Where does this come from, and can I check it?

It opened in 2003 and made buying one song a normal thing to do. The figure is taken from Library of Congress, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a music fact?

Yes. It sits on the Music shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

What else can I read about it?

The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

The iTunes Store sold single tracks, not just albums

It opened in 2003 and made buying one song a normal thing to do The shop grew out of a player that had already made digital libraries familiar. Selling tracks separately undercut the bundle the record industry had relied on. Album sequencing lost some of its authority as a result. It sits in Mondo's music collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

Library of Congress

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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Technology trivia

More facts like this

The Hot 100 chart started in 1958It combined sales and radio plays into one weekly ranking Composers organised a collecting society in 1914ASCAP gathered licence fees from venues and split them among members Streaming turned the collection into a subscriptionListeners stopped owning the files and paid for access instead One song pays out through several separate streamsPublishing, performance, mechanical and sync money are collected differently Paying for airplay has a name and a scandalPayola hearings made unannounced payments to DJs a national issue around 1960 Stereo was patented in 1931Alan Blumlein described two channel recording years before anyone sold it

Tags: downloads, history, industry

The iTunes Store sold single tracks, not just albums: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: It opened in 2003 and made buying one song a normal thing to do. The figure is taken from Library of Congress, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a music fact?: Yes. It sits on the Music shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.