In a rather confusing summary of what is probably an equally confused report from Jupiter Research, the BBC highlights the music buying habits of European iPod owners:

1. On average only 20 tracks on an iPod are bought from the iTunes Store
2. On average only 5% of tracks on an iPod are bought from online stores
3. During 2006 Europeans will spend more than £260m on digital music – the majority from the iTunes Store

These figures imply that the majority of music on an iPod is from sources other than online stores. What an incredible conclusion, given that consumable digital music (i.e. CDs) has existed since 1982, and the iTunes Store only since April 2003. Yet, as I mentioned yesterday, the iTunes Store is the 5th largest retailer of music (regardless of format) in the U.S.

It’s another way of bashing file-sharing: The report says that “Digital music buyers do not necessarily stop file-sharing upon buying legally.” and even better: “Digital music purchasing has not yet fundamentally changed the way in which digital music customers buy music”, therefore forgetting the 3rd point above.

Mark Mulligan, a Jupiter Research analyst, remarks on his blog that Microsoft shouldn’t rely on the Zune Marketplace ecosystm, because MP3 player owners don’t buy digital music regularly. But, how many times does it have to be stated: the iTunes Store is not about selling music, it’s about selling iPods and converting such purchasers into Apple product consumers and evangelists.

While I’m on Mark’s blog, I might as well clarify the rational for EMI Music Publishing signing to SpiralFrog, rather than EMI Records. It’s because the publishing company has the rights to sell the recorded music, not the label that the artist is signed to. That’s why on the iTunes Store, it’s the publishing company that is credited.