, with millions of people having accounts and purchasing music each and every day. Recently iTunes has passed the 1 billion song downloaded mark, a momentous milestone for any digital music distributor. Sales of digital songs continue to rise with each passing day as more and more people sign up for iTunes accounts and purchase iPods.