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人民中廣受歡迎，但隨著這些歌手的音樂和視頻大量以流媒體的方式出現(xiàn)，人們不再愿意花錢買音樂，數字音樂下載就此步上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.
據尼爾森音樂統(tǒng)計，上半年，數字唱片銷量下降了11.6%至5380萬張，而去年同期銷量則達到了6080萬張。數字單曲銷量從6.822億首下降至5.936億首，降幅達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.
去年是蘋果iTunes數字音樂商店自2003年上線以來首次遭遇下載量下降，而類似Spotify、Rdio 和Pandora的流媒體音樂服務開始俘獲大眾的耳朵。

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.”
尼爾森娛樂公司的大衛(wèi)·巴庫拉稱：“流媒體將在音樂行業(yè)占據越來越重要的位置?！彼f流媒體音樂的增長以及塑膠唱片銷量40%的增長表明了“大眾購買及消費音樂的興趣依然穩(wěn)固，音樂行業(yè)這兩種完全不同的領域將會持續(xù)擴張?！?/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行業(yè)的一小部分，1月到6月之間，僅僅售出了400萬張，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.
流媒體音樂加速增長使得數字音樂下載量呈下降趨勢，降幅達到兩位數，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——包括實體和數字的——下降了14.9%，從去年的1420萬張減少為1209萬張。CD唱片銷量下降了19.6%至6290萬張，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.
由于流媒體音樂帶來的收入遠低于數字音樂下載和CD唱片，就像iTunes剛上線時一樣，業(yè)內不少人開始質疑歌手和唱片公司是否能通過這種新形式掙到足夠的錢來繼續(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，最近以30億美元被蘋果收購的數字音樂訂閱服務公司Spotify和Beats，帶來了一線生機。愿意付錢的用戶從2010年的800萬增長至去年的2800萬，帶來高達11.1億美元的收入，一些大型技術和媒體公司也開始投資于這種訂閱服務。

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，谷歌據稱以3900萬美元收購了在線音樂服務提供商Songza，為用戶提供訂制樂單。上個月，亞馬遜推出流媒體音樂服務，成為其Prime訂閱服務中的一種。

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（包括實體和數字專輯形式）是迪士尼熱門動畫《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獨家合作，宣傳聲勢浩大。

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