After a period of aggressive growth, the a-la-carte download has started to plateau.  But will the music industry soon be staring at a decline?  Several weeks ago, sources pointed Digital Music News to an erosion following aggressive pricing changes on the iTunes Store.

That could be remedied by some adjustments and tweaks, or even a broader retreat from $1.29 price points if needed.  But what about broader competition from emerging ubiquity?

According to Scott Cohen, cofounder of the Orchard, the spread of easy-access streaming is actually improving paid download sales.  “Right now we’re seeing streaming services driving download sales much like radio would sell CDs,” Cohen relayed at the IMIW conference in London on Thursday.  “It drives more a-la-carte sales.”

But the risk of cannibalization looms, especially as consumers get used to always-on, on-demand access.  “The fear is the cannibalization of the a-la-carte download as streaming becomes more widely available,” Cohen continued.

Spotify is one driver of that shift in Europe, though unlimited mobile data packages could prove the bigger culprit.  The reason is that mobile providers are running out of high-growth, ARPU-increasing formats – and looking to replace the old magic of voice, texting, and ringtones with unlimited data packages.  “Certainly if you get an iPhone, you get an unlimited data package that comes with it, but you can get that from any of the service providers,” Cohen offered.  “So if you have an unlimited data package, and a headphone jack into your mobile phone, why do you need to download?”

Elsewhere, the numbers are starting to showing a topped-off format.  In a recent quarterly earnings call from Warner Music Group, digital sales improved 7 percent year-over-year to $166 million, far lower than year-ago gains of 48 percent.  That figure includes a heavy contribution from a-la-carte downloads.  The label also reported that physical sales slipped 25 percent, dragging the broader music picture southward 18 percent to $537 million.

Report by publisher Paul Resnikoff at IMIW in London.