Apple plans to incorporate both the physical and digital portions of recent multi-billion dollar acquisition Beats Electronics into its services soon.
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The Beats headphones and other products were the obvious targets of the buy, but Apple is planning to integrate the Beats Music streaming service into iTunes next year, according to a Wall Street Journal source.
This may signify the end of Beats Music, but seemingly just in name and spirit. As reported by TechCrunch last month, Apple plans to do away with the streaming brand, but that doesn't mean simply shutting down the service and not making use of it. The name will likely be set to the way side as the service itself is rolled into iTunes, a source told Re/code.
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Compared to the physical Beats products, Beats Music represents value of a different kind, a way to battle iTunes' large drop in music sales. Streaming services such as Pandora, Spotify, and Rdio have taken a significant slice of the music pie, with more people willing to listen for free or pay a subscription than buy each album or song. Apple making use of Beats Music was highly likely--it was more a question of when than if.
It's not just iTunes sales that are regressing, but all of digital music sales. The streaming services are generally seen as more appealing, but now Apple has one of its own. Beats Music itself may not have had the largest support base, but a streaming service run by Apple through iTunes with its features could help the company turn the tide.
