iTunes Sales Drop By 13%, Beats Music Rebranding Rumors Persist

It's well known that Apple was a little late to the streaming music party, and thus its fantastically expensive acquisition of Beats Music and Beats Electronics makes sense for a company looking to get ahead in the business. It'll need it, too. The Wall Street Journal reported today that traditional digital music sales on iTunes have dropped by 13 percent so far this year.

Thus continues the trend from last year, when Apple's digital sales started declining for the first time as the market moved away from purchased songs and albums and more toward on-demand subscription services like Spotify, Google Play Music, and, of course, Beats Music. The Journal repeated rumors that Apple plans to rebrand the service sometime in the near future.

"The plummeting download numbers help illustrate why Apple bought the $10-a-month subscription streaming service Beats Music earlier this year, as part of its $3 billion acquisition that included headphone maker Beats Electronics. Apple is rebuilding Beats Music and plans to relaunch it next year as part of iTunes, according to a person familiar with the matter."

Additional rumors state that Apple may bring the required subscription down to just $5 per month in order to remain competitive in an increasingly crowded market.

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