As vinyl made way for CDs and CDs made way for downloads, it now seems that downloads are about to make way for streaming.
Digital Music News is reporting that sources close to Apple are telling them that the company is looking at an aggressive two year plan to shutdown the iTunes download store in the U.S. and other major countries with an extended window for those areas that are running behind in the streaming revolution.
The plan strikes us at VVN Music as a bit aggressive. While the advent of downloads in the mid-2000’s were seen as the killer of CDs, it has not become so. While downloads became a dominant part of the industry, the CD has never gone away and remains a very viable medium for the distribution of music.
The same could be said for vinyl, which was declared completely dead numerous times since the mid to late-80’s but is now seeing a major resurgence.
Download sales peaked in 2012 and have been on the down slide ever since but even the most pessimistic industry viewer is not seeing the true end of download demand until well into the 2020’s. It seems very premature for Apple to be thinking of pulling the plug in the next few years but, then, that could be a boon to the likes of Amazon and other competitors who have lagged behind Apple over the years.
Digital Music News’ full article can be seen at their site.
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