“Last month, sources to Digital Music News pointed to internal Apple discussions and a proposal to eliminate music downloads from iTunes, in as quickly as 2-3 years,” Paul Resnikoff reports for Digital Music News. “That was flatly denied by Apple’s media representatives, though sources with close knowledge of the company’s plans continue to share credible details that music downloads may be phased out in just a few years.”
“A great deal depends on how sharply music downloads decline, how quickly streaming accelerates, and how an unstable internal political atmosphere within the company shakes out, the same sources have shared,” Resnikoff reports. “Importantly, paid music downloads appear to be entering a free fall this year, according to preliminary stats revealed to DMN.”
“One source indicated that Apple may be architecting iTunes differently, with the ability to more easily drop iTunes music downloads in future years if the format becomes seriously marginalized. That would allow the company to simplify the application towards streaming and radio in the event that music downloads experience a ‘CD-like collapse’ in the coming years, or if downloads are viewed as heavily dragging Apple Music’s progress against competitors like Spotify,” Resnikoff reports. “Enter Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference, or WWDC, which kicks off June 13th in San Francisco. That event is a smorgasbord of announcements and product rollouts, and is expected to include the unveiling of a major iTunes overhaul. Addressing widespread complaints of ‘bloatware’ and a nightmarishly complicated interface, Apple is hoping to vastly simplify a sprawling iTunes, including an iTunes Store stuffed with apps, movies, TV shows, music downloads, podcasts, and now, streaming service Apple Music.”
Tons more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Well, anecdotally, we haven’t purchased any music since we became Apple Music Members on June 30, 2015, of course. Plus, for example, we’ve been listening to Garbage’s Strange Little Birds for days now via Apple Music, pre-release, while you can only buy two of the songs prior to its expected June 10th release via iTunes Store.
SEE ALSO:
Apple: No, we’re not going to stop selling music downloads anytime soon – May 12, 2016
Apple prepping to kill iTunes Store music downloads within two years – May 11, 2016
Apple’s iTunes Store suffers as streaming sales surpass digital downloads for first time – March 23, 2016
Apple Music adds another million subscribers in 1 month, surpasses 11 million paying members – February 12, 2016
Apple Music subscribers could hit 100 million users in 6 years – January 11, 2016
Apple Music nabs 10 million subscribers in 6 months, which took Spotify 6 years – January 10, 2016
Uh-oh, Spotify: People are paying up for Apple Music – November 5, 2015
Why Apple Music will win in streaming music – October 27, 2015
Apple Music takes a huge bite out of Pandora – October 23, 2015
Taylor Swift calls Spotify a ‘start-up with no cash flow’ – August 4, 2015
Oh ok, Spotify listeners are upgrading to Apple Music – July 19, 2015
Apple Music could kill more than just Spotify, it could kill music labels, too – June 25, 2015
Why Apple Music will gut and publicly execute Spotify – June 10, 2015
Spotify CEO claims to be ‘ok’ with Apple Music – June 9, 2015
Jimmy Iovine and Eddy Cue: Apple Music gunning for Spotify, YouTube, and terrestrial radio – June 9, 2015
Apple Music’s huge advantage over Spotify – June 9, 2015
Apple’s revolutionary Apple Music just might prove its skeptics wrong – June 8, 2015
Apple unveils revolutionary Apple Music service – June 8, 2015
