More Than 32 Million Music Fans Tune To The Web

NEW YORK (Nielsen/Net Ratings Website) - Nielsen//NetRatings, the global standard in Internet audience measurement and analysis, reports that more than 32 million surfers, or 27 percent of the active online population visited a music site during the month of August 2002. Despite a host of legal challenges that continue to affect the sector, traffic remains strong as music fans look to the Web for access to free and paid music content.

KaZaA, one of the few remaining file-sharing applications offering free downloadable music topped the list, drawing more than 8.4 million unique visitors for the month of August, growing 148 percent since the beginning of the year (see Table 1). Launch.com garnered nearly 5.9 million visitors, while MTV Networks attracted more than 5.3 million surfers at home and at work. CDNow.com posted more than 3.8 million visitors. MusicMatch Jukebox rounded out the top 5 with 3.4 million surfers logging on to the site in August.

While the free file-sharing and music content sites continue to be traffic leaders, partnerships with record labels and the portals are helping subscription music sites gain more traction. Pressplay.com posted 640,000 unique visitors in August, surpassing its total visitors during the first three months of 2002. Listen.com drew 139,000 unique visitors in August and offers its paid subscription service across the former file-sharing site, Audiogalaxy. Other paid music sites of note include FullAudio and MusicNet.

"With more than 32 million unique visitors surfing music sites in August 2002, there's no question that there's an audience hungry for online music services," said Carolyn Clark, senior Internet analyst, Nielsen//NetRatings. "And while attracting visitors is key, converting surfers to paid subscribers will become even more important. Determining appropriate price points and settling legal disputes with the free sites, must be met before online music can be considered another pay-model success story."