Music sales decline for first time since opening of iTunes store

Digital music sales declined for the first time in 2013 since the iTunes Store opened a decade before, according to report.

The new data from Nielsen SoundScan reevaled that sales of tracks declined 5.7 percent, to 1.34 billion units, while album sales fell 0.1 percent, to 117.6 million.

According to the Verge, the chief culprit for the decline was streaming services like Spotify and Pandora.

At around 10 dollars a month for unlimited listening, the streaming services are proving to be an attractive alternative to albums that cost 10 dollars apiece, the report added.