Digital music sales ain’t boomin

Here’s something that doesn’t make a lot of sense – since May, Apple has sold 10 million new iPods, but the sales of tracks at iTunes has remained stagnant at 6.5 million per week. Now it definitely isn’t time to feel sorry for Apple or the record companies yet, but it does make you wonder. Share prices of record companies are falling and optimism is being tested as the expected digital music boom has yet to materialize.

In the same time that sales have remained level the sales of CDs have fallen by 6.5%. Increased digital sales were being counted on to make up for falling CD demand.

The conclusion that can be reached, at least for now, is that the iPod is a new way to listen to music, not a new way to buy it. Downloads per iPod have fallen from 25 to 15 in the last year. The other reality is that the record companies and their lawyers have been unable to stop P2P networks. Traffic on P2P has remained steady and is twice as much as it was two years ago.

Some record industry insiders are demanding that iTunes begin offering variable pricing for tracks, charging more for more popular music, but Steve Jobs is opposed to the idea, saying it will drive people back to file sharing. Other insiders insist that the slowdown is just a blip instead of a trend. I know that the true reason for the lack of sales is that Britney isn’t recording right now, so there is nothing worth buying.