The early release of music via legit download services looks likely to continue with a number of record labels reporting that doing so, if anything, has reduced piracy and enhanced CD sales. Many in the industry originally feared that the idea of making tracks available via iTunes at the same time they were added to radio playlists - sometimes some eight weeks before CD release - would just ensure quality recordings of tracks appeared on P2P networks quicker, ultimately affecting CD sales.
However those labels which experimented with the strategy are reporting positive results. Young music fans, they argue, often download tracks from Kazaa not because they are unwilling to pay for it, but because they want the track as soon as it is added to radio and music TV playlists, which often means turning to a P2P network. If tracks are available via iTunes and Napster as soon as they are being played by the broadcasters then fans have a legit route to satisfy their impatience.
Of course such early release doesn't wipe out illegal filesharing, but nor does it seem to increase it. And the early-release download provides extra revenue for the label and can initiate word-of-mouth marketing for the track and the album it comes from.
Apple's Eddy Cue told reporters in the US this week: "A year ago, there were certainly labels that weren't willing to release any single prior to the CD being released. I'm not aware of anybody who falls into that equation today. Everybody gets it now."
Meanwhile, it increasingly looks like the download may well replace the loss leading CD single in due course. In the US, where the single format has suffered acute decline for years, Nielsen SoundScan reports that 39.6 million tracks have been downloaded so far this year - just 3.5 million CD singles have been sold.