Legal downloading lets music fans get what they want in minutes and they have access to far more material than before. For example, someone "discovering" an established act like Peter Gabriel needs only to go to his link on iTunes where they can quickly acquire a large amount of his material dating back 20 years. Before downloads, the same buyer would have been at the mercy of used record stores or expensive special orders to track down Gabriel releases no longer in stock.
Legal download sites like iTunes also have generally cheaper prices than buying a physical CD. In 2010, most full CDs on the site cost $7.99 to $9.99.
Artists can build or maintain a fan base through downloads without having to worry about physical albums being in stock at retail stores. But financially, artists may be not getting such a great deal. In 2009, popular artist Eminem sued his record label for extra royalties from downloads. According to the website Cult of Mac, at issue was how much an artist should get per download. The website said Eminem was getting 20 cents per 99-cent song and wanted 35 cents.
Downloads have made albums by some non-mainstream artists a little more accessible than they ever would have been at a regular record store. Some independent record stores set up their own download sites catering to artists and fans of underground or "indie" music. One site, Other Music of New York's East Village, charges $9.99 for albums and $1.11 for singles.
Regardless of legal download options, illegal downloading was still a problem as of June 2010. The lack of steady sales convinced most artists to turn their focus to touring. According to a "New York Times" article from 2009, "the growth in live revenue shows no signs of slowing...(live concerts) are by far and away the most lucrative section of industry revenue for artists themselves, because they retain such a big percentage of the money from ticket sales."
The iTunes format raised the possibility that singles could overtake albums as the primary way people would buy recorded music and there are figures to support that theory. Downloads only became widely available in 2003. By 2008, according to Nielsen SoundScan, sales of singles amounted to just over 1 billion while albums were at 65 million. Despite that, as of June 2010, no major artist had abandoned the album concept in favor of singles alone. However, it was not uncommon either for many artists to have singles released on download outlets long before that song appeared on an album.