Amid growth in portable MP3 player sales and speculation over the sustainability of a la carte music downloads, Ipsos' new TEMPO Digital Music Brandscape study shows that iTunes continues to strengthen its position as the dominant digital music sales destination. Meanwhile a host of other services are striving for consumer awareness and to establish clear points of differentiation. Only MySpace emerged as a new prominent destination for digital music.
Findings from the study:
- Among American downloaders aged 12 and older, iTunes gained significantly in both unaided and aided awareness over 2005, moving from 57% to 66% for total awareness.
- Napster experienced some erosion in awareness, dropping from 79% to 68% total awareness.
- Awareness of Yahoo! Music increased over the past year, with total awareness reaching 53% (up from 49% in 2005).
Perhaps the most significant development this year was the strong gain in awareness of MySpace, which jumped from 16% to 54% in just one year.
The study was conducted prior to the launch of Microsoft's Zune. Read more here plus charts.
