28 April 2003 - iTunes music store Launch

Digital Innovation Days

With the launch of the iTunes Music Store by Apple on the 28th of April, 2003, the music world was forever altered. A software-based online digital media store operated by Apple, this was Steve Job’s attempt at creating a digital marketplace for music. It allowed users to burn an unlimited number of CDs and put music on an unlimited number of iPods. Customers could find, download, and purchase music for just 99 cents per song, without any subscription fees. With over 70 million songs today and availability in more than 167 countries, iTunes is among the dominant names in the music industry. In the year 2020 alone, Apple music generated a revenue of $4.1 billion (6% of Apple’s total services revenue) with 72 million users subscribed to it.

Although iTunes brought many changes to the way music was consumed at that time and consumers were excited about this new development, not everyone was thrilled with the idea. Record labels were disgruntled over losing control of how they priced their songs and many musicians and artists felt that they were not earning enough royalties from the sales of their digital music. Despite this, by 2010, iTunes was the largest music retailer worldwide.

Many credit iTunes for revolutionizing the music industry. This was an industry plagued with and highly wary of online piracy and it suddenly had a legitimate avenue to earn money by selling digital music. In addition to this, it eliminated the need to possess physical CDs, and thus, there was no need to travel to get music from a store or a friend. More importantly, with songs priced at 99 cents, a CD costing $18 did not seem an attractive option anymore. Interestingly, iPods - powered by iTunes - became a fashionable trend in themselves.