The company's original business model iTunes Store, based on the purchase and download of music, may have its days numbered. Or not. Sources linked to Digital Music News reported that Apple would be planning to end the service within two years to focus exclusively on the streaming as Apple Music, your new apple of the eye.
According to sources who demanded that their statements be collected personally, for fear of Apple's reprisal if Ma discovered written or recorded records, Cupertino's company treats the end of music purchases at the store as a matter of time, and has recently set the date -limit of two years to abandon the service.
Considered revolutionary at the time of its presentation and one of the great insights of Steve Jobs' second coming, the model of buying and owning songs or entire albums was one of the main factors that led the iPod to the status of global icon of technology and music. Nowadays, as we well know, the act of “buying” music is in full decline, being gradually replaced by the transmission alternatives namely Spotify, Apple Music and competitors.
The numbers show this well: according to music industry analyst Mark Mulligan, downloading music from the iTunes Store was a segment that was worth $ 3.9 billion in 2012, and, according to forecasts, is only worth $ 600 million in 2019. In the year in the past, purchases were down 16%; this year, the forecast is for another 25-30% drop.
On the other hand, Apple Music is finally catching up and growing vigorously. There are already 13 million subscribers to the service and the forecast is that there will be 20 million by the end of the year. Mulligan further predicts that in 2020, Apple's revenue from the streaming surpass that which she obtained when the purchase of music was at its peak in 2012.
Another reason to consider ending music sales, says the report, is to avoid a possible mess of products within Apple's music business. Within the (unbearably crowded) iTunes we have a clear example of this: each square centimeter perpetrated by different options of music consumption. Eliminating the sale of single songs and focusing on Apple Music would be the best way to simplify iTunes and all of Ma's music.
According to the same sources, this disconnection could be gradual, starting with few countries and spreading over the world over time. The reason would, of course, be the difference in popularity of downloads according to the region.
All the reasons seem absolutely plausible, but even so, just hours after the report was published, Tom Neumayr (Apple spokesman) got into the game. In a rare occurrence (for Apple) to speak out to deny a rumor, Neumayr spoke to the Recode that rumors of an end to downloads from the iTunes Store simply "Are not true", as well as the speculated deadlines for its termination.
This statement, of course, should be viewed with suspicion. Apple has billion dollar contracts with record labels that make huge money from selling music on iTunes. Any rumor of shutting down the service would be extremely disheartening for this industry and detrimental to Apple itself so if we ever witness the end of music sales on iTunes, it will be an absolutely thought-out movement, behind the scenes by Tim Cook and his gang. For now, if you like to "own" your music, you can rest assured that passing it on can be a huge problem.
(via MacRumors)
