Who’s #2 In Music Downloads?

Earlier this week USA Today crowned Amazon the #2 seller of downloads after iTunes.  Amazon refuses to release sales figures; so the newspaper based its claim on the calls to the four major record labels.

But eMusic only offers music from indies and with downloads of “more than 7,000,000 songs per month”, they claim the #2 crown. “…let’s get one thing straight: outside of iTunes, no one sells more music digitally than eMusic, and we don’t plan on giving up that title anytime soon,” eMusic CEO David Packman declared yesterday on the company’s blog.

WILL THE REAL #2 PLEASE STAND UP

Packman is probably right that eMusic delivers more tracks by volume than Amazon.  But who delivers more revenue to the the labels and artists?

Overall, counting both major and indies, its probably Amazon. After all, they pay out 60-65 cents per track compared to eMusic’s subscription model which delivers around 30 cents not including free tracks that they give away to lure subscribers.  Several indie labels in recent months have even said that their checks from Amazon are starting to exceed those from eMusic.

Who is #2?  Like most things, it depends on who you’re asking.

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