A drop in digital music sales may prompt Apple to take actions that would have been unthinkable only a few short years ago. According to Nielsen SoundScan, U.S. digital album sales dropped 5.7% in 2013 and digital album sales dipped 0.1%. It was the first time that digital music sales had dropped. The trend is continuing and even accelerating in 2014 according to more recent Nielsen SoundScan numbers. Many industry insiders are now attributing this trend to the rise of ad-supported and paid music subscription services. Billboard reports that this drop now has Apple considering its own on-demand streaming service to take on the growing competition from services such as Pandora and Spotify. Its sources have also indicated that Apple could develop an iTunes app for Android.
The idea of developing an Android iTunes app would likely not have been possible under the leadership of Steve Jobs. He was quoted in Walter Isaacon’s Jobs biography as saying that he did not “see an advantage of putting our own music app on Android, except to make users happy.” He went on to add, “I don’t want to make Android users happy.” But three years after his death, Apple executives have realized that Android represents a vast and untapped market for iTunes.
Apple recently launched iTunes Radio. Available only in the U.S. and more recently in Australia, the ad-supported service is not as flexible as competing services. It offers curated lists as well as the ability to create stations based on artists, songs or genres but offers little control over specific music.
Billboard adds that discussions are at “a very early stage” so nothing may yet come of these rumours.
For now though, Apple remains the dominant player in the music industry, accounting for 40% of U.S. recorded music revenue last year.
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Source : Billboard