[pimenta]

^ Of course they do, it means more money in the artists'/companies' pockets. Besides, now a days it's becoming another more accurate indicator of popularity, because it shows the general public interests, while physical sales are becoming an indicator of the amount of hardcore fans (now a days not as many people will buy a physical copy of a release if they're not a fan of the artist to begin with).

For an artist any type of sale is important, it's the media that puts way too much weight on Oricon alone...