Beats Music could be going through a transformation, one that could eventually lead to Apple shutting down the Beats brand altogether and incorporating it into iTunes.
TechCrunch first reported that Apple is planning to discontinue Beats Music, which the iPhone maker acquired earlier this year for $3 billion, citing five sources including "prominent" Apple and Beats employees, who said that Beats Music will no longer be.
Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr told Re/code that the TechCrunch report was "not true," but he declined to speak further on what Apple plans to do with Beats Music. What is more likely going to happen, according to Re/code's report, is that Apple will discontinue the Beats Music name and will integrate the music streaming service into its own iTunes Radio, which was launched with much fanfare last year.
"I was going to be a bit surprised if they kept it and left it unchanged," says analyst Jan Dawson at Jackdaw Research.
Given Apple's preference for a unified brand over fragmented services, having Beats Music next to its own music streaming service is not in its best interests, as this will force existing customers to choose between two similar services or learn two very different interfaces at the same time.
This also fits together with earlier reports that Apple's acquisition of Beats Electronics was largely an acqui-hire of legendary music producer Jimmy Iovine and Beats' celebrity front man Andre Young, better known by his rapper name Dr. Dre. Several other Beats employees were also already transferred to Apple projects, mainly iTunes. Beats CEO Ian Rogers was assigned to head iTunes Radio, which means he now spends his time overseeing both music services.
Also worth mentioning is the fact that Apple did not include a Beats Music app pre-installed in its recently released iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, although the company did include a Beats Music channel for Apple TV.
In January, Beats Music made a late entry into the music streaming industry, which was and still is dominated by Spotify with its 40 million listeners and 10 million paying subscribers. Other players, such as Pandora, Rdio, Google Music and iTunes Radio, have also shot ahead. Apple's own iTunes Radio had 20 million users listening to a billion songs on its first five weeks, while Beats Music only had 250,000 listeners.
However, Beats sets itself apart by being the only music streaming service that provides user-curated and mood-based playlists, allowing users to listen to the type of music best suited to whatever they are feeling or doing at the moment.
Apple senior vice president Eddy Cue at the time of the acquisition described Beats Music as "the first music subscription service done right."
