Forecast that Apple will stop streaming distribution by ending download sales of music by 2019

Byfdecomite

The view that Apple will terminate download sales of music through iTunes by 2019 and integrate it into the streaming distribution service "Apple Music" has emerged.

Apple 'On Schedule' to Terminate Music Downloads by 2019
https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2017/12/06/apple-terminate-music-downloads/

This viewpoint is reported by the music industry news "Digital Music News" (DMN) as a story of Apple's internal stakeholders. According to the content of the article, Apple has begun moving to streaming distribution from about 2016, and initially said that "we will move to within 3 to 4 years." Furthermore, the current situation that download sales results have been on a downward trend is spurring this trend, there are plans to make the timing of the shift ahead of schedule.

At the moment, the time to shift to streamingBeginning of 2019It is believed to be. It is thought that there is also an aim to prevent consumer confusion by switching services after the Christmas season with the largest number of sales.

When the transition to streaming distribution begins, it seems that the music data downloaded and sold through iTunes will be integrated into the new Apple Music account. After that, after a free trial period of three months, it was completely shifted to streaming delivery, and the playlists and various settings that the user had created were taken over as it is.

ByMatthew Oliphant

After migration to streaming, the song data for which the license agreement has not been concluded is grayed out and the download may not be possible. Regarding this matter, however, among the multiple information providers, the information is broken and it seems there are some people saying "It is possible to play as usual." In any case, this problem gradually tends towards elimination, and it is also seen to be concentrated to the level of "insignificant problem".

This movement is in a situation where it can not be separated from the change of the music business industry. According to the research company "Nielsen", the download sales of music is steadily decreasing, and the number of downloads in the first half of 2017 is decreasing by 24.1% from the previous year. In the music market once, there was a big change "from CD to download", but this is the situation that is further advancing "from downloading to streaming".

In addition, there seems to be some aspect that "iTunes is too complicated" as a background to that. Some information providers talk about iTunes' nuances of 'great confusion' or 'nuisance', and it is also believed that this situation has an unfavorable impact on users as well.

ByPeter Petrus

Furthermore, as one of the major factors, we can not separate the existence of Spotify which is successful in streaming delivery service. Spotify's number of paid users is 60 million people, while that of Apple Music has finally reached 30 million people. In addition, Spotify, which includes free users, has 140 million monthly active users, and has greatly paid off with Apple Music, which offers only paid services.

In response to this situation, in fact, Apple is showing a move to lightly attack the business model of Spotify. Jimmy Iovine, top of Apple Music, said in the fall of 2017, "What will happen if Amazon tells you to lower the price of Amazon Music?", For example, and the business model of Spotify, which seems to be a stone , Suggesting the possibility of being hit by the emergence of powerful rivals like Amazon. Nonetheless, it seems that Japan, which is said to have a big market share of iPhone compared to other countries, is not another person's affair, as Apple observes that Apple is missing the new format called streaming delivery, as well as what kind of strategy Apple will launch.

Apple has responded to DMN's inquiries about this case by saying that there are no plans for transition as reported, but according to the information provider, the transition to streaming delivery is "as planned or ahead of schedule It is progressing. " In addition, the information provider strongly requested that it be anonymous, and it seems that they tried contacting by e-mail or personal mobile phone to prevent the leak-off person from being specified in the company.

ByMike Mozart