Americans are turning up the volume on Katy Perry, Pharrell Williams and Beyoncé, but as they stream ever more of the artists’ songs and videos their reluctance to buy music is extending from CDs to digital downloads.
凱蒂·佩里、法瑞爾·威廉姆斯和碧昂斯在美國(guó)人民中廣受歡迎，但隨著這些歌手的音樂(lè)和視頻大量以流媒體的方式出現(xiàn)，人們不再愿意花錢(qián)買(mǎi)音樂(lè)，數(shù)字音樂(lè)下載就此步上CD唱片的后塵。

Digital album sales dropped 11.6 per cent to 53.8m in the first half of the year, from 60.8m in the same period in 2013, according to Nielsen SoundScan, while sales of individual digital tracks sank 13 per cent to 593.6m from 682.2m.
據(jù)尼爾森音樂(lè)統(tǒng)計(jì)，上半年，數(shù)字唱片銷量下降了11.6%至5380萬(wàn)張，而去年同期銷量則達(dá)到了6080萬(wàn)張。數(shù)字單曲銷量從6.822億首下降至5.936億首，降幅達(dá)13%。

Last year marked the first time digital downloads fell since Apple’s iTunes store launched in 2003, as streaming music services such as Spotify, Rdio and Pandora captured ears.
去年是蘋(píng)果iTunes數(shù)字音樂(lè)商店自2003年上線以來(lái)首次遭遇下載量下降，而類似Spotify、Rdio 和Pandora的流媒體音樂(lè)服務(wù)開(kāi)始俘獲大眾的耳朵。

In the first six months of 2014, combined audio and video streaming jumped 42 per cent to 70.3bn streams from 49.5bn last year.
2014年上半年，流媒體視頻和音頻的播放總量由去年的495億次攀至703億次，同比增長(zhǎng)42%。

“Streaming continues to be an increasingly significant portion of the music industry,” said David Bakula of Nielsen Entertainment. He said the growth of streaming, coupled with a 40 per cent jump in sales of vinyl albums, “shows interest in buying and consuming music continues to be robust, with two very distinct segments of the industry expanding substantially.”
尼爾森娛樂(lè)公司的大衛(wèi)·巴庫(kù)拉稱：“流媒體將在音樂(lè)行業(yè)占據(jù)越來(lái)越重要的位置?！彼f(shuō)流媒體音樂(lè)的增長(zhǎng)以及塑膠唱片銷量40%的增長(zhǎng)表明了“大眾購(gòu)買(mǎi)及消費(fèi)音樂(lè)的興趣依然穩(wěn)固，音樂(lè)行業(yè)這兩種完全不同的領(lǐng)域?qū)?huì)持續(xù)擴(kuò)張?！?/div>

Vinyl sales represent a small sliver of the industry, however, at 4m copies sold from January to June – just 3 per cent of all album sales.
塑膠唱片代表的只是音樂(lè)行業(yè)的一小部分，1月到6月之間，僅僅售出了400萬(wàn)張，只占專輯總銷量的3%。

The acceleration in the shift to streaming is putting digital downloads on a downward trajectory approaching the double-digit annual declines in CD sales seen from 2007 to 2011.
流媒體音樂(lè)加速增長(zhǎng)使得數(shù)字音樂(lè)下載量呈下降趨勢(shì)，降幅達(dá)到兩位數(shù)，接近2007到2011年CD唱片的年度降幅。

Total album sales – physical and digital – have dropped 14.9 per cent so far this year to 120.9m from 142m. CD sales were down 19.6 per cent to 62.9m after a more moderate 14.5 per cent decline in 2013.
到目前為止，今年的專輯銷售總量——包括實(shí)體和數(shù)字的——下降了14.9%，從去年的1420萬(wàn)張減少為1209萬(wàn)張。CD唱片銷量下降了19.6%至6290萬(wàn)張，而2013年下降幅度較小，為14.5%。

With streaming revenues still far lower than those generated by digital and CD sales, many in the industry are questioning – as they did during the rise of iTunes – whether artists and labels can make enough money from the new format to keep making new music.
由于流媒體音樂(lè)帶來(lái)的收入遠(yuǎn)低于數(shù)字音樂(lè)下載和CD唱片，就像iTunes剛上線時(shí)一樣，業(yè)內(nèi)不少人開(kāi)始質(zhì)疑歌手和唱片公司是否能通過(guò)這種新形式掙到足夠的錢(qián)來(lái)繼續(xù)創(chuàng)作新歌。

The rise of digital subscription services such as Spotify and Beats, recently acquired by Apple for $3bn, offers some hope, however. The number of paying customers has ballooned to 28m last year from 8m in 2010, with subscription revenues reaching $1.11bn, and some of the largest technology and media companies are investing in the services.
不過(guò)，最近以30億美元被蘋(píng)果收購(gòu)的數(shù)字音樂(lè)訂閱服務(wù)公司Spotify和Beats，帶來(lái)了一線生機(jī)。愿意付錢(qián)的用戶從2010年的800萬(wàn)增長(zhǎng)至去年的2800萬(wàn)，帶來(lái)高達(dá)11.1億美元的收入，一些大型技術(shù)和媒體公司也開(kāi)始投資于這種訂閱服務(wù)。

Google bought Songza, which allows users to make customised playlists, for a reported $39m this week. Last month, Amazon launched music streaming as a part of its Prime subscription bundle.
這周，谷歌據(jù)稱以3900萬(wàn)美元收購(gòu)了在線音樂(lè)服務(wù)提供商Songza，為用戶提供訂制樂(lè)單。上個(gè)月，亞馬遜推出流媒體音樂(lè)服務(wù)，成為其Prime訂閱服務(wù)中的一種。

The biggest selling album in the period – in physical and digital formats – was the soundtrack to Disney’s animated hit, Frozen, followed by a Beyoncé album launched last year through a heavily promoted exclusive deal with iTunes.
現(xiàn)下最暢銷的專輯（包括實(shí)體和數(shù)字專輯形式）是迪士尼熱門(mén)動(dòng)畫(huà)《冰雪奇緣》的原聲大碟，緊隨其后的是碧昂斯去年發(fā)行的專輯，該專輯和iTunes獨(dú)家合作，宣傳聲勢(shì)浩大。

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