Billboard reports that Apple has been talking to record labels about potentially launching an on-demand music service that would compete with Spotify and Beats Music.
According to the report, the talks are in very early early stages, and as we know, these licensing talks with the major labels can take years — if they materialise at all. Besides the possible subscription music service, Billboard also claims that Apple is considering launching an Android version of iTunes so that it can cash in on the huge slice of the market it’s not serving by keeping the digital music store exclusive to iOS.
So iTunes had a rough year. Last year digital music sales decline d for the first time in a decade, and streaming music is on the rise. iTunes Radio, Apple’s first streaming product, was a lackluster service that was basically designed to sell tracks . With that business seemingly on the decline, it makes sense that Apple would consider an on-demand service. [Billboard]