Over 100 Million Served

Apple’s iTunes Music Store reached the 100 million song mark last week. This is a first for the online music industry. Apple delivered 100 million downloads only 15 months after launching the service in April 2003.

Apple launched a 100 million song promotion on July 1st. During the month of July, iTunes was responding to a rate of just over 2.5 million downloads each week. Apple had initially hoped to distribute 100 million songs within the first 12 months of the launch of the iTunes Music Store. In April 2004, on the first anniversary of the iTunes music store, Apple announced that more than 70 million songs had been downloaded including the 5 million free songs that that were given away as part of the Pepsi/iTunes promotion.

Funny thing though. The iTunes download bar is still missing the Canadian flag. Still. After 15 months.

There is hope. Canada will be added to the Apple system when the CRIA completes its ne­gotiations in the fall. Funny how an organization can take so long to introduce a business model for legal downloads when illegal downloads are decimating the Canadian recording industry.