Spotify Plays Can Increase iTunes Sales. Here?s Proof!

Despite fears that streaming access cannibalizes sales, classical music record label X5?tells me when it launched an app within Spotify and saw streams of one album increase 412% in a month, that album's iTunes sales shot up 50%. The Swedish label's "The 50 Greatest Pieces of Classical Music" soon reached #1 on the iTunes Classical charts, and broke into the iTunes Top 200 album charts for the first time, hitting #152. The stats back up claims by some record labels and Spotify's CEO Daniel Ek that there's no evidence of Spotify or other streaming services negatively impacting music sales. More data like this could encourage artists and labels to promote their streaming music presences, and push acts like The Black Keys and Paul McCartney who've pulled their catalogues from Spotify to come back.

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