Music Sites Get Half a Million Visitors per Minute

Traffic to digital music sites slows on Sundays, but most days global sites collectively experience a daily peak of over 500,000 visitors per minute. Data from Akamai’s Net Usage Index for Digital Music” report traffic to music category sites worldwide.

North America, Asia, and Europe represent the greatest number visitors to music download sites. Music sites across the Web see daily peaks of over half a million visitors per minute. In North America and Europe traffic is highest mid-week while the greatest number of visitors happens later in the week. Sunday is the slowest day for visitors to these sites globally.

In a survey conducted by Akamai of 200 people aged 19 to 68, 90 percent of respondents said they buy at least one song per week. The bulk of respondents spend less than $5 per week on music purchases; 76 percent spend between $1 and $5 per week; 14 percent spend $5 to $10 a week; and 9 percent spend $10 to $20 each week. Eighty-two percent of respondents favor a pay-per-download model; 9 percent like an ad-sponsored model; and 9 percent opt for a subscription model for music downloads. Eighty-six percent of respondents own a portable music device.

Users of music download sites are typically loyal to one or two sites. Forty-two percent stick with one digital music source, and 29 percent with two services. One respondent claimed to have downloaded online music from 43 sources.

Streaming music is also an option for many. Fifty-five percent listen to streaming music online. Over half (65 percent) listen to music streams during the work day.

The Akamai Net Usage Index for Music collects an aggregate for several digital music companies worldwide. The company also conducted a survey of 200 people between the age of 19 and 68. Respondents were contacted via e-mail and online banner ads which directed candidates to an online survey.